US Patent 7277889 Asset management and status system

An asset management and status system includes a number of data communication terminals and one or more interconnected remote computing systems, which may be utilized for managing and tracking a large number of varied and distributed assets. Each data communication terminal is arranged to interrogate a proximate electronic device of an asset to determine an identifying code, and further activate an included position determining module to determine a current location. Subsequently, the identifying code and current location information are transmitted to the remote computing system for use in updating a database established and maintained on the remote computing system.