Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PHYSICAL INVENTORY SYSTEM
Backqround of the I nvention
The present invention relates to digital computer-based systems
and more particularly to data base systems which account for a physical
inventory .
' At the present time it is known to account for a physical inventory
of goods using hand entry into paper records. It is aiso presently known
that a digital computer data system may be used to account for a physical
inventory and that part of the information related to each piece of physical
inventory may be at the location of each item. For example, a typical-
inventory system would record that a certain type of tool having an assigned
number is located in a specified building. It is also known that each
individual item may be named and designated by a label affixed to the item.
One type of label which may be used in connection with a digital computer-
based inventory system is a bar code label, which label is affixed to the
item and having a bar code of black and white paral!el stripes readable by
a hand-held bar code reader. A person taking an inventory would move
from place to place and direct the reading head of the bar code reader at
the various bar code labels. A list is automatically prepared by accumulating
the information from each bar code label on a portable recording device which
is connected to the bar code reader. At a convenient time the recording
device will unload the list, which may be compared against the master list
or otherwise used as part of the physical inventory system.
A problem is presented when the inventory consists of land and
fixtures, and items in or on the land, such as buildings, oil wells, pumps,
and items within the building. There is a problem in relating the physical
position of the land or the item to a known location. For example, certain
tax authorities, such as state or local governments, may wish to levy a tax
based on all the personal property owned by the taxpayer on a certain date.
The inventory of a large corporation would include items that are within
the taxing authority, subject to the personal property tax, and other items
which may be outside the geographic area o~ the taxing authority, although
CA 02013807 1998-07-23
still owned by the corporation. In that example, it is important to know not
only the inventory of each item but also its physical location in respect to
the geographic scope of the taxing authority.
Objectives and Features of the Invention
It is an objective of the present invention, called "The Benchmarcn,
to provide a digital computer data base system and method which will
accurately store information regarding physical inventory, including
information as to the location of each item in the inventory, related to its
position in geographic space.
It is a further objective of the present invention that the
information may be readily retrieved and may be readily changed as the
items move from one location to another or as items are added or
subtracted.
It is still a further objective of the present invention that the
information may be available to the user at his premises in a simple, readily
comprehended graphics format and further that a back-up copy of the
information is held in security at a remote location, for example, in a
different part of the country.
It is still a further objective of the present invention that the
inventory information is displayed on computer work station terminals having
interactive graphic screens, the terminals having interactive means by which
the data may be altered by the operator directly on the screen and the
changes on the screen will be immediately communicated to other work
station terminal screens in the networks.
- It is still a further objective of the present invention that the
inventory system may be operated at relatively low cost so that the cost of
maintaining each item currently in the inventory within the data base system
may be only pennies per year.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a system and
method for the inventory of a large number of physical items, such as land,
buildings, equipment, etc.
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CA 02013807 1998-07-23
A label may be affixed to each item to uniquely identify that item
by a bar code designation. A bar code reader, such as a hand-held bar
code laser reader, is used to read the labels. The system further includes
bar code data initial storage, for example, a portable teletransactional
computer instrument, to store a collection of the bar code designation data.
Geographic locator means is used to associate data providing the
absolute geographic location of each item in terms of latitude and longitude
and elevation with the item designation data. Preferably the locator means
utilizes a digitalized aerial photograph showing the location being located
and a marker identified in a geographic map which is accurate to within one
foot.
The system further includes a work station terminal used to dispiay
inventory data under user control. Each work station terminal includes an
interactive graphics display screen and a stylus to alter or overlay the
graphics displayed on the screen.
The work station terminals, at least one bar code initial storage
- means and a central digital computer unit form a local area network. A
back-up storage means at a remote location, relative to the local area
networks, is used to store duplicate inventory data as a back-up in case of
loss or damage of the data held in the respective central digital computer
units .
Brief Descriotion of the Drawings
Other objective and features of the present invention will be
apparent from the following detailed description setting forth the inventor's
- presently known best mode of practicing the invention. The detailed
description should be taken in ccnjunction with the accompanying drawings.
