SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR THE AGGREGATION AND COMMUNICATING OF PROCESS METADATA OF HETEROGENEOUS PRODUCTION PROCESS CHAINS

• US 20090287516A1
• Filed: 05/19/2008
• Published: 11/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Swiss Reinsurance Company
• Original Assignee: Swiss Reinsurance Company
• Inventors: Spuehler, Markus, SCHLENTHER, Christina
• Granted Patent: US 8,866,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99941 Database schema or data structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99951 File or database maintenance

Abstract

System and method for aggregation and transmission of process metadata (52) of heterogeneous production process chains (30), which include numerous process devices (31) which co-operate in the production process of a manufactured product (40). By means of the system, production-process-chain-specific operational data (52) of a selected production process chain (30) are captured and process metadata (51) are transmitted to a communication device (10) of a user (12). By means of a first signalling channel (201) authentication data (211) of a dynamically generated metadata profile (21) of a manufactured product (40) are transmitted by the central unit (20) to an aggregation module (25), the corresponding manufactured product (40) being located and authenticated in the production process chain (30) by means of the aggregation module (25). By means of a second signalling channel (202) the dynamic control signal data (212) of the metadata profile (21) are transmitted by the central unit (20) to the aggregation module (25), access being made to the production process chain (30) on the basis of the control signal data (212), and production-process-chain-specific operational data (52) of the manufactured product (40) being captured.

Claims

1. Method for aggregation and transmission of process metadata (52) of heterogeneous production process chains (30), each process chain (30) including numerous process devices (31) which co-operate in the production process of a manufactured product (40), production-process-chain-specific operational data (52) of a selected production process chain (30) being captured on a user request (11) of a communication device (10) and process metadata (52) being transmitted to a communication device (10) of a user (12), characterized in that

by means of the aggregation modules (25) of a central unit (20), which in the case of the production process chains (30) are arranged in a decentralised way, access is made to the process devices (31) of a selected production process chain (30), a metadata profile (21) based on the user request (11) being generated by means of the central unit (20) at least partly dynamically for the access, said dynamically generated parts (212) of the metadata profile (21) including standardised control signal data for the accesses of the aggregation module (25) to the production process chain (30),

by means of a first signalling channel (201) authentication data (211) of the metadata profile (21) of a manufactured product (40) are transmitted by the central unit (20) to an aggregation module (25), the corresponding manufactured product (40) being located and authenticated in the production process chain (30) by means of the aggregation module (25),

by means of a second signalling channel (202) the dynamically generated control signal data (212) of the metadata profile (21) are transmitted by the central unit (20) to the aggregation module (25), access being made to the production process chain (30) by means of the aggregation module (25) on the basis of the control signal data (212), and production-process-chain-specific operational data (52) of the manufactured product (40) being captured, and

the captured operational data (52) are transmitted by the aggregation module (25) to the central unit (20), corresponding process metadata (51) being at least partly generated by automatic analysis of the operational data (52) by means of the central unit (20) and transmitted to the communication device (10).

2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that by means of a third signalling channel (203), structural data (213) which cannot be determined dynamically are generated by the central unit (20) as part of the metadata profile (21) independently of the user request (11), property parameters of groups of manufactured products (40) and/or process devices (31) being transmitted to the aggregation module (25) on the basis of the structural data (213) which are not generated dynamically.

3. Method according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the manufactured products (40) of a production process chain (30) are automatically provided with an electronic authentication label by means of the associated aggregation module (25).

4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the selected manufactured product (40) is determined by the user (12) in the user request (11) which is generated by means of the communication device (10).

5. Method according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the dynamic part (212) of the metadata profile (21) for the passage of a manufactured product (40) through the production process chain (30) is determined automatically by means of the central unit (20).

6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the dynamically determined part (212) of the metadata profile (52) with the control signal data includes programs and/or program-accompanying data.

7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the central unit (20) includes a lookup table with control signal data which are stored in standardised form, the dynamic part (212) of the metadata profile (21) being generated on the basis of the control signal data which are stored in the lookup table.

8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the operational data (52) include multimedia data and/or pointers to multimedia data.

