System and method for identifying asset restrictions applicable to movement of tangible assets

• US 7,792,684 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2007
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LinkedIn Corporation (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Grigsby, Travis M., Paolini, Michael A., Abernethy, Michael Negley Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes; John W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jung; Allen J
• Application Number:
  US11/620,457
• Publication Number:
  US 20080167978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,341 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/1.1
• US Class Current: 705/1.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

A system, method, and program product is provided that identifies asset restrictions pertaining to the movement of tangible assets. The system reads a list of assets intended to be moved from a first geographical location to a new geographical location. Each of the assets in the list includes asset descriptive data. More than one geographical regions are identified that apply to the new geographical location. Regulatory items are retrieved from the identified geographical regions. The regulatory items include regulated item descriptive data that is compared with the user'"'"'s asset descriptive data to match regulations applicable to assets. An exception list is generated based on the comparison that includes the regulatory items that apply to one or more of the assets.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of identifying asset restrictions, said method comprising:

reading a plurality of assets intended to be moved from a first geographical location to a second geographical location, wherein each of the assets includes asset descriptive data;

identifying a plurality of geographical regions that apply to the second geographical location;

retrieving one or more regulatory items for each of the identified geographical regions, wherein one or more of the regulatory items includes regulated item descriptive data;

comparing, by a processor, the asset descriptive data to the regulated item descriptive data;

identifying, by the processor, one of the plurality of assets as a registration asset that requires a registration in order to move the registration asset from the first geographical location to one of the identified geographical regions;

retrieving a link corresponding to an electronic registration form that corresponds to the registration;

generating, by the processor, an exception list that includes the regulatory items that apply to one or more of the plurality of assets based on the comparison, wherein the retrieved link is included in the exception list;

in response to the generating, receiving a selection of the retrieved link from a user;

retrieving the electronic registration form from the retrieved link in response to receiving the selection; and

displaying the retrieved electronic registration form on a display device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

ordering the plurality of geographic regions based on size of the geographic regions, wherein the regulatory items corresponding to smaller geographic regions are retrieved before retrieving the regulatory items corresponding to larger geographic regions.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving one or more inputs corresponding to one or more fields included in the displayed electronic registration form;

completing the displayed electronic registration form using the received inputs; and

transmitting the completed electronic registration form to a server that processes the electronic registration form.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the receiving of the one or more inputs further comprises:

gathering the asset descriptive data that corresponds to the registration asset; and

matching the gathered asset descriptive data to the fields included in the displayed electronic registration form; and

wherein the completing further includes automatically filling in one or more of the fields using the matched asset descriptive data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the generating the exception list further comprises:

writing to the exception list;

the asset descriptive data corresponding to each of the plurality of assets included in the exception list;

an identifier of one of the plurality of geographical regions that corresponds to the regulated item descriptive data used in the comparison; and

a network address corresponding to network locations of one or more of the regulatory items that correspond to the regulated item descriptive data used in the comparison.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving one or more network addresses, each of the network addresses corresponding to one or more of the plurality of assets included in the exception list;

including the retrieved network addresses in the generated exception list;

displaying the plurality of assets and a link corresponding to one or more of the plurality of assets that correspond to one of the network addresses;

selecting, by a user, one of the links that corresponds to a selected asset from the plurality of assets; and

retrieving, over a computer network, a data transmission that includes regulatory information that pertains to the selected asset.

7. A information handling system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory accessible by at least one of the processors;

a nonvolatile storage area accessible by at least one of the processors;

a network interface adapter connecting the information handling system to a computer network; and

a set of instructions stored in the memory, wherein one or more of the processors executes the set of instructions in order to perform actions of;

reading a plurality of assets intended to be moved from a first geographical location to a second geographical location, wherein each of the assets includes asset descriptive data;

identifying a plurality of geographical regions that apply to the second geographical location;

retrieving one or more regulatory items for each of the identified geographical regions, wherein one or more of the regulatory items includes regulated item descriptive data;

comparing the asset descriptive data to the regulated item descriptive data;

identifying one of the plurality of assets as a registration asset that requires a registration in order to move the registration asset from the first geographical location to one of the identified geographical regions;

retrieving a link corresponding to an electronic registration form that corresponds to the registration;

generating an exception list that includes the regulatory items that apply to one or more of the plurality of assets based on the comparison, wherein the retrieved link is included in the exception list;

in response to the generating, receiving a selection of the retrieved link from a user;

retrieving the electronic registration form from the retrieved link in response to receiving the selection; and

displaying the retrieved electronic registration form on a display device.

