Patent ID: 7664686

Claim:
A machine-accessible medium containing instructions effective, when executing in a data processing system, to cause said data processing system to perform operations comprising: accessing an electronic asset tag of an asset device, the electronic asset tag having contents comprising an asset number; providing electronic asset tag authorization to the asset device, wherein providing electronic asset tag authorization comprises providing a password, a digital signature, a digital authentication, and an indication of identification; and after providing electronic asset tag authorization, modifying the contents of the electronic asset tag of the asset device, the operations further comprising: (i) initializing a connection with the asset device, prior to accessing the electronic asset tag; (ii) recording the assessed electronic asset tag to a separate device; (iii) replacing hardware in the asset device, subsequent to the recording of the assessed electronic asset tag to the separate device, wherein the replaced hardware includes at least some contents of the electronic asset tag; (iv) providing authorization to modify the electronic asset tag, subsequent to replacing the hardware in the asset device; and (v) reloading the electronic asset tag from the separate device.