9. Method according to one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that from the process metadata (51) which are associated with a manufactured product (40), by means of a repackaging module (22), taking account of the data of a user profile (221), the process metadata (51) are generated and optimised in a content-oriented and user-specific manner, said content-oriented and user-specifically optimised process metadata (51) being transmitted by the central unit (20) to the user'"'"'s (12) communication device (10).

10. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the process metadata (51) and/or pointers to process metadata (51) are stored in a data memory (23) of a content module (22) of the central unit (20) and made available to the user (12).

11. Method according to claim 10, characterized in that the user (12) manages the data which are stored in the user'"'"'s (12) assigned data memory (24) of the content module (23) at least partly himself or herself.

12. System for aggregation and transmission of process metadata (51) of heterogeneous production process chains (30), each process chain (30) including numerous process devices (31) which co-operate in the production process of a manufactured product (40), sensors (311) to capture production-process-chain-specific operational data (52) of a selected production process chain (30) and to generate process metadata (51) assigned to the operational data (52), and an interface module to transmit the process metadata (51) to a communication device (10) of a user (12), characterized in that

the system includes aggregation modules (25) of a central unit (20), which in the case of the production process chains (30) are arranged in a decentralised way, for access to the process devices (31) of the selected production process chain (30), it being possible to generate a metadata profile (21) based on a user request (11) of the communication device (10) by means of the central unit (20) at least partly dynamically for the access, said dynamically generated parts of the metadata profile (21) including standardised control signal data (212) for the accesses of the aggregation module (25) to the production process chain (30),

by means of a first signalling channel (201) authentication data (211) of a manufactured product (40) can be transmitted by the central unit (20) to the aggregation module (25), it being possible to locate and authenticate the corresponding manufactured product (40) in the production process chain by means of the aggregation module (25),

by means of a second signalling channel (202) the control signal data (212) of the metadata profile (21) can be transmitted by the central unit (20) to the aggregation module (25), the aggregation module (25) including means for dynamic access to the production process chain on the basis of the control signal data (212), and the aggregation module (25) including sensor interfaces (251) for access to the sensors (311) of the process device (31), and

the captured operational data (52) of the manufactured product (40) can be transmitted by the aggregation module (25) to the central unit (20), it being possible to generate the process metadata (51) at least partly by automatic analysis of the operational data (52) by means of the central unit (20) and to transmit them to the communication device (10).

13. System according to claim 12, characterized in that the manufactured product (40) includes an electronic authentication label which is automatically assigned by means of the aggregation module (25).

14. System according to one of claims 12 or 13, characterized in that the user request (11) which the user (12) generates by means of the communication device (10) includes data to identify and/or authenticate a specified manufactured product (40).

15. System according to one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that the dynamic part (212) of the metadata profile (21) for the passage of a manufactured product (40) can be determined automatically by means of the central unit.

16. System according to one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that the dynamically determined part of the metadata profile (52) with the control signal data includes programs and/or program-accompanying data.

17. System according to one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that the central unit (20) includes a lookup table with control signal data (212) which are stored in standardised form, the dynamic part (212) of the metadata profile (21) being generated on the basis of the control signal data which are stored in the lookup table.

18. System according to one of claims 12 to 17, characterized in that the operational data (52) include multimedia data and/or pointers to multimedia data.

19. System according to one of claims 12 to 18, characterized in that from the process metadata (51) which are associated with a manufactured product (40), by means of a repackaging module (22), taking account of the data of a user profile (221), the process metadata (51) can be generated and optimised in a content-oriented and user-specific manner, said content-oriented and user-specifically optimised process metadata (51) being provided for transmission by the central unit (20) to the user'"'"'s communication device (10), by means of a corresponding memory unit and network interface.

20. System according to one of claims 12 to 19, characterized in that the process metadata (51) and/or pointers to process metadata (51) are stored in a data memory (24) of a content module (23) of the central unit (20) and made available to the user.

21. System according to claim 20, characterized in that the central unit (20) includes means for at least partial management of the data which are stored in the user'"'"'s (12) assigned data memory (24) of the content module (23).

22. System according to one of claims 12 to 21, characterized in that the user profile (221) includes user-specific data about network properties and/or data about hardware properties of the user'"'"'s (12) communication device (10) and/or data about user behaviour.