SYSTEMS AND METHODS THAT INTEGRATE RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID) TECHNOLOGY WITH AGENT-BASED CONTROL SYSTEMS
First Claim
1. A system that facilitates distribution of electronic product data, comprising:
- a first component that stores structured electronic product data received from one or more RFID readers that obtain the electronic product data from RFID tags;
a second component that receives a query from an agent of an agent-based control system for at least a portion of the stored electronic product data, the agent is responsible for local decision making with respect to a portion of a manufacturing process and cooperates with at least one disparate agent to provide desirable global behavior of the agent-based control system; and
a third component that provides the portion of the electronic product data to the agent.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The subject invention relates to systems and methods that distribute electronic data, such as Electronic Product Code (EPC) data, obtained from RFID tags by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers and/or servers to agents within an agent-based control system. The systems and methods employ a component that collects, filters, processes, and stores electronic product data. The component collects electronic product data through corresponding reader and/or server interfaces. This data can be filtered to accept particular electronic product data, processed to a format suitable to the agents, and stored. Such storage can include delineating the electronic product data across rows of a table by electronic product code and across columns of the table by various types of data. Upon receiving a subscription and/or request from an agent for electronic product data, the component can obtain and convey the information to the agent.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system that facilitates distribution of electronic product data, comprising:
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a first component that stores structured electronic product data received from one or more RFID readers that obtain the electronic product data from RFID tags; a second component that receives a query from an agent of an agent-based control system for at least a portion of the stored electronic product data, the agent is responsible for local decision making with respect to a portion of a manufacturing process and cooperates with at least one disparate agent to provide desirable global behavior of the agent-based control system; and a third component that provides the portion of the electronic product data to the agent. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for providing electronic data to agents in an agent-based control system, comprising:
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receiving a query from an agent for historical electronic data; and providing the historical electronic data as records to the agent via an inter-agent communication mechanism, the agent is responsible for local control of a portion of a manufacturing process and cooperates with at least one disparate agent to provide desirable global behavior of the agent-based control system. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A method for conveying electronic data to agents in an agent-based control system, comprising:
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receiving a subscription from an agent for subsequently read electronic data; receiving the electronic data; and providing the received electronic data to the subscribing agent through an inter-agent protocol, the agent is responsible for local decision-making with regard to a portion of a manufacturing process and cooperates with at least one disparate agent to provide desirable global behavior of the agent-based control system. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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Specification