Patent ID: 8393541

Claim:
An automobile auction system for determining locations of automobiles at an automobile auction facility comprising a plurality of vehicles, the automobile auction system comprising: one or more custom scanning devices, wherein each custom scanning device comprises a bar code scanner configured to scan bar codes on the automobiles and a GPS sensor configured to record corresponding GPS coordinates associated with locations of the automobiles obtained at the time of the scanning, and wherein each custom scanning device does not have a user interface that enables users to enter data therein; a captured data interface configured to receive captured data from the one or more custom scanning devices, wherein the captured data comprises the scanned bar codes, the corresponding GPS coordinates associated with the locations of the automobiles, scanner ID, and times of scans; a map interface configured to receive mapping data from a map source, wherein the mapping data comprises a map of the automobile auction facility; and a server configured to process the scanned bar codes and the corresponding GPS coordinates associated with the locations of the automobiles, wherein the server associates the scanned bar codes and the corresponding GPS coordinates associated with the locations of the automobiles to the map and displays the location of the GPS coordinates on the map wherein the location of the GPS coordinates on the map comprise specific physical locations at the automobile auction facility where the barcodes on the automobiles were scanned and where the corresponding GPS coordinates associated with the automobiles were recorded at the time of the scanning, said system operable to determine the location of a plurality of automobiles at the facility.