Radio frequency identification asset management system, and computer program product

• US 7,633,392 B2
• Filed: 05/05/2005
• Issued: 12/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Neuwirth, Daniel
• Primary Examiner(s): BLOUNT, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US11/121,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20050253704A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,685 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.13, 340/572.1, 340/10.1, 340/825.49, 235/385
• US Class Current: 340/572.1
• 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

A radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking system to track and manage assets. Each asset to be tracked is tagged with an RFID tag, and tracked using RFID readers located throughout a facility. Based on the tracking information, the system allows users to manage assets and generate reports regarding the various tagged assets.

Claims

1. A computer program product for combination in a data server, the computer program product including a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for tracking and generating report data related to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in an indoor setting of a client, said computer readable instructions when executed to perform the steps comprising:

storing an RFID tag ID uniquely associated with each of plurality of RFID tagged assets to which an RFID tag is attached, and an asset data corresponding to each of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

receiving an RFID tag ID and an RFID tag reader ID from an RFID tag reader having a coverage zone in the indoor setting which the RFID tag is located, wherein the RFID tag is configured to transmit a signal containing the RFID tag ID;

updating the data server with a location information for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets as provided from the RFID tag reader;

receiving an equipment request for at least one of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

updating the asset data corresponding to the at least one of the plurality of RFID tagged assets to indicate that the at least one of the plurality of RFID assets has been requested at a specific location;

receiving a report parameter indicating that a census report is requested, and

generating a census report based on the report parameter and transmitting the census report to the client, wherein the census report includes the asset data corresponding to the at least one of the RFID tagged assets and a human population data corresponding to a number of people in geographic proximity to the at least one of the plurality RFID tagged assets.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

exchanging the asset data with a database, the database having portions of data stored at a different physical location.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

mounting the RFID tag reader at a plurality of fixed locations within a facility, and the RF field generated by each RFID tag reader corresponds to a zone within the facility.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the asset data to a hand-held wireless device upon receiving the RFID tag ID from the RFID tag using the hand-held wireless device.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein

the asset data includes a historical data describing one or more past locations of the corresponding one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically performing a plurality of operations based upon a plurality of predefined rules.

20. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

updating a status of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets based upon a current location and a past location of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

21. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a signal to a client device based upon a current location and a past location of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

22. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a report parameter that corresponds to a newly acquired RFID tagged asset; and

transmitting the report data including an asset data corresponding to the newly acquired RFID tagged assets to a client device for display, wherein

the report data includes data indicating at least an activation date and a type of asset.

23. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein

the asset data includes a maintenance and repair information for one or more of plurality of RFID tagged assets.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising:

receiving a report parameters requesting a report indicating one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets due for maintenance; and

transmitting a report to a client device including the asset data for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets that are due for maintenance, wherein

the asset data indicates at least a location and a type of maintenance required on the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

25. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a target quantity of one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets required in a specific zone, and

generating an alert to be transmitted to a client device if a number of assets in the specific zone falls below the target quantity.

26. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a GUI map indicating where the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets are located, and

transmitting the GUI map to allow a user to view a distribution of assets in the facility.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein

the map includes hyperlinks that, when selected, cause the data server to transmit the asset data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets to the client device for display.

28. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein

the asset data includes a rental asset information of one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein

the rental asset information includes at least one of a due date, a length of rental, a from date, and a to date.

7. A computer program product for combination with a date server, the product including a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for tracking and generating report data related to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in an indoor setting of a client, said computer executable instructions when executed by the data server representative of the steps comprising:

storing an RFID tag ID uniquely associated with each of a plurality of RFID tagged assets to which an RFID tag is attached, and an asset data corresponding to each of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

receiving an RFID tag ID and an RFID tag reader ID from an RFID tag reader having a coverage zone in the indoor setting which the RFID tag is located, wherein the RFID tag is configured to transmit a signal containing the RFID tag ID;

updating the data server with location information for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets as provided from the RFID tag reader;

receiving an equipment request for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

updating the asset data corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets to indicate that the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets has been requested at a specific location; and

updating a status of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets based upon a current location of the respective RFID tagged asset and a past location of the respective RFID tagged asset.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting a signal to a client device based upon the current location and the past location of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a report parameters that corresponds to a newly acquired RFID tagged asset; and

transmitting the report data including the asset data corresponding to the newly acquired RFID tagged asset to a client device for display, wherein

the report data includes a data indicating at least an activation date and a type of asset.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein

the asset data includes a maintenance and repair information for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a report parameters requesting a report indicating one or more of the RFID tagged assets that are due for maintenance; and

transmitting the report to a client device including the asset data for the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets that are due for maintenance, wherein

the asset data includes at least the current location of and a type of maintenance required on the one or more of the plurarity of RFID tagged assets.

30. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

mounting RFID tag reader at a plurality of fixed locations within a facility, and the RF field generated by each RFID tag reader corresponds to a zone within the facility.

31. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting the asset data to a hand-held wireless device upon receiving the RFID tag ID from the RFID tag using the hand-held wireless device.

32. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a target quantity of one or more of the RFID tagged assets required in a specific zone, and

generating an alert to be transmitted to a client device if a number of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets in the specific zone falls below the target quantity.

33. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

generating a GUI map indicating where one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets is located, and

transmitting the GUI map to allow the client to view a distribution of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets in a facility.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein

the GUI map includes a hyperlink that, when selected, causes the data server to transmit the asset data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets to the client device for display.

35. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein

the asset data includes a rental asset information of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

36. The computer program product of claim 35, wherein

the rental asset information includes at least one of a due date, a length of rental, a from date, and a to date.

37. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a report parameter indicating that a census report is requested, and

generating the census report based on the report parameter and transmitting the census report to the client, wherein

the census report includes the asset data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets and a human population data corresponding to a number of people in geographic proximity to the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

12. A computer program product in combination with a data server, the product including a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for tracking and generating a report data related to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in an indoor setting of a client, said computer readable instructions when executed to perform the RFID tagged steps comprising:

storing an RFID tag ID uniquely associated with each of a plurality of RFID tagged assets to which an RFID tag is attached, and asset data corresponding to each of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

receiving the RFID tag ID and an RFID tag reader ID from an RFID tag reader having a coverage zone in the indoor setting which the RFID tag is located, wherein the RFID tag is configured to transmit a signal containing the RFID tag ID;

updating the data server with a location information for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets as provided from the RFID tag reader;

receiving an equipment request for a one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

updating the asset data corresponding to each of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged asset to indicate that the RDW tagged asset has been requested at a specific location;

receiving a target quantity of the plurality of RFID tagged assets required in a specific zone, and

generating an alert to be transmitted to a client device if a number of the plurality of RFID tagged assets in the specific zone falls below the target quantity.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

generating a GUI map indicating where one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets is located, and

transmitting the GUI map to allow the client to view a distribution of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets in a facility.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein

the GUI map includes a hyperlink that, when selected by a user, causes the data server to transmit the asset data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets to the client device for display.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein

the asset data includes a rental asset information of one or more of plurality of the RFID tagged assets.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein

the rental asset information includes at least one of due date, length of rental, from date, and to date.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a report parameters indicating that a rental report is requested, and

generating the rental report based on the report parameters and transmitting the rental report to the client.

18. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a report parameters indicating that a census report is requested, and

generating a census report based on the report parameter and transmitting the census report to a client, wherein

the census report includes the asset data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets and a human population data corresponding to a number of people in a geographic proximity to the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

38. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

mounting the RFID tag reader at a plurality of fixed locations within a facility, and the RF field generated by each RFID tag reader corresponds to a zone within the facility.

39. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting the asset data to a hand-held wireless device upon reading information from the RFID tag using the hand-held wireless device.

40. The computer program of claim 12, further comprising:

updating a status of one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets based upon a current location and a past location of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

41. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting a signal to a client device based upon a current location and a past location of the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

42. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a report parameter that corresponds to newly acquired RFID tagged asset; and

transmitting the report data corresponding to the newly acquired RFID tagged asset to a client device for display, wherein

the report data includes data indicating at least an activation date and a type of asset.

43. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the asset data includes a maintenance and repair information for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

44. The computer program product of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a report parameter requesting a report indicating one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets due for maintenance; and

transmitting the report to a client device including the asset data for one or more of the plurality of RFD tagged assets due for maintenance, wherein

the asset data includes at least a location, and a type of maintenance required on the one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets.

19. A computer program product in combination with a data server, the product including a computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for tracking and generating report data related to a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag in an indoor setting of a client, said computer readable instructions when executed to perform the steps comprising:

storing an RFID tag ID uniquely associated with each of a plurality of RFID tagged assets to which an RFID tag is attached, and asset data corresponding to each of the plurality of RFID tagged assets;

receiving the RFID tag ID and an RFID tag reader ID from an RFID tag reader having a coverage zone in the indoor setting which the RFID tag is located, wherein the RFID tag is configured to transmit a signal containing the RFID tag ID;

updating the data server with a location information for one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets as provided from the RFID tag reader;

receiving a direction of movement of one or more of the plurality of RFID tagged assets in the coverage zone from the RFID tag reader based on a comparison of the strength of the signal relative to a strength of at least one other subsequent signal from the RFID tag; and

communicating the direction of the one or more of the RFID tagged assets to the data server to provide a report.