Method for location-based asset management

• US 20050030194A1
• Filed: 09/14/2004
• Published: 02/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wei, Xinguo, Cheng, Charles C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,579,960 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.490
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

A method provides for real-time asset location tracking. An asset in a wide area network, be it a utilities network or a communication network, registers itself with a network management center. The registration process includes identification of a physical location of the asset usable for mapping and tracking the asset.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a physical location of an asset based at least in part on an IP (Internet protocol) address assigned by a network to the asset, the asset having an identifier that uniquely identifies it to the network; and

in response to a query, reporting the asset'"'"'s physical location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is associated with a serial number.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is initiated upon starting the asset.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset is a remote unit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the remote unit includes a transceiver.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transceiver is an element of a fixed wireless communication system.

7. A method comprising:

linking an IP address with a remote network asset in packet-based network, wherein the remote network asset has an identifier identifying it to the network; and

determining a physical location of the remote network asset using the IP address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifier is pre-provisioned.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the identifier is associated with a serial number.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the packet-based network is a wide area network.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the remote network asset includes a transceiver.

12. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a remote unit for registration with a network;

in response to the request, associating a packet-based network address with the remote unit; and

using the packet-based network address to determine a physical location of the remote unit.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote unit is associated with a pre-provisioned identifier.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the pre-provisioned identifier is associated with a serial number.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the packet-based network is a wide area network.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote unit includes a transceiver.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the transceiver is an element of a fixed wireless communication system.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the packet-based network address is an IP address.

19. A system comprising:

network operations control logic;

a database, accessible to the network operations control logic, of pre-provisioned identifiers for network assets;

wherein the network operations control logic is configured to associate an IP address with a newly-connected remote network asset using at least in part a pre-provisioned identifier of the database corresponding to the newly-connected remote network asset, and based on the IP address, to determine physical location information for the newly-connected network asset.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the pre-provisioned identifier is associated with a serial number.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the network operations control logic is included in a wide area network.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the remote network asset includes a transceiver.