Context-aware and real-time tracking

• US 20030139968A1
• Filed: 04/30/2002
• Published: 07/24/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Ebert, Peter S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,260,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for context-aware and real-time tracking of articles. In one aspect, a method includes: receiving multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read automatically from a tag bound to an article, each instance also including status information including a location of the tag and article; receiving one or more instances of context information, each instance describing an associated non-taggable physical circumstance, the context information indicating a status including a location of the circumstance, the multiple instances of context information collectively including information describing multiple circumstances; using the received tag-read-data and context information to maintain physical objects and context objects in a virtual world, the physical objects representing the articles and the context objects representing the circumstances; and detecting interactions in the virtual world between the circumstances and the articles.

Claims

1. A method for context-aware and real-time tracking of articles, comprising:

receiving multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an article, the information read including a unique digital identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including status information including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound article when the unique identifier was read from the tag, the multiple instances of tag-read-data collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple articles;

receiving one or more instances of context information, each instance describing an associated non-taggable physical circumstance, the context information indicating a status including a location of the circumstance, the multiple instances of context information collectively including information describing multiple circumstances;

using the received tag-read-data and context information to maintain physical objects and context objects in a virtual world, the physical objects including an object for each of the multiple articles and the context objects including an object for each of the multiple circumstances, each of the objects representing the status of its corresponding article or circumstance; and

detecting interactions occurring in the virtual world between the circumstances and the articles as represented by the objects.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the information in the virtual world about the articles and circumstances is mapped to virtual-world-wide standardized dimensions of time, three-dimensional space, and unique identity, whereby the articles and circumstances can be tracked relative to each other through space and time.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an alert for a user of the virtual world whenever a detected interaction is determined to affect any of the multiple articles, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining in the virtual world a representation of a current location of each of the articles and a representation of a current location of each of the circumstances, the representations each reflecting most recently received tag-read-data and context information.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

representing locations and circumstances by latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

maintaining a history of the locations of articles and a history of the locations of the circumstances.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

deriving a prediction from the virtual world of a future location of at least one of the articles based on the history of the locations of articles.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

deriving the prediction of the future location also based on the history of the locations of the circumstances.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining in the virtual world a representation of a current state of each of the articles and a representation of a current state of each of the circumstances, the representations each reflecting most recently received tag-read-data and context information.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

maintaining a history of the states of articles and a history of the states of the circumstances.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

deriving a prediction from the virtual world of a future state for at least one of the articles based on the history of the states of articles.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

deriving the prediction of the future state also based on the history of the states of the circumstances.

13. The method of claim 2 or claim 9, further comprising:

associating time stamps with each instance of tag-read-data and context information, each time stamp being synchronized to a single standard.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the non-taggable circumstances include a weather-related circumstance; and

the location of the weather-related circumstance is described by at least a latitude, longitude, and altitude.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the non-taggable circumstances include a traffic accident; and

the location of the traffic accident is described by at least a latitude, longitude, and altitude.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more instances of hierarchy information, each instance describing a hierarchy among articles represented in the virtual world; and

using the received hierarchy information to maintain in the virtual world context objects each representing one of the hierarchies.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

at least one of the hierarchies is a relationship among articles in which some particular articles are contained within another article.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving sensor information obtained from a sensor associated with a first article; and

updating a first physical object for the first article with the sensor information.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving instances of context information comprises:

receiving instances of context information from external systems.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving instances of context information comprises:

receiving instances of context information, where the instances include telemetry data from a sensor associated with a particular location.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving telemetry data generated by a sensor associated with a particular point or area and representing a circumstance located at the particular point or area; and

generating an alert for a user of the virtual world when the virtual world detects that an article that would be affected by the circumstance represented by the telemetry data is at or in the point or area, as represented in the virtual world, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving temperature data generated by a temperature sensor associated with a particular point or area and representing the current temperature of the point or area in a context object in the virtual world; and

generating an alert for a user of the virtual world when the virtual world detects that an article that would be affected by the current temperature is at or in the point or area, as the article and current temperature are represented in the virtual world, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attaching a temperature exception to a physical object, and causing an action to occur when the temperature exception is satisfied.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein:

the action comprises generating an alert for a user, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attaching a rule to a physical object, the rule being operable to trigger alert events or cause actions depending on current information in the virtual world.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

attaching a rule to a context object, the rule being operable to trigger alert events or cause actions depending on current information in the virtual world.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, processing, and responding to a query concerning the status of an article at a current or past time as the article is or was represented in the virtual world.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving, processing, and responding to a query concerning the status of articles having a particular relationship to a particular article at a current or past time as the articles and particular article are or were represented in the virtual world.

