Method and apparatus for associating the movement of goods with the identity of an individual moving the goods

A machine-readable storage medium embodying a sequence of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method for automatically associating an identity of an entity with a movement of one or more objects in a controlled-access location, the method comprising:

• identifying, at a controller associated with the controlled-access location, an entity attempting to enter the controlled-access location;
• determining whether the entity is authorized to enter the controlled-access location based upon the entity identification;
• unlocking a locking mechanism to allow the entity to have access to the controlled-access location if the entity is authorized, wherein the entity may add, remove, return, move and/or update status of objects to/from/within the controlled-access location;
• and
• monitoring the location, movement, and status change of the entity and the objects within the controlled-access location using a wireless tracking system, wherein the movement of the objects within/to/from the controlled-access location is entered into a computer system by the entity using an input device.

A computer system, comprising:

• a processing unit;
• a memory coupled to the processing unit;
• and
• a process executed from the memory causing the processing unit to (i) automatically associate an identity of an entity with movement and/or status changes of objects to/from/within a controlled space, (ii) monitor the location and movement of the entity and objects within the controlled space via a wireless tracking system coupled to the computer system, and (iii) associate the identity of the entity with the movement or status changes of the objects according to information which is entered into the computer system by the entity using an input device coupled to the computer system.

A method, comprising:

• obtaining identity information regarding an entity which enters a controlled space;
• monitoring, using a wireless tracking system communicatively coupled to a computer system, locations and movements of the entity and objects within the controlled space;
• automatically associating, using the computer system, the identity information regarding the entity with status information regarding additions, removals, returns, defective status, or movements of the objects to/from/within the controlled space;
• and
• transmitting the status information and the associated identity information to a server communicatively coupled to the computer system and configured to automatically notify a user of the status information, wherein an access code for the controlled space is automatically generated as a result of such notification.

A method, comprising:

• obtaining identity information regarding an entity which enters a controlled space;
• monitoring, using a wireless tracking system communicatively coupled to a computer system, locations and movements of the entity and objects within the controlled space;
• and
• automatically associating, using the computer system, the identity information regarding the entity with status information regarding additions, removals, returns, defective status, or movements of the objects to/from/within the controlled space, which status information is entered into the computer system by the entity using an input device.