George C. Fassett, Jr. in 1999 patented a technology he started to develop in 1996 to revolutionize the way the internet viewed searching for anything online. As an avid gamer, software developer, and an entrepreneur he developed a process that later became known as FileKey. FileKey is a patent protected system, found at Patent #6,532,481.

The rights to use this patent can be inquired to georgefassett@fassettinvestments.com. If you would like to learn more about George C. Fassett, Jr. you can visit his primary endevour, THUMBTECHS CORPORATION, where he has been successful in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in providing professional IT services to local businesses for the last 13 years.

Overview of the FileKey Technology:

Think of the FileKey Technology like the UPC bar code on a product in the grocery store, say a can of beans. A can of beans can be delivered to any grocery store, and you can scan that UPC code on a multitude of equipment, and all sorts of information is attached to the records of that UPC code database.

The downfall is that many times that UPC code information is "store specific", while not equipment specific, because all types of equipment can read and interpret the UPC code, the equipment tends to tie back into a local system (even if its distributed throughout the company, it is still content that the public in general has no access to). The local system would then have all the information needed by that company stored locally on the system, be it price, distributor, alternate distributor, cost, brand name, etc. This is not unlike any other physical product in the world, from auto parts, to groceries, to beauty products, to software on the shelf, to electronics on the shelf, you get the point. Walk into a Walmart, pick up an item, take it to a price checker on a post in the store, wave it under it, and it will tell you the name, who made it, price, sale price, maybe even what isle to find more.

FileKey is a superior system to this.

A FileKey is a Code. But the code looks more "human". Much like 10 years ago trying to remember a telephone number vs. today trying to remember a website address. Website addresses are much easier to remember because they are real words, phrases, even if they have numbers in them, overall it is much easier to remember.

FileKey first off does not need to be printed on a physical product, although, I would highly recommend it. People do not want to sit at a search engine on the Internet and try to type in a UPC code, or add a bar code reader to each computer, or try to remember one. Putting a FileKey on a product would be highly recommended.

FileKey(s), like websites, are setup on databases administered by your local IT providers. They would work off of the same logic as a DNS system for websites. There would a be a root FileKey server in the world that would then direct you down to a local IT provider and a local FileKey server. This means that FileKey(s) would remain unique in the world, just like website addressess. Equally, unlike your grocery store accessing only "local" information inside their network, a FileKey can be accessed from anywhere the Internet can be accessed, or referenced. The big difference here, is that a FileKey doesn't link you to a website, it links you to a product. Like any website, the information provided to the public, vs. the information provided securely or with different levels of access can be determined. And not just determined by standardized product fields the FileKey would require, but anything user definable as well.

FileKey(s), like websites, can be setup for internal or intranet use as well, providing very little or no outside information.

Advantages?

E-Commerce. Now we can have a product identification system that is universal, not just at the grocery store, or electronics store, but online as well. A FileKey at Amazon.com is the same FileKey at BestBuy.com (given of course both sell an identical product). This allows us to shop easier than ever before, now directories of stores can be listed and compared, and prices are for the exact same item.

Accessories. Batteries, headsets, mice, food, etc. Anything that goes with something else can now be referenced difinitively via the FileKey system, no more guessing if this product works with another one. Either the FileKey is listed or its not.

Revisions, upgrades. Like Accessories, we can track all revisions of a certain product, or for things like software, upgrades or patches, with one universal system.

Software Licenses, Patches, Drivers. Like Revisions, but deeper, why do we have 5 different patchers on our computer systems? Windows Update? Norton Update? Quicktime Update? Adobe Update? Lets have one update system, that uses the FileKey system to distribute ALL updates, all drivers, all updates to drivers. FileKey(s) are electronical, not physical (although they can be printed, referenced, and used in a paper format) they are referenced world wide by world wide systems.

Plug n Play. With broadband in the world now, we plug a new device into our system, and immediately it looks for a driver. With FileKey, the Plug and Play bios can retain the FileKey of the product, and the FileKey patch/upgrade system can go find not only the correct driver, but the newest most reliable driver available for it and install. No searching the web, no looking through pages of websites, no guessing which version to download. Plug n Play can figure that out with the FileKey system already.

Business to Business. Look at companies like Dell or HP or AOL or Yahoo or GM or Toyota. They have entire departments organized to keep massive databases about OTHER companies products. How insane is that. Dell doesn't make the nVidia video card it installs, but they have to support it. Dell has to keep track of everything nVidia does to make sure the drivers and support information on the Dell website is accurate and up to date. HP makes a printer, but the power supply was made by a factory in Taiwan. What if that factory no longer can produce power supplies and they get them from alternate vendors, but the alternate vendor needs an adaptor kit. HP has to track the change, and track the addition of an adaptor kit to get a more generic power supply to fit to their specific printer. Same with car parts..or any parts. FileKey(s) can cross reference other FileKey(s) that make themselves up. Such that one FileKey is made of 10, 20, 100, 1000 other FileKey(s). A good Example is that a Cell Phone made by Nokia may be FileKey Nokia5200.1 and the battery in the Nokia is a Moto3v.4, if you reference Nokia5200.1, it can say it is composed of the following FileKey(s).. and in that list would be the Moto3v.4, as well as a short description of what that item is.

This information is KNOWN by the developers of these products, yet, Dell, HP, GM, Nokia, Toyota, etc. all have their own systems to track what all the other developers are doing, when those developers are already doing that. nVidia KNOWS what the most stable version of their driver is, they can SHARE that with Dell, HP, Gateway, the whole world, very easily through a FileKey. Dell no longer need an inside support team to figure that out, and update their databases. Their databases would update automatically because all their databases contain is FileKey(s) into another companies database.

Confused? Probably, this is why in 1996 this was way over people's heads, and today its starting to make more sense (2006).. 10 years later.

Ultimately, the sweet thing about this system is that you can FileKey anything, from Documents, to operating systems, to software, embedded systems, to parts and pieces (physical or virtual), to the end products. It creates a universal way to encode EVERYTHING.

Think of life as we know it, if we could go to www.google.com and type in Nokia5200.1 and the first listing was the actual OFFICIAL exact entry at Nokia's website of that exact phone. But Google can also show you every store on the internet that sells that phone, it can show you every store on the internet that sells accessories for that exact phone. It can show you every website on the internet that has articles or information for that exact phone. It can show you every upgrade to that exact phone. Etc. Etc.

Think of life at Nokia, where they can have a system now that tracks every schematic, document, white paper, screw, screen, buttons, batteries, cords, accessories, etc. that relate to that phone, and they can flag levels of access to outside developers, resellers, manufactorers, etc. and then every store, reseller, reviewer, etc. can access public and restricted (if they have priveledges) information directly from Nokia's servers, anytime they want, like accessing Nokia's website(s) whenever they want.

That is FileKey.

Fassett applied it and built it for modifications to computer games, it was only a test to see if it could be done, and he did. It was a huge success, but those days have passed, people simply liked the functionality of the sites, and did not understand the technology. Today, Fassett intends to continue to revise and develop this website to showcase this information clearer and more presentable. But for now, this is a good overview.

Interested? Questions? Comments? Email georgefassett@fassettinvestments.com