In the drawings:
Figure 1 is an overall block diagram of the system of the present
invention;
Figure 2 is a drawing in perspective of a computer terminal used
as the input and output means of the system of Figure 1; and
Figure 3 illustrates the method and system of obtaining exact
geographic information about an item of the physical inventory.
CA 02013807 1998-07-23
Detailed Descri~tion of the Invention
As shown in Figure 1, the system of the present invention
comprises a number of groups of local area networks. This assumes that
the user has a number of work station terminals. However, in the event the
user has only one work station terminal, for example, if the user is a small
business, the local area network would be replaced by a single terminal.
The work station terminals are computer terminals 10, each of which has an
interactive graphics display 11, the display being the screen of a cathode
ray tube (CRT). Each of the terminals also has a means by which the user
may alter the graphics directly on the display and simultaneously enter the
information into the system, or alter such information, that means being
preferably a stylus 12 or alternatively a "mouse", keyboard or scanner with
vector capacity. A user may touch a stylus 12 to the interactive graphics
~ display 11 to annotate an image. That annotation will be simultaneously
displayed on the other work station terminals of the local area network. In
addition, each of the terminals has a keyboard 13. Each terminal is
connected by a communication line 14 to a bus 15. The bus, in turn, is
connected to the central processing computer unit 16, which is a digital
computer within the local area network.
Preferably, the system uses "split screen technology~, which is
explained below. There are two means of identifying an inventory item in
the system. The first method is the "scientific locator" in which items are
--- stored scientifically according to their physical location using latitude,
longitude and elevation. The second identifying means is for the user to
provide the inventory item with a generic or colloquial or familiar grid
location name. This generic, colloquial or familiar grid location may be
changed from time to time even though the item stays put. However, if the
item is physically moved, the scientific locator must be changed to the
address of the new position of the item. The work station screen preferably
is a split screen which displays the scientific locator on one side and the
CA 02013807 1998-07-23
generic, colloquial or familiar grid location simultaneously on the other side
of the screen (graphics display 11).
Suitable work station terminals are manufactured by Interand
Corporation, Chicago, Illinois, whose DISCON 1000 is an integrated
- 5 videographic teleconferencing system which may communicate over
telephone lines. The DISCON 1000 uses a 1 9-inch display face having full
color and seven color graphic annotations. It has a 19-inch RGB high
resoiution shadow mask CRT with a resolution of 1024 pixels horizontal, 480
vertical. An alternative is DISCON 725, which is a compact integrated
teleconferencing system having a stylus so that the user may draw directly
onto the video image and instantly transmit graphics over ordinary telephone
lines
In Figure 1, within the local are network 1 there is shown, for
purposes of clarity of illustration, only the first terminal, labeled 1 0-A, andthe last terminal, labeled 10-1N. It will be understood, however, that there
are a plurality of terminals indicated by the dash lines between them which
constitute the local area netwcrk.
The computer unit is connected to the remote storage location 21
by means of communication line 20-1, which, for example, may be a
telephone line or a satellite communication line. The function of the remote
storage location 21 is a back-up system in case the information held within
the local central computer 16-1 is destroyed or damaged.
As shown in Figure 1, the remote storage location 21 has a
security provision 22 and a data base storage 23, which is the back-up
storage. The security is preferably a code word which is known only to the
authorized person at the individual location. The code word must be keyed
into the system before the back-up data base storage 23 may be accessed.
For simplicity of illustration, there is shown in Figure 1 only two
local area networks, labeled LAN-1 and LAN-N. It will be understood,
however, that a large number of local area networks may have access to the
remote storage location 21.
One method of labeling the individual items of an inventory is
shown in Figures 2A and 2B. As shown in Figure 2A, a disk 30 having
U:\PERSONAL\READYN\PAT\WYATT\854941\P2-P5.PAT
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a drawer 31 is labeled inconspicuously on its side 32 with a label 33. The
label 33, enlarged, is shown in Figure 2B. It i5 preferably a label having
a bar code 34 consisting of a series of vertically aligned white and black
lines. The label 33 may also have the same information in alphanumeric
letters 35.
