METHOD FOR LOCATION-BASED ASSET MANAGEMENT

• US 20090259573A1
• Filed: 06/23/2009
• Published: 10/15/2009
• 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 9,536,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• 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. An asset tracking system for tracking the location of an asset via a remote communication unit associated with the asset, the remote communication unit connected to a wireless network, the asset tracking system comprising:

a server that exchanges data with the remote communication unit via the wireless network, and with a data repository,

the server configured to;

assign an Internet protocol address to the asset associated with the remote communication unit;

contact the wireless network asset via the IP address;

issuing a request to the asset for its geographical location and status, previously unknown by the asset tracking system;

receiving the geographical location and status of the asset; and

passing the location and status information to the data repository.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the Internet protocol address is associated with a serial number.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is included in a wide area network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the remote communication unit includes a wireless transceiver.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

update information related to the asset in the data repository to reflect a geographical location of the asset.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the updated information is defined in terms of longitude and latitude.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to:

maintain in the data repository a database of assets associated with a remote communication unit,

receive a request by an asset associated with a remote communication unit to register with the database, wherein the request is initiated by the-asset upon power up of the asset and includes the geographical location of the asset.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the asset obtains its location using a GPS receiver coupled to the asset.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein an asset is a piece of electronic equipment or software.