| US 7,660,812 B2 | ||
| Tracking physical inventory of data storage media | ||
| Brian D. Findlay, Woodbury, Minn. (US); and Purushotham G. Lala Balaji, St. Paul, Minn. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Imation Corp., Oakdale, Minn. (US) | ||
| Filed on Sep. 02, 2005, as Appl. No. 11/219,044. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2007/0055686 A1, Mar. 08, 2007 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 7/00 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 707—102 [705/1] | 13 Claims |
| 1. A method comprising:
generating a non-proprietary media tracking database for tracking a set of data storage media;
populating one or more fields of the non-proprietary media tracking database with manufacturer-assigned unique identification
numbers for each of the data storage media, wherein the manufacturer-assigned unique identification numbers are unique for
all media manufactured by a media supplier, and wherein the unique identification numbers for each of the data storage media
are stored in readable radio frequency identification (RFID) tags affixed to or within housings of the data storage media,
the RFID tags being selected from a group consisting of international organization for standardization (ISO) 18000 tags and
AutoID Center electronic product code (EPC) tags;
populating one or more fields of the non-proprietary media tracking database with VolSer numbers for each of the data storage
media, wherein the VolSer numbers are not unique for all media manufactured by the media supplier;
populating one or more fields of the non-proprietary media tracking database with purchase order numbers for each of the storage
media;
populating one or more fields of the non-proprietary media tracking database with manufacturing data for each of the data
storage media;
populating one or more fields of the non-proprietary media tracking database with one or more performance data, usage data,
and physical inventory data;
defining the manufacturer-assigned unique identification numbers as primary keys of the non-proprietary media tracking database
for each of the data storage media such that the manufacturer-assigned unique identification numbers are relationally linked
to the VolSer numbers, the purchase order numbers and the manufacturing data for each of the data storage media; and
selling the set of data storage media with the non-proprietary media tracking database to an end user.
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