Method and system for locating resources and communicating within an enterprise

A resource management system for tracking locations of portable resources within an enterprise space and generating views of the portable resources at specific locations within the enterprise space, the system comprising:

• a database storing resource identifiers for each of a plurality of portable resources located within the enterprise space and location information indicating current locations within the enterprise of the portable resources;
• a resource management server including a server processor;
• a plurality of data collectors;
• at least one tracking device associated with each of the plurality of the portable resources wherein the tracking device stores the resource identifier corresponding to the resource that the tracking device is associated with, each tracking device including a movement sensor, a device processor, a battery, and a transmitter, each device processor programed to perform the steps of:
• (i) using signals from the movement sensor to detect motion;
• (ii) upon detecting motion, transmitting a motion detected signal to the server processor, the motion detected signal including the resource identifier assigned to an associated resource and the time at which the most recent movement was detected;
• the server processor programmed to perform the steps of:
• (i) receiving motion detected signals;
• (ii) using the motion detected signals to identify the locations of the resources associated with the tracking devices and identities of those devices;
• (iii) updating the database to indicate current locations of the resources;
• and
• (iii) using the data to generate views of the resources.

A resource tracking system for use within an enterprise space, the tracking system comprising:

• a server processor programmed to receive resource identifiers and location information and use that information to generate views of resources within the enterprise;
• a wireless network including wireless access points that enables linking to the server processor at locations within a wireless network subarea within the enterprise space;
• a plurality of tracking devices, a separate tracking device mounted to each of several enterprise resources and including a device processor, a battery and a transmitter, at least a subset of the tracking devices and associated resources located at enterprise locations outside the wireless network subarea, each tracking device processor programmed to periodically wirelessly broadcast a resource unique identifier within an area including the tracking device;
• a plurality of portable data collectors, each data collector including a collector processor, a memory, a battery, a receiver and a transmitter, each data collector processor programmed to perform the steps of:
• (i) receiving resource identifiers from proximate tracking devices;
• (ii) upon receiving a resource identifier, identifying the location of the data collector and storing the location and the resource identifier in the collector memory;
• and
• (iii) upon entering the wireless network subarea, transmit the tracking device location and resource identifier to the server processor via at least one of the access points.