29. A computer product, tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, for context-aware and real time tracking of articles, the product comprising instructions operable to cause a programmable processor to:

receive multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an article, the information read including a unique digital identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including status information including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound article when the unique identifier was read from the tag, the multiple instances of tag-read-data collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple articles;

receive one or more instances of context information, each instance describing an associated non-taggable physical circumstance, the context information indicating a status including a location of the circumstance, the multiple instances of context information collectively including information describing multiple circumstances;

use the received tag-read-data and context information to maintain physical objects and context objects in a virtual world, the physical objects including an object for each of the multiple articles and the context objects including an object for each of the multiple circumstances, each of the objects representing the status of its corresponding article or circumstance; and

detect interactions occurring in the virtual world between the circumstances and articles as represented by the objects.

30. The product of claim 29, wherein:

the information in the virtual world about the articles and circumstances is mapped to virtual-world-wide standardized dimensions of time, three-dimensional space, and unique identity, whereby the articles and circumstances can be tracked relative to each other through space and time.

31. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

generate an alert for a user of the virtual world whenever a detected interaction is determined to affect any of the multiple articles, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

32. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

maintain in the virtual world a representation of a current location of each of the articles and a representation of a current location of each of the circumstances, the representations each reflecting most recently received tag-read-data and context information.

33. The product of claim 32, further comprising instructions to:

maintain a history of the locations of articles and a history of the locations of the circumstances.

34. The product of claim 32, further comprising instructions to:

represent locations and circumstances by latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes.

35. The product of claim 33, further comprising instructions to:

derive a prediction from the virtual world of a future location of at least one of the articles based on the history of the locations of articles.

36. The product of claim 35, further comprising instructions to:

deriving the prediction of the future location also based on the history of the locations of the circumstances.

37. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

maintain in the virtual world a representation of a current state of each of the articles and a representation of a current state of each of the circumstances, the representations each reflecting most recently received tag-read-data and context information.

38. The product of claim 37, further comprising instructions to:

maintain a history of the states of articles and a history of the states of the circumstances.

39. The product of claim 38, further comprising instructions to:

derive a prediction from the virtual world of a future state for at least one of the articles based on the history of the states of articles.

40. The product of claim 39, further comprising instructions to:

deriving the prediction of the future state also based on the history of the states of the circumstances.

41. The product of claim 32 or claim 37, further comprising instructions to:

associate time stamps with each instance of tag-read-data and context information, each time stamp being synchronized to a single standard.

42. The product of claim 29, wherein:

the non-taggable circumstances include a weather-related circumstance; and

the location of the weather-related circumstance is described by at least a latitude, longitude, and altitude.

43. The product of claim 29, wherein:

the non-taggable circumstances include a traffic accident; and

the location of the traffic accident is described by at least a latitude, longitude, and altitude.

44. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

receive one or more instances of hierarchy information, each instance describing a hierarchy among articles represented in the virtual world; and

use the received hierarchy information to maintain in the virtual world context objects each representing one of the hierarchies.

45. The product of claim 44, wherein:

at least one of the hierarchies is a relationship among articles in which some particular articles are contained within another article.

46. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

receive sensor information obtained from a sensor associated with a first article; and

update a first physical object for the first article with the sensor information.

47. The product of claim 29, wherein instructions to receive instances of context information comprise instructions to:

receive instances of context information from external systems.

48. The product of claim 29, wherein instructions to receive instances of context information comprise instructions to:

receive instances of context information, where the instances include telemetry data from a sensor associated with a particular location.

49. The product of claim 48, further comprising instructions to:

receive telemetry data generated by a sensor associated with a particular point or area and represent a circumstance located at the particular point or area; and

generate an alert for a user of the virtual world when the virtual world detects that an article that would be affected by the circumstance represented by the telemetry data is at or in the point or area, as represented in the virtual world, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

50. The product of claim 48, further comprising instructions to:

receive temperature data generated by a temperature sensor associated with a particular point or area and representing the current temperature of the point or area in a context object in the virtual world; and

generate an alert for a user of the virtual world when the virtual world detects that an article that would be affected by the current temperature is at or in the point or area, as the article and current temperature are represented in the virtual world, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

51. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

attach a temperature exception to a physical object, and

cause an action to occur when the temperature exception is satisfied.

52. The product of claim 51, wherein:

the action comprises generating an alert for a user, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

53. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

attach a rule to a physical object, the rule being operable to trigger alert events or cause actions depending on current information in the virtual world.

54. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

attach a rule to a context object, the rule being operable to trigger alert events or cause actions depending on current information in the virtual world.

55. The product of claim 29, further comprising instructions to:

receive, process, and respond to a query concerning the status of an article at a current or past time as the article is or was represented in the virtual world.

56. The product of claim 55, further comprising instructions to:

receive, process, and respond to a query concerning the status of articles having a particular relationship to a particular article at a current or past time as the articles and particular article are or were represented in the virtual world.