8. The information handling system of claim 7 further comprising:

ordering the plurality of geographic regions based on size of the geographic regions, wherein the regulatory items corresponding to smaller geographic regions are retrieved before retrieving the regulatory items corresponding to larger geographic regions.

9. The information handling system of claim 7 wherein the set of instructions perform further actions comprising:

receiving one or more inputs corresponding to one or more fields included in the displayed electronic registration form;

completing the displayed electronic registration form using the received inputs; and

transmitting the completed electronic registration form to a server that processes the electronic registration form.

10. The information handling system of claim 9 wherein the set of instructions that perform the action of receiving of the one or more inputs perform further actions comprising:

gathering the asset descriptive data that corresponds to the registration asset; and

matching the gathered asset descriptive data to the fields included in the displayed electronic registration form; and

wherein the set of instructions that perform the action of completing perform further actions that include automatically filling in one or more of the fields using the matched asset descriptive data.

11. The information handling system of claim 7 wherein the set of instructions perform further actions comprising:

retrieving one or more network addresses, each of the network addresses corresponding to one or more of the plurality of assets included in the exception list;

including the retrieved network addresses in the generated exception list;

displaying the plurality of assets and a link corresponding to one or more of the plurality of assets that correspond to one of the network addresses;

selecting, by a user, one of the links that corresponds to a selected asset from the plurality of assets; and

retrieving, over a computer network, a data transmission that includes regulatory information that pertains to the selected asset.

12. A computer program product stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by an information handling system, causes the information handling system to perform actions that include:

reading a plurality of assets intended to be moved from a first geographical location to a second geographical location, wherein each of the assets includes asset descriptive data;

identifying a plurality of geographical regions that apply to the second geographical location;

retrieving one or more regulatory items for each of the identified geographical regions, wherein one or more of the regulatory items includes regulated item descriptive data;

comparing the asset descriptive data to the regulated item descriptive data;

identifying one of the plurality of assets as a registration asset that requires a registration in order to move the registration asset from the first geographical location to one of the identified geographical regions;

retrieving a link corresponding to an electronic registration form that corresponds to the registration;

generating an exception list that includes the regulatory items that apply to one or more of the plurality of assets based on the comparison, wherein the retrieved link is included in the exception list;

in response to the generating, receiving a selection of the retrieved link from a user;

retrieving the electronic registration form from the retrieved link in response to receiving the selection; and

displaying the retrieved electronic registration form on a display device.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the functional descriptive material causes the information handling system to perform further actions comprising:

ordering the plurality of geographic regions based on size of the geographic regions, wherein the regulatory items corresponding to smaller geographic regions are retrieved before retrieving the regulatory items corresponding to larger geographic regions.

14. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the functional descriptive material causes the information handling system to perform further actions comprising:

receiving one or more inputs corresponding to one or more fields included in the displayed electronic registration form;

completing the displayed electronic registration form using the received inputs; and

transmitting the completed electronic registration form to a server that processes the electronic registration form.

15. The computer program product of claim 14 wherein the wherein the functional descriptive material causes the information handling system to perform further actions comprising:

gathering the asset descriptive data that corresponds to the registration asset; and

matching the gathered asset descriptive data to the fields included in the displayed electronic registration form; and

wherein the completing further includes automatically filling in one or more of the fields using the matched asset descriptive data.

16. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the functional descriptive material causes the information handling system to perform further actions comprising:

writing to the exception list;

the asset descriptive data corresponding to each of the plurality of assets included in the exception list;

an identifier of one of the plurality of geographical regions that corresponds to the regulated item descriptive data used in the comparison; and

a network address corresponding to network locations of one or more of the regulatory items that correspond to the regulated item descriptive data used in the comparison.

17. The computer program product of claim 12 wherein the functional descriptive material causes the information handling system to perform further actions comprising:

retrieving one or more network addresses, each of the network addresses corresponding to one or more of the plurality of assets included in the exception list;

including the retrieved network addresses in the generated exception list;

displaying the plurality of assets and a link corresponding to one or more of the plurality of assets that correspond to one of the network addresses;

selecting, by a user, one of the links that corresponds to a selected asset from the plurality of assets; and

retrieving, over a computer network, a data transmission that includes regulatory information that pertains to the selected asset.