Asset management service for distributed computing environments

• US 9,454,746 B2
• Filed: 12/15/2015
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ozkan, Mehmet
• Primary Examiner(s): VO, TUYEN KIM
• Application Number:
  US14/969,460
• Publication Number:
  US 20160104104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 287 Days
• Field of Search: 235/375, 235/385, 235/383
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are disclosed herein for an asset management service. The asset management service can receive asset record creation requests and can store asset records at an asset data repository. The asset records can identify assets and associated information such as, for example, asset identifiers, personnel, organizations, users, geographic locations, time and date information, status information, or the like. A user device can execute an asset management application to generate asset tags including the asset identifiers and to scan existing asset tags. When asset tags are scanned, the user device also can capture device and/or user information that can be used to set a status or provide available status choices. Status updates can be provided to the asset management service for updating of the asset records.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

capturing, by a camera of a user device, an asset identifier that uniquely identifies an asset;

capturing, at the user device using a location device, geographic location information that identifies a geographic location of the user device;

transmitting, using a transceiver of the user device and directed to an asset management engine, the asset identifier and the geographic location information;

receiving, by the user device, a list of available status updates for the asset;

presenting, at the user device in a user interface, the list of available status updates;

detecting, at the user device, selection of a status update of the available status updates; and

transmitting, using the transceiver of the user device and directed to the asset management engine, the asset identifier, the geographic location information, and event data that indicates the status update.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset identifier is obtained from information printed on an asset tag attached to the asset.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the asset tag is generated at the user device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the asset tag comprises generating the asset identifier, obtaining asset information, and requesting printing of the asset tag.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the asset tag further comprises transmitting the asset identifier and asset information to the asset management engine, wherein the asset management engine creates an asset record that corresponds to the asset.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the asset tag comprises a two-dimensional barcode that represents the information.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the asset identifier comprises:

presenting a further user interface via which the asset tag is scanned to extract the asset identifier;

capturing, using the camera, an image of the asset tag; and

extracting the asset identifier from the image.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

capturing, at the user device, authentication information that identifies the user device; and

transmitting, by the user device and to the asset management engine, the authentication information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset identifier is obtained from a two-dimensional barcode printed on an asset tag attached to the asset, and wherein obtaining the asset identifier comprises:

capturing, using the camera, an image of the two-dimensional barcode; and

extracting, from the image of the two-dimensional barcode, the asset identifier.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the asset management engine generates the list of available status updates based upon the asset identifier and the geographic location information.

11. A device comprising:

a processor;

a camera;

a location device;

a transceiver; and

a memory that stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

capturing, by the camera, an asset identifier that uniquely identifies an asset,

capturing, using the location device, geographic location information that identifies a geographic location of the device,

transmitting, using the transceiver and directed to an asset management engine, the asset identifier and the geographic location information,

receiving a list of available status updates for the asset,

presenting, in a user interface, the list of available status updates,

detecting selection of a status update of the available status updates, and

transmitting, using the transceiver and directed to the asset management engine, the asset identifier, the geographic location information, and event data that indicates the status update.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the transceiver comprises a cellular transceiver.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the location device comprises a global positioning system device.

14. The device of claim 11, further comprising a printer that is configured to print an asset tag comprising indicia that represents the asset identifier.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the asset identifier is obtained from a two-dimensional barcode printed on an asset tag attached to the asset, and wherein obtaining the asset identifier comprises:

capturing, using the camera, an image of the two-dimensional barcode; and

extracting, from the image of the two-dimensional barcode, the asset identifier.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the asset management engine is configured to generate the list of available status updates based upon the asset identifier and the geographic location information.

17. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

capturing, by a camera, an asset identifier that uniquely identifies an asset;

capturing, using a location device, geographic location information that identifies a geographic location of a user device;

transmitting, using a transceiver and directed to an asset management engine, the asset identifier and the geographic location information;

receiving a list of available status updates for the asset;

presenting, in a user interface, the list of available status updates;

detecting selection of a status update of the available status updates; and

transmitting, using the transceiver and directed to the asset management engine, the asset identifier, the geographic location information, and event data that indicates the status update.

18. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the asset identifier is obtained from a two-dimensional barcode printed on an asset tag attached to the asset, and wherein obtaining the asset identifier comprises:

capturing, using the camera, an image of the two-dimensional barcode; and

extracting, from the image of the two-dimensional barcode, the asset identifier.

19. The computer storage medium of claim 18, wherein obtaining the asset identifier further comprises presenting a further user interface via which the asset tag is scanned to extract the asset identifier.

20. The computer storage medium of claim 17, wherein the asset management engine generates the list of available status updates based upon the asset identifier and the geographic location information.