Figure 3 illustrates one method of obtaining an exact and "absolute"
geographic location. The absolute location is the position in terms of latitude
and longitude and elevation, as distinct from a location by building, hut
or street. As shown in Figure 3, an airport runway 40 has its end marked
by a marker 41. The exact geographic location of the end of the runway
is known from maps of the United States Geographic Agency ( NOAA ) . On
those maps the position of the marker is exact within one foot or less.
It is possible, by aerial photography, to utilize the airport marker as a
position location and from that marker exactly locate every other object
within the photograph.
As shown in Figure 3, a building 42 having a roof 43 is located
at its exact geographic position by placing a colored flag 44 on the corner
of the roof. The flag 44 may be seen in an aerial photograph in r~lationship
to the marker 41, which will be shown in the same photograph. Consequently,
the exact location of the corner of the bui,ding 41 may be located in terms
of longitude and latitude and elevation.
In one example, the geographic location is obtained from the
generation of digital terrain elevation data ( DTED ) . Precision computer-
controlled electro-optical scanning of stereo pairs of high-resolution aerial
photographs provides a digital record of the ground elevation at each latitude
and longitude and elevation at the selected samples in the photographs.
The precision instruments that generate DTED are available from Systems,
Inc. Digital terrain elevation data (DETL) is a standard output of the
Defense Mapping Agency. The algorithms and software exist to extract
this data from stereo photography.
Preferably the location information, namely, exact longitude and
latitude and elevation, is o~tained from remote sensing, for example, from
high resolution and photography, as m~ntioned above. The standard
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aerial photograph is a 9" x 9" aerial photograph from the U.S.G.A.
( United States Geographic Agency ) . Alternatively, the location may be
obtained by a survey, using high precision surveying insturments.
A digiti~ed image may be formed from the standard 9" x 9" aerial
photograph from the U.S.G.A.; for example, it may be digitized to 8,000 x
8,000 pixels by the digitizer 22. The area covered by the aerial photograph
is about eight kilometers square, so the resolution of the pixels is about
a meter on the ground. That data is then combined with elevation data
on the computer.
The bar code label affixed on each item provides a "bar code
designation" for that item. The bar code reader reads the labels and its
output is "bar code inventory data" which is collected by the teletransactional
computer instrument 19, which unloads the data to PC (computer terminal) 20,
see Figure 1. The "absolute geographic data" refers to the latitude and
15 longitude, and in most cases the elevation, of each inventory item. It
is distinct from data giving location by street address or building address.
The absolute geogrpahic data and the item designation code are combined,
for each item, to produce "inventory data" as to each item. A hand-held
camera 21, forexample, a 35-mm camera, produces images which are digitized
20 by digitizer 22 and entered into the system.
Preferably the back-up storage ldata base storage 23) is in another
part of the country from the local area networks. For example, a mid-west
back-up storage location would service a large number of local area networks
located in the eastern United States. The back-up storage preferably
25 utilizes, for its mass storage, non-erasable optical disks which are written
and read by laser beams.
The system and method of the present invention may be viewed
as analogous, in general concept, to "vector space" process in which"vector
space" is a set representing a generalization of a system of vectors. The
30 vectors here are the identification of items and their absolute geographic
location which is in three-dimensional space and information is placed on
images by the user. In contras~, a system with such abs~lute geographic
location may be considered diametric or complementary, in general concept,
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to a "raster" system in which the scan pattern for items is from side to
side in lines from top to bottom.
The "inventory data" preferably includes information, as to each
item, telling "what", for example, a desk, "where" its absolute geographic
location and its location within a building at an address, and "when", for
example, the date it was purchased or the date it was refinished. Each
item has a "three dimensional inventory standard", which is its latitude,
longitude and elevation. Also each item has a laser bar code inventory
which is the bar code label on the item. A "quality and quantity analysis
standard" is provided as part of the inventory data and may be the item's
replacement cost or fair market value. Further, each inventory data
preferably employs the user's own numbering system for each item which
provides a "filing, storage and retrieval standard".
The inventory data may be printed-out on "hard copy", preferably
in color, at 300-400 pixels per square inch by a suitable printer such as
a multi-color high-density dot matrix printer or a laser printer 18.
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