US Patent 8004401 System and method to manage movement of assets

An embodiment of a system to manage movement of at least one asset is provided. The system includes at least one tracking element operable to generate a signal representative of a location of the asset, and a controller in communication with the tracking element. The controller includes computer readable program instructions representative of the steps of receiving the signal representative of the location of the asset having a unique identifier; identifying a status indicator for the asset having the unique identifier; comparing a change in the location of the asset in view of the status indicator relative to a predetermined location change rule of an invalid movement of the at least one asset from one state to another without passing through a CLEANING state; and generating a signal representative of the invalid change in the location in response to an output of the comparing step for illustration on a display.