Patent ID: 8396280

Claim:
A portable apparatus, comprising: a camera operable to capture images associated with an inspection of each of multiple assets; a sound recorder operable to, concurrent with the capture of the images, capture sounds associated with the inspection of each of the assets, the sounds related to the images and including one or more oral notes from a user inspecting each of the assets and one or more sounds associated with an operation of each of the assets; a detector operable to automatically identify each of the assets at the portable apparatus; a display operable to present a checklist relating to the inspection of at least one of the assets; a controller configured to associate at the portable apparatus the images of the assets and the sounds associated with the inspection of the assets with information identifying the assets; a memory configured to store the images of the assets, the sounds associated with the inspection of the assets, and the information identifying the assets; and an interface operable to transmit the images of the assets, the sounds associated with the inspection of the assets, and the information identifying the assets; wherein the apparatus is further configured to compare at least one of the images of the assets, the sounds associated with the inspection of the assets, and the information identifying the assets with data relating to at least one of the assets in order to perform an examination of the at least one of the assets; and wherein the interface is operable to transmit the images, the sounds, and the information identifying the assets to a server that is configured to: analyze the images and the sound recordings to determine characteristics of each of the assets including a health of each of the assets and any identified problems associated with the assets; verify that required inspections of the assets have been performed; and in response to detecting an ambiguity in the information identifying one of the assets, at least one of: collect additional information regarding the specific asset from the user and request verification of the identity of the asset from the user.