57. A system, for context-aware and real-time tracking of articles, comprising:

means for receiving multiple instances of tag-read-data, each instance including information read from a tag bound to an article, the information read including a unique digital identifier read automatically from the tag, each instance also including status information including a location of the corresponding tag and its bound article when the unique identifier was read from the tag, the multiple instances of tag-read-data collectively including information read from tags bound to multiple articles;

means for receiving one or more instances of context information, each instance describing an associated non-taggable physical circumstance, the context information indicating a status including a location of the circumstance, the multiple instances of context information collectively including information describing multiple circumstances;

means for using the received tag-read-data and context information to maintain physical objects and context objects in a virtual world, the physical objects including an object for each of the multiple articles and the context objects including an object for each of the multiple circumstances, each of the objects representing the status of its corresponding article or circumstance; and

means for detecting interactions occurring in the virtual world between the circumstances and the articles as represented by the objects.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein:

the information in the virtual world about the articles and circumstances is mapped to virtual-world-wide standardized dimensions of time, three-dimensional space, and unique identity, whereby the articles and circumstances can be tracked relative to each other through space and time.

59. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for generating an alert for a user of the virtual world whenever a detected interaction is determined to affect any of the multiple articles, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

60. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for maintaining in the virtual world a representation of a current location of each of the articles and a representation of a current location of each of the circumstances, the representations each reflecting most recently received tag-read-data and context information.

61. The system of claim 60, further comprising:

means for representing locations and circumstances by latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes.

62. The system of claim 60, further comprising:

means for maintaining a history of the locations of articles and a history of the locations of the circumstances.

63. The system of claim 62, further comprising:

means for deriving a prediction from the virtual world of a future location of at least one of the articles based on the history of the locations of articles.

64. The system of claim 63, further comprising:

means for deriving the prediction of the future location also based on the history of the locations of the circumstances.

65. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for maintaining in the virtual world a representation of a current state of each of the articles and a representation of a current state of each of the circumstances, the representations each reflecting most recently received tag-read-data and context information.

66. The system of claim 65, further comprising:

means for maintaining a history of the states of articles and a history of the states of the circumstances.

67. The system of claim 66, further comprising:

means for deriving a prediction from the virtual world of a future state for at least one of the articles based on the history of the states of articles.

68. The system of claim 67, further comprising:

means for deriving the prediction of the future state also based on the history of the states of the circumstances.

69. The system of claim 58 or claim 65, further comprising:

means for associating time stamps with each instance of tag-read-data and context information, each time stamp being synchronized to a single standard.

70. The system of claim 57, wherein:

the non-taggable circumstances include a weather-related circumstance; and

the location of the weather-related circumstance is described by at least a latitude, longitude, and altitude.

71. The system of claim 57, wherein:

the non-taggable circumstances include a traffic accident; and

the location of the traffic accident is described by at least a latitude, longitude, and altitude.

72. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for receiving one or more instances of hierarchy information, each instance describing a hierarchy among articles represented in the virtual world; and

means for using the received hierarchy information to maintain in the virtual world context objects each representing one of the hierarchies.

73. The system of claim 72, wherein:

at least one of the hierarchies is a relationship among articles in which some particular articles are contained within another article.

74. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for receiving sensor information obtained from a sensor associated with a first article; and

means for updating a first physical object for the first article with the sensor information.

75. The system of claim 57, wherein the means for receiving instances of context information comprises:

receiving instances of context information from external systems.

76. The system of claim 57, wherein the means for receiving instances of context information comprises:

means for receiving instances of context information, where the instances include telemetry data from a sensor associated with a particular location.

77. The system of claim 76, further comprising:

means for receiving telemetry data generated by a sensor associated with a particular point or area and representing a circumstance located at the particular point or area; and

means for generating an alert for a user of the virtual world when the virtual world detects that an article that would be affected by the circumstance represented by the telemetry data is at or in the point or area, as represented in the virtual world, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

78. The system of claim 76, further comprising:

means for receiving temperature data generated by a temperature sensor associated with a particular point or area and representing the current temperature of the point or area in a context object in the virtual world; and

means for generating an alert for a user of the virtual world when the virtual world detects that an article that would be affected by the current temperature is at or in the point or area, as the article and current temperature are represented in the virtual world, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

79. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for attaching a temperature exception to a physical object, and

means for causing an action to occur when the temperature exception is satisfied.

80. The system of claim 79, wherein:

the action comprises generating an alert for a user, where the user is a human being or a computer program.

81. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for attaching a rule to a physical object, the rule being operable to trigger alert events or cause actions depending on current information in the virtual world.

82. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for attaching a rule to a context object, the rule being operable to trigger alert events or cause actions depending on current information in the virtual world.

83. The system of claim 57, further comprising:

means for receiving, processing, and responding to a query concerning the status of an article at a current or past time as the article is or was represented in the virtual world.

84. The system of claim 83, further comprising:

means for receiving, processing, and responding to a query concerning the status of articles having a particular relationship to a particular article at a current or past time as the articles and particular article are or were represented in the virtual world.