Access to distributed databases via pointer stored in RFID tag

• US 8,025,227 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2005
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rockwell Automation Technologies Incorporated (Allen-Bradley Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: Hall, Kenwood H., Bapat, Vivek R., Chand, Sujeet, Morse, Richard A., Owen, JR., Joseph P., Pietrzyk, Arthur P., Somogyi, Andreas, Tinnell, Kenneth A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Franklin, Jamara A
• Application Number:
  US11/241,421
• Publication Number:
  US 20070075128A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,188 Days
• Field of Search: 235/385
• US Class Current: 235/385
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor

Abstract

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in a data management scheme that combines both distributed as well as a hierarchical (object-oriented) data management structure. The hierarchical databases will store data records such that each or selected entities of the record will be associated with a pointer that can be written into an RFID tag of an item as the item progresses through manufacturing, production, transportation, and consumer user, for example. Thereafter, once the RFID tag is read, the pointer information can be processed to directly access the data in the database associated with the pointer.

Claims

1. A system that manages data, comprising:

a database component that facilitates hierarchical representation of radio frequency identification (RFID) data records of an RFID tagged item;

a relationship component that relates RFID elements of the RFID records using backward and forward pointers, the RFID elements include manufacturing and process information of the various stages of a production process associated with the RFID tagged item; and

an RFID tag associated with the RFID tagged item that includes a pointer to an RFID element of an RFID data record from the database component such that other RFID elements can be accessed via the backward and forward pointers, the pointer in the RFID tag is updated to point to the RFID element, the RFID element is associated with a current stage of the production process.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID elements include transportation information associated with a transportation phase of the RFID tagged item and consumer information associated with a consumer phase of the RFID tagged item.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the pointer in the RFID tag is updated to point to an RFID element that is associated with a current stage of the transportation phase or consumer phase stage of the production process.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the database component includes a distributed database including a plurality of databases to which each can be navigated from at least one other database of the plurality of databases via the backward and forward pointers.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a machine learning and reasoning component that employs a probabilistic or statistical-based analysis to determine according to predetermined criteria whether a single pointer or multiple pointers should be written to the RFID tag to point to the plurality of databases.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the machine learning and reasoning component employs a multiple database access algorithm that determines when to update the single or multiple pointers based upon system bandwidth of the distributed database.

7. The system of claim 4, the plurality of databases include a chain of standardized hierarchical databases across a supply chain.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein a subset of the hierarchical representation is a database that is stored in part in at least one of:

a programmable logic controller (PLC), a workstation, or a computer.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID elements are related by pointer that includes a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) hyperlink.

10. The system of claim 1, the forward pointer allows movement and selection of information down the hierarchical representation of data records, the backward pointer allows movement and selection of information up the hierarchical representation of data records.

11. A system that manages data, comprising:

a database of enterprise information that stores a hierarchical representation of radio frequency identification (RFID) data records of an item; and

an RFID tag of the item that has a pointer to a data record of the item stored in the distributed database, the pointer is updated to point to a data record of the item associated with a current process stage of the item as the item moves through different process stages of the item associated with enterprise information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the process stages are associated with one or more of a production phase, a transportation phase, and a consumer phase.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the RFID tag includes multiple different pointers that each point to a different record of the RFID data records in the database.

14. A method of managing data in a radio frequency identification (RFID) environment, comprising:

writing an address that points to a datastore entity to a pointer stored in an RFID tag associated with an item, the address is written over with a different address to update the pointer as the item progresses through an industrial process, wherein the different address points to a datastore entity associated with a current stage of the item in the industrial process;

reading the pointer to extract the address therefrom;

locating the datastore based at least in part on the address;

accessing the datastore to obtain data associated with the item; and

utilizing data associated with the item in the industrial process.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising an act of adding data to the datastore associated with the item in response to the act of reading the pointer.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the datastore is accessed by at least one of:

a PLC, an RFID reader or reader/writer, a warehouse management system, or a logistics network.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising an act of writing a plurality of the pointers to the RFID tag.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising an act of deleting select ones of a plurality of the pointers written to the RFID tag based in part on an area in which the item is processed.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising an act of accessing any part of the distributed database by utilizing the pointer.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising an act of tracing any item of a plurality of assembled RFID tagged items using a single pointer of one of the RFID tags.

21. The method of claim 14, the address written to the pointer includes at least one of:

a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) hyperlink, an alphanumeric designation, or a directory path.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising an act of accessing data in the datastore associated with the item via backward and forward pointers in the datastore.

23. A system that facilitates data management of a radio frequency identification (RFID) tagged item, comprising:

means for recording location of a data element in a database of an enterprise as a pointer in an RFID tag, the database of the enterprise comprising information associated with at least one of a production phase, a transportation phase, or a consumer phase associated with the item;

means for reading the RFID tag to determine the location of the data element;

means for accessing the database;

means for obtaining the data element associated with the item from the database; and

means for writing an update to the pointer in the RFID tag, wherein the update is the location of a data element in the database associated with a current stage of the item in the at least one of production phase, transportation phase, or consumer phase.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising means for writing data to the database via the pointer.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising means for writing a new pointer to the RFID tag.