MANAGING AN INVENTORY OF DEVICES

摘要

The locations of a plurality of devices (12a-12g)are tracked using a network (14) of communication links (16a-16d), each of which corresponds to a location. Each device (12a-12g) is given a tag (16a-16d) that identifies the device (12a-12g) with respect to other devices (12a-12g) and that is connectable to a communication link (16a-16d) when the device (12a-12g) is disposed at the location to which the link (16a-16d) corresponds. Each tag (30a-30g) that is connected to each communication link (16a-16d) is detected, and the location of each device (12a-12g) is determined based on the detection. One feature of the technique is additionally determining the conditions of the devices (12a-12g) by correlating one or more communication links (16a-16d) with conditions. The technique is simple to use and highly effective technique in tracking devices (12a-12g) stored at various locations throughout a facility. Device (12a-12g) location and condition are monitored continuously, thereby reducing the risk that the removal of a device (12a-12g) from storage (18) will go undetected.