Structuring of temporary systems

• US 7,168,619 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2002
• Issued: 01/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Muehl, Gordon, Irle, Klaus, Kienle, Walter G., Heusermann, Knut
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, UYEN CHAU N
• Application Number:
  US10/306,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20040102865A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,525 Days
• Field of Search: 235/385, 235/383, 705/51, 705/22, 705/28, 707/1, 707/2, 707/102, 340/572.1
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method for structuring a temporary system includes receiving information obtained by interrogating a tag on an article and establishing a relationship between the article and one or more other articles in the temporary system based at least in part upon the information obtained by interrogating the tag. The information obtained by interrogating the tag regards the article.

Claims

1. A method for structuring a temporary system, comprising:

receiving information obtained by interrogating a tag on a first article, the information including at least one characteristic and other data regarding the first article;

identifying, based on the at least one characteristic, a first relationship between a second data assembly regarding a second article and a third data assembly regarding a third article; and

establishing a second relationship between a first data assembly regarding the first article and the second data assembly in the temporary system by emulating the first relationship;

identifying, based on the at least one characteristic, a third relationship between a fourth data assembly regarding a fourth article and a fifth data assembly regarding a fifth article; and

establishing a fourth relationship between the first data assembly regarding the first article and the fourth data assembly in the temporary system by emulating the third relationship.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises a category of the first article.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second relationship is established based at least in part upon the category of the first article.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information comprises information including a unique identification of the first article.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second relationship is established based on a model of the first article being equivalent to a model of the third article.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the information comprises operational information describing an operational characteristic of the first article; and

the second relationship is established based upon the operational characteristic of the first article.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second relationship is established based upon a supply consumed by the first article.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second relationship is established based upon an output produced by the first article.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the second relationship between the first data assembly and the second data assembly comprises emulating the first relationship more based on a similarity between the first article and the third article.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein an operational relationship between the second data assembly and the third data assembly is emulated.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the third article is similar to the first article.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the third article shares operational characteristics with the first article.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the third article is equivalent to the first article.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the third article is one of a same make as the first article and a same model as the first article.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first article comprises a first entity'"'"'s article and is owned or operated by a first entity; and

the second and the third articles comprise a second entity'"'"'s article and are owned or operated by a second entity.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the second relationship between the first data assembly and the second data assembly comprises a relationship indicating similarity between the first article and the second article.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the information comprises functional information regarding deployment of the article in the temporary system; and

a functional second relationship between the first data assembly regarding the first article and the second data assembly regarding the second article is established based on the functional information.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the second relationship between first data assembly regarding the first article and the second data assembly regarding the second article comprises a relationship indicating equivalency between the first article and the second article.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating the first data assembly regarding the first article; and

populating the first data assembly with the information obtained by interrogating the tag.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first data assembly regarding the article comprises a first data object that includes data regarding the first article;

the second data assembly comprises one or more second data objects that include data regarding the second article; and

the second relationship between the first data object and the one or more second data objects is defined by a pointer.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first data assembly regarding the first article comprises a collection of data fields in one or more tables;

the second data assembly comprises one or more second data fields in one or more tables; and

the second relationship between the first data assembly and the one or more second data assemblies is defined by a relationship field in one or more tables.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating the first data assembly after receiving the information.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising identifying the first data assembly in the temporary system based at least in part upon the information obtained by interrogating the tag.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data assembly comprises a data assembly instance.

25. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in an information carrier, for structuring a system, the computer program product being operable to cause a data processing apparatus to:

receive information regarding a first article from a tag attached to the first article, the information indicating that the first article as sharing a common characteristic with a second article in the system;

create a first data assembly regarding the particular first article;

establish a first relationship between the first data assembly and a second data assembly regarding the particular second article, the first relationship identifying the common characteristic of the first article and the second article;

identify a second relationship involving the second data assembly and a third data assembly regarding a particular third article in the system; and

establish a third relationship emulating the second relationship, the third relationship involving the first data assembly and the third data assembly.

26. The product of claim 25, wherein:

the first data assembly comprises a first data object describing the first article; and

the second data assembly comprises a second data object describing the second article.

27. The product of claim 25, wherein the information indicates that the first article is equivalent to the second article.

28. The product of claim 25, wherein the information indicates the first article as being one of a same make and a same model as the second article.

29. The product of claim 25, wherein the information indicates the first article as sharing a common operational characteristic with the second article.

30. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to establish the third relationship to indicate that the first article operates jointly with the third article.

31. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to establish the third relationship to indicate that the first article consumes the third article.

32. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to establish the third relationship to indicate that the first article produces the third article.

33. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to establish the third relationship to indicate that the first article interacts with the third article.

34. The product of claim 33, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to establish the third relationship to indicate that the first article interacts mechanically with the third article.

35. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to:

receive additional information regarding the first article from the tag after the data processing apparatus has established the third relationship; and

establish a fourth relationship involving the first article based on the received additional information.

36. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to identify the second relationship involving the second article and the third article in a temporary system.

37. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to

populate the first data assembly with the information regarding the first article.

38. The product of claim 25, wherein:

the first data assembly comprises a first data object;

the second data assembly comprises a second data object; and

the third data assembly comprises a third data object.

39. The product of claim 36, wherein:

the first relationship is defined by a first pointer;

the sceond relationship is defined by a second pointer; and

the third relationship is defined by a third pointer.

40. The product of claim 25, wherein:

the first data assembly compriscs a first collection of data fields in one or more tables;

the second data assembly comprises a second collection of data fields in one or more tables; and

the third data assembly comprises a third eollection of data fields in one or more tables.

41. The product of claim 40, wherein:

the first relationship is defined by a first relationship field in one or more tables;

the second relationship is defined by a second relationship field in one or more tables; and

the third relationship is defined by a third relationship field in one or more tables.

42. The product of claim 25, wherein the product is further operable to cause the data processing apparatus to

identify the first data assembly in the system based at least in part upon the information.

43. The product of claim 25, wherein the first data assembly comprises a data assembly instance.