Patent ID: 7464067

Claim:
An object monitoring and management system for managing objects possessed by each one of a plurality of operating entities, the system comprising: a central database for storing information about each object, the central database enabling each operating entity to retrieve, write and modify the information about objects that the operating entity possesses; an interface for permitting each operating entity to: create data access groups; register selected ones of a plurality of portable units with each data access group; and associate each data access group with a selected subset of the information about objects owned by the operating entity, such that each portable unit that is registered with a given data access group is enabled to access only the respective subset of the information associated with that data access group; wherein each portable unit: maintains a respective portable database for storing a local copy of the respective subset of the information associated with the data access group to which the portable unit is registered; permits a user to at least create new records in the respective portable database for storing information about new objects; and issues a respective new object identifier for each new object, the new object identifier being assigned to the corresponding new record and including a first character string uniquely associated with the portable unit and a second character string generated by the portable unit, the second character string being unique across at least the new object identifiers issued by the portable unit, such that each new object identifier is unique across the central database; and connection means for synchronizing the respective portable database of each portable unit with the central database.