Auto-id simulator

• US 20060149776A1
• Filed: 12/30/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Lin, Tao
• Granted Patent: US 7,756,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

An auto-identification system is described that includes a plurality of distributed auto-id nodes that are operable to track physical objects as they move through an operation of an enterprise, such as, for example, a supply chain network or a sales network. The auto-id nodes are distributed across sites of the network, and are in communication with enterprise application systems and/or data acquisition systems such as RFID readers or sensor devices. By focusing on their respective sites, the auto-id nodes minimize the amount of data tracked by their respective enterprise applications. Further, a simulator may be associated with one or more of the auto-id nodes. In this case, the simulator may project certain movements of the physical objects through an environment of an auto-id node, and then feed corresponding data to the auto-id node. In this way, the auto-id node may be tested and optimized, without requiring actual, physical testing.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a physical object movement graph database that is operable to provide a movement graph, the movement graph characterizing movements of a physical object among a plurality of data reading points that are associated with an item tracking system; and

a generator that is operable to generate movement data corresponding to the movements of the physical object, for input to the item tracking system.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the movement graph is associated with an identifier of the physical object.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the movement graph characterizes the movements of the physical object by associating a probability that the physical object will move from a current data reading point to a destination data reading point.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the movement graph characterizes the movements of the physical object by associating a window of time required for the physical object to move from the current data reading point to the destination data reading point.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the generator generates the movement data based on the probability and the window of time.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the generator generates the movement data based on a randomly-selected time within the window of time.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the generator generates the movement data based on a volume of the physical object that moves among the data reading points within a period of time.

8. The system of claim 7 comprising a user interface that is operable to receive an identifier of the physical object and the volume of the physical object.

9. The system of claim 1 comprising a physical object status database operable to provide a current status or location of the physical object with respect to the data reading points, wherein the generator is operable to generate the movement data based on the current status or location.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the data reading points are each associated with an auto-identification device.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the generator is operable to generate the movement data as an event message having a format that is compatible with the item tracking system.

12. A method comprising:

receiving an object identifier and a volume indicator, the volume indicator characterizing a volume of the object moving between a plurality of auto-identification data reading points that are associated with an item-tracking system;

accessing a movement graph, based on the object identifier and the volume indicator, the movement graph characterizing movements of the object among the data reading points; and

generating movement data corresponding to the movements of the physical object, for input to the item tracking system.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein accessing the movement graph comprises accessing a probability that the object will move from a current data reading point to a destination data reading point.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein accessing the movement graph comprises associating a window of time required for the object to move from the current data reading point to the destination data reading point.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein generating the movement data comprises generating the movement data based on the probability and the window of time.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein generating the movement data comprises generating the movement data based on a current status or location of the physical object with respect to the data reading points.

17. An apparatus comprising a storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions including:

a first code segment for associating each of a plurality of hypothetical movements of a physical object between a plurality of data reading points with a probability that the associated hypothetical movement will occur; and

a second code segment for generating movement data that simulates events that would be generated at the data reading points, if the hypothetical movements were actual movements.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the first code segment includes a third code segment for associating each of the plurality of hypothetical movements with a range of time that corresponds to the associated hypothetical movements.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the second code segment includes a third code segment for generating the movement data based on a hypothetical volume of units of the physical object moving between the data reading points.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the second code segment includes a third code segment for generating the movement data based on a current status or location of the physical object with respect to the data reading points.