Dynamic inventory management of deployed assets

• US 7,782,208 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2008
• Issued: 08/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HCL Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kennedy, Peter J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl; Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/187,978
• Publication Number:
  US 20090045915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: 340/572.1, 340/568.1, 340/825.49, 340/5.92, 340/539.1, 340/825.36, 340/539.13, 340/539.11, 3405722-5729
• 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

Abstract

A dynamic inventory management method can include the step of attaching a location tag to a deployable asset. A mobile entity can be associated with the location tag. A tag scanner can scan for location tags within a range of the tag scanner. Data can be conveyed from the tag scanner to a communicatively linked inventory control system. The scanning and conveying steps can be repeated to dynamically update the inventory control system.

Claims

1. A computer program product in a machine-readable storage recording medium having stored thereon, a computer program having a plurality of code sections, said code sections executable by a machine, said computer program product comprising:

a code section operable by a machine to attach a location tag to a deployable asset;

a code section operable by a machine to associate a mobile entity with the location tag;

a code section operable by a machine to scan at a tag scanner for location tags within a range of the tag scanner;

a code section operable by a machine to convey data from the tag scanner to a communicatively linked inventory control system; and

a code section operable by a machine to repeat the codes sections to scan and convey to dynamically update the inventory control system, wherein the inventory control system is linked to a plurality of consoles via a plurality of networks, wherein the plurality of networks have different security levels, and wherein the inventory control system adjusts content to a highest allowable security level corresponding to a carrier network when conveying data to the consoles via the networks.

2. An asset management system comprising:

a plurality of deployed assets, each deployed asset associated with a location tag;

at least one tag scanner configured to periodically scan a region to discover the location tag of each of the deployed assets within the region;

at least one location communication hub linked to the at least one tag scanner configured to wirelessly communicate asset information obtained from the tag scanner and each location tag to at least one remotely located inventory control server; and

the inventory control server configured to continuously update an asset database with information provided by the at least one location communication hub, wherein the inventory control server is linked to a plurality of consoles via a plurality of networks, wherein the plurality of networks have different security levels, and wherein the inventory control server adjusts content to a highest allowable security level corresponding to a carrier network when conveying data to the consoles via the networks.

3. The asset management system of claim 2, wherein each deployed asset is a mission critical asset assigned to a soldier, and wherein each location tag is an RFID tag.

4. The asset management system of claim 2, wherein the at least one location communication hub further comprises a position detection device, wherein the at least one communication hub wirelessly communicates position information of each deployed asset along with the asset information.

5. The asset management system of claim 2, wherein the inventory control server is configured to dynamically determine a deficient one of the plurality of assets, wherein a deficient asset is an asset assigned to a mobile entity, which is not detected by the tag scanner located near the mobile entity, wherein the inventory control server is configured to dynamically determine a surplus asset capable of replacing the deficient asset, and wherein the inventory control server dynamically reassigns the surplus asset to the mobile entity.