Patent ID: 6918541

Claim:
An object identification and attribute information tracking and linking computer system having a stand-alone form factor, and capable of being connected to the communication medium of a data communication network, said object identification and attribute information tracking and linking computer system comprising: a housing; a first set of data input port connectors mounted on the exterior of said housing, for connection to one or more object identification data generating sources and capable of receiving object identity data elements from said one or more object identification data generating sources using a networking protocol, wherein said object identification data generating sources are disposed external to said housing; a second set of data input part connectors mounted on the exterior of said housing, for connection to one or more object attribute data generating sources and capable of receiving object attribute data elements from said one or more object attribute data generating sources using said networking protocol; and a data element queuing, handling, processing and linking mechanism operably connected to said first and second data input ports, for enabling the automatic queuing, handling, processing, and linking of each input object identification data element, with one or more object attribute data elements linked thereto, to produce a combined data element and transporting each combined data element to a database subsystem operably connected to said data communication network for storage and subsequent retrieval.