Patent ID: 7171381

Claim:
An asset management system for managing assets, said asset management system comprising: means for generating data associated with an asset; means for storing the data associated with the asset at the asset; means for applying at least one identifier to the data to form a dataset; means for transmitting the dataset from the asset to a wireless infrastructure via a first communication link; means for storing the dataset at the wireless infrastructure; means for transmitting the dataset to a central location via a second communication link independent of the first communication link being simultaneously established; and an asset management unit installed on the asset for: determining whether the asset is out of communication range for the wireless infrastructure; determining that the asset has returned to the communication range of the wireless infrastructure: instructing the means for transmitting to transmit the dataset to the wireless infrastructure when it is determined that the asset has returned to within the communication range of the wireless infrastructure; identifying actions to be performed on the mobile asset; notifying the central location of the actions to be performed on the mobile asset; notifying the central location when all of the actions to be performed have been completed.