Apparatus, method and system for distributed and automatic inventory, status and database creation and control for remote communication sites

• US 6,154,728 A
• Filed: 04/27/1998
• Issued: 11/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Demlow, William Walter, Shrivastav, Bindu, Sattar, Wamiq
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jeanty, Romain
• Application Number:
  US09/067,277
• Time in Patent Office: 946 Days
• Field of Search: 705/28, 705/14, 705/22, 340/815.65, 340/825.06, 340/825.07, 340/825.08, 340/825.43, 340/825.53, 340/825.65, 340/825.44, 702/182-185, 714/4, 714/11, 714/712, 710/9, 710/10, 710/104
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

An apparatus, method and system are provided for automatic and distributed inventory processing for remote communication sites, such as remote cellular sites. A system embodiment includes a central site having a central processor, such as a mobile switching center, and a multitude of remote communication sites, with each remote communication site having a plurality of field replaceable units; and further having a remote processor and a remote memory. The remote processor includes instructions for obtaining an address and status from the memory of each field replaceable unit within the remote communication site and for querying each field replaceable unit having a status not out of service to obtain its vintage information and its physical location information. In the preferred embodiment, the physical location information includes frame, shelf and slot locations, and the vintage information includes hardware and firmware versions. The inventory information may also be compiled into a database, preferably at the central site.

Claims

1. A method for distributed inventory processing for remote communication sites, the method comprising:

(a) obtaining an address of a field replaceable unit;

(b) obtaining a status of the field replaceable unit;

(c) when the status is out of service, obtaining recent physical location information for the field replaceable unit stored in a memory, wherein the recent physical location information comprises a recently stored frame, shelf and slot location; and

(d) when the status is not out of service, querying the field replaceable unit through its address and receiving in response, from the field replaceable unit, its current vintage information and its current physical location information, wherein the current vintage information comprises a hardware version and a firmware version, and wherein the current physical location information comprises a current frame, shelf and slot location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(e) repeating steps (a) through (d), inclusive, for each field replaceable unit of a plurality of field replaceable units.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

(f) compiling inventory information for each field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

(g) when a predetermined number of field replaceable units of the plurality of field replaceable units have been inventoried, transferring the compiled inventory information to a central site.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating a database from the compiled inventory information transferred to a central site.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

transferring the compiled inventory information from a plurality of remote sites to the central site.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the compiled inventory information is encoded in a binary format compatible with a predetermined database implementation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the distributed inventory processing automatically commences at a predetermined time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the distributed inventory processing commences on demand.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

waiting for routine diagnostic procedures to be completed prior to commencing distributed inventory processing.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the vintage information further comprises a software version.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the vintage information includes one or more data fields containing CLEI, protocol, manufacturer, conditioning, installation date, physical description, or installing technician identifier information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the physical location information further comprises a remote site, floor, and bay location.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein step (d) further comprises querying the field replaceable unit for serial number information.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises resetting the status of the field replaceable unit to out of service.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the address is obtained from a memory.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the address is obtained by querying the field replaceable unit.

18. An apparatus for distributed inventory processing for remote communication sites, the apparatus comprising:

an input output interface, the input output interface coupleable through a communication channel to a plurality of field replaceable units;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the input output interface and to the memory, wherein the processor includes instructions for obtaining an address and status from the memory of a first field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units;

when the status is out of service, the processor having further instructions for obtaining recent physical location information for the first field replaceable unit, wherein the recent physical location information comprises a recently stored frame, shelf and slot location; and

when the status is not out of service, the processor having further instructions for querying the first field replaceable unit through its address to obtain its current vintage information and its current physical location information, wherein the current vintage information comprises a hardware version and a firmware version. and wherein the current physical location information comprises a current frame, shelf and slot location.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor includes further instructions for obtaining an address and status from the memory of each field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units;

the processor having further instructions for obtaining physical location information for each field replaceable unit having an out of service status;

and the processor having further instructions for querying each field replaceable unit having a status not out of service to obtain its vintage information and its physical location information.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the processor includes further instructions for compiling inventory information for each field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units and storing the compiled inventory information in the memory.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the processor includes further instructions for transferring the compiled inventory information to a central site when a predetermined number of field replaceable units of the plurality of field replaceable units have been inventoried.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor includes further instructions for generating a database from the compiled inventory information transferred to a central site.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor includes further instructions for transferring the compiled inventory information from a plurality of remote sites to the central site.

24. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a clock coupled to the processor; and

wherein the processor receives a time signal from the clock and wherein the processor includes further instructions for commencing distributed inventory processing at a predetermined time.

25. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor includes further instructions for commencing distributed inventory processing in response to a user initiation.

26. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor includes further instructions for waiting for routine diagnostic procedures to be completed prior to commencing distributed inventory processing.

27. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the vintage information further comprises a software version.

28. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the vintage information includes one or more data fields containing CLEI, protocol, manufacturer, conditioning, installation date, physical description, or installing technician identifier information.

29. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the physical location information further comprises a remote site, floor, and bay location.

30. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor includes further instructions for querying the field replaceable unit for serial number information.

31. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the processor includes further instructions for querying the field replaceable unit for address and status information.

32. A system for distributed inventory processing for remote communication sites, the system comprising:

a plurality of remote communication sites, each remote communication site of the plurality of remote communication sites having a plurality of field replaceable units;

a central site coupled through a communication channel to the plurality of remote communication sites, the central site having a processor and a memory, wherein the processor includes instructions for obtaining an address and status from the memory of each field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units;

the processor having further instructions for obtaining, from the memory, recent physical location information for each field replaceable unit having an out of service status, wherein the recent physical location information comprises a recently stored frame, shelf and slot location; and

the processor having further instructions for querying each field replaceable unit having a status not out of service, through each corresponding address, to obtain its current vintage information and its current physical location information, wherein the current vintage information comprises a hardware version and a firmware version, and wherein the current physical location information comprises a current frame, shelf and slot location.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the processor includes further instructions for compiling inventory information for each field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units and storing the compiled inventory information in the memory.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the processor includes further instructions for generating a database from the compiled inventory information transferred to the central site.

35. The system of claim 32, wherein the processor includes further instructions for commencing distributed inventory processing at a predetermined time.

36. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

an input terminal; and

wherein the processor includes further instructions for commencing distributed inventory processing in response to a command entered in the input terminal.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the processor includes further instructions for waiting for routine diagnostic procedures to be completed prior to commencing distributed inventory processing.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the vintage information further comprises a software version.

39. The system of claim 32, wherein the vintage information includes one or more data fields containing CLEI, protocol, manufacturer, conditioning, installation date, physical description, or installing technician identifier information.

40. The system of claim 32, wherein the physical location information further comprises a remote site, floor, and bay location.

41. The system of claim 32, wherein the processor includes further instructions for querying each field replaceable unit for serial number information.

42. The system of claim 32, wherein the processor includes further instructions for querying each field replaceable unit for address and status information.

43. A system for distributed inventory processing for remote communication sites, the system comprising:

a central site having a central processor; and

a plurality of remote communication sites coupled to the central site through a communication channels, each remote communication site of the plurality of remote communication sites having a plurality of field replaceable units;

each remote communication site having a remote processor and a remote memory, wherein the remote processor includes instructions for obtaining an address and status from the memory of each field replaceable unit of the plurality of field replaceable units within each remote communication site;

the remote processor having further instructions for obtaining, from the remote memory, recent physical location information for each field replaceable unit having an out of service status, wherein the recent physical location information comprises a recently stored frame, shelf and slot location; and

the remote processor having further instructions for querying each field replaceable unit having a status not out of service, through each corresponding address, to obtain its current vintage information and its current physical location information, wherein the current vintage information comprises a hardware version and a firmware version, and wherein the current physical location information comprises a current frame, shelf and slot location.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the remote processor has further instructions for compiling inventory information for a predetermined number of field replaceable units of the plurality of field replaceable units.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the remote processor has further instructions, when the predetermined number of field replaceable units have been inventoried, for transferring the compiled inventory information to the central site.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the central processor has instructions for generating a database from the compiled inventory information transferred to a central site.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the compiled inventory information is encoded in a binary format compatible with a predetermined database implementation.

48. The system of claim 43, wherein the remote processor has further instructions to commence distributed inventory processing at a predetermined time.

49. The system of claim 43, wherein the central site further includes an input terminal;

and wherein the central processor includes further instructions for commencing distributed inventory processing in response to a command entered in the input terminal.

50. The system of claim 43, wherein the vintage information further comprises a software version.

51. The system of claim 43, wherein the vintage information includes one or more data fields containing CLEI, protocol, manufacturer, conditioning, installation date, physical description, or installing technician identifier information.

52. The system of claim 43, wherein the physical location information further comprises a remote site, floor, and bay location.

53. The system of claim 43, wherein the remote processor further has instructions for querying the each field replaceable unit for serial number information.

54. The system of claim 43, wherein the remote processor includes further instructions for querying each field replaceable unit for address and status information.