System, method, computer program product for communicating data for objects that are transported from first location to second location

• US 7,103,886 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2001
• Issued: 09/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Haller, Stephan, Swan, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng-Al T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): To, Jennifer N.
• Application Number:
  US10/182,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20030141985A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• Field of Search: 718100-108, 709201-203, 709/238, 700/90, 700/112, 700/113, 700/115, 719/313, 340/572.1, 340/693.9
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer

Abstract

Computer-assisted procedure (501/502) to communicate data in a transportation system (90) that physically transports objects (800) from first to second locations (10, 20). The objects (800) have write/read memory tags (300). Prior to communicating data is separated into meta-data M and content-data C. Communicated are: C on the tags (300), M through a computer network, and type-data T (representing M) on the tags. System computers (901, 902, 900) perform complementary methods for forwarding (501) and retrieving (502). To forward (501) data from the first location (10), a first computer (901) queries (510) an exchange computer (901) with M for T according to a predefined T-to-M table, writes T to the tags (300), and writes C to the tags (300). To retrieve (502) data at the second location (20) where the objects arrive, a second computer (902) reads T from the (300), queries (550) the exchange computer (900) with T for M according to the same table, and reads (560) C from the tags (300).

Claims

1. A system for tracking transportation of an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the system comprising:

a memory for storing meta-data and associated type-data, wherein the type-data indicates length of the content-data required by the second location;

an exchange computer capable of communicating with a first and second computer;

the first computer associated with the first location for querying the exchange computer with meta-data associated with the object for type-data, writing the type-data to a first memory portion of the tag, and writing content-data to a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data;

means for transporting the object with the tag from the first computer associated with the first location to a second computer associated with the second location; and

the second computer at the second location reading the type-data from the first memory portion of the tag, querying the exchange computer with the type-data for meta-data, and reading content-data from the second memory portion of the tag in the predefined format associated with the type-data.

2. A system for tracking transportation of an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the system comprising:

a memory for storing meta-data and associated type-data, wherein the type-data identifies type of the content-data required by the second location;

an exchange computer capable of communicating with a first and second computer;

the first computer associated with the first location for querying the exchange computer with meta-data associated with the object for type-data, writing the type-data to a first memory portion of the tag, and writing content-data to a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data;

means for transporting the object with the tag from the first computer associated with the first location to a second computer associated with the second location; and

the second computer at the second location reading the type-data from the first memory portion of the tag, querying the exchange computer with the type-data for meta-data, and reading content-data from the second memory portion of the tag in the predefined format associated with the type-data.

3. A method of tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the method comprising:

querying an exchange computer with meta-data associated with the object for type-data corresponding to the meta-data, wherein the type-data indicates length of the content-data required by the second location;

writing the type-data to a first memory portion of the tag, wherein the type-data can be read from the first memory portion of the tag by a second computer associated with the second location and used to query the exchange computer for the meta-data by the second computer; and

writing content-data to a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the amount of content-data written to the second memory portion of the tag depends on the type-data.

5. A method of tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the method comprising:

querying an exchange computer with meta-data associated with the object for type-data corresponding to the meta-data, wherein the type-data identifies type of the content-data required by the second location;

writing the type-data to a first memory portion of the tag, wherein the type-data can be read from the first memory portion of the tag by a second computer associated with the second location and used to query the exchange computer for the meta-data by the second computer; and

writing content-data to a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the amount of content-data written to the second memory portion of the tag depends on the type-data.

7. A method of tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the method comprising:

reading type-data from a first memory portion of the tag wherein the type-data has been received by a first computer associated with the first location from an exchange computer in response to a query with mete-data associated with the object and written to the first memory portion of the tag, and wherein the type-data identifies type of content-data required by the second location;

querying the exchange computer with the type-data for the meta-data corresponding to the type-data; and

reading the content-data from a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data.

8. An apparatus for tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the apparatus comprising:

means for querying an exchange computer with meta-data associated with the object for type-data corresponding to the meta-data;

means for writing the type-data to a first memory portion of the tag, wherein the type-data can be read from the first memory portion of the tag by a second computer associated with the second location and used to query the exchange computer for the meta-data, and wherein the type-data identifies type of content-data required by the second location; and

means for writing the content-data to a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the type-data indicates length of the content-data required by the second location.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the amount of content-data written to the second memory portion of the tag depends on the type-data.

11. An apparatus for tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the apparatus comprising:

means for reading type-data from a first memory portion of the tag wherein the type-data has been received by a first computer associated with the first location from an exchange computer in response to a query with meta-data associated with the object and written to the first memory portion of the tag, and wherein the type-data identifies type of content-data required by the second location;

means for querying the exchange computer with the type-data for the meta-data corresponding to the type-data; and

means for reading content-data from a second memory portion of the tag, wherein the content data has been written to the second memory portion of the tag by the first computer in a predefined format associated with the type-data.

12. A computer program product for tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied thereon, the computer-readable code capable of causing a processor to execute the steps of:

querying an exchange computer with meta-data associated with the object for type-data corresponding to the meta-data, and wherein the type-data identifies type of content-data required by the second location;

writing the type-data to a first memory portion of the tag, wherein the type-data can be read from the first memory portion of the tag by a second computer associated with the second location and used to query the exchange computer for the meta-data by the second computer; and

writing content-data to a second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data.

13. A computer program for tracking an object with an electronic tag from a first location to a second location, the computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having computer-readable code embodied thereon, the computer-readable code capable of causing a processor to execute the steps of:

reading type-data from a first memory portion of the tag wherein the type-data has been received by a first computer associated with the first location from an exchange computer in response to a query with meta-data associated with the object and written to the first memory portion of the tag, and wherein the type-data identifies type of content-data required by the second location;

querying the exchange computer with the type-data for the meta-data corresponding to the type-data; and

reading content-data from a second memory portion of the tag, wherein the content data has been written to the second memory portion of the tag in a predefined format associated with the type-data by a first computer.