System, method, computer program product for communicating data for objects that are transported

• US 20030141985A1
• Filed: 10/30/2002
• Published: 07/31/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Haller, Stephan, Swan, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,103,886 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/825.49
• 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 tags (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. Procedure (501/502) for transmitting content-data (C) and meta-data (M) for an object in a transportation system (90) that physically transports (60) the object from a first location (10) to a second location (20), that uses a data tag (300) at the object (800), that uses a first application computer (901) at the first location (10), that uses a second application computer (902) at the second location (20), that uses an exchange computer (900) at least temporarily coupled to the first and second application computers (901, 902),

the procedure (500) comprising to perform a first method (501) by the first computer (900) at the first location (10) and—

consecutively—

to perform a second method (502) at the second location (20);

the first method (501) comprising the following steps;

querying (510) the exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T);

writing (520) type-data (323) to a first memory portion (321) of the tag (300); and

writing (530) content-data (324) to a second memory portion (322) of the tag (300);

the second method (502) comprising the following steps;

reading (540) type-data (323) from the first memory portion (321) of the tag (300);

querying (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M); and

reading (560) content-data (324) from the second memory portion (322) of the tag (300).

9. Article of manufacture comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for executing method and procedures of any of the above claims.

2. Method (501) for forwarding predefined meta-data (M) and predefined content-data (C) from a first computer (901) to a second computer (902), the predefined meta-data (M) and predefined content-data (C) relating to an object (800) that is transported in a transportation system (90) from a first location (10) to a second location (20), the first computer (901) serving the first location (10) and the second computer (902) serving the second location (20),

the method (501) comprising the following steps performed by the first computer (901):

querying (510) an exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T), the exchange computer (900) storing a meta-data (M) to type-data assignment table (105) such that the second computer (902) is able to query (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M) once the object (800) has arrived at the second location (20);

writing (520) type-data (323) to a first memory portion (321) of the tag (300) such that the second computer (902) is able to read (540) type-data (323) from the first memory portion (321) of the tag (300); and

writing (530) content-data (324) to a second memory portion (322) of the tag (300) such that the second computer (902) is able to read (560) the content-data (324) from the second memory portion (322) of the tag (300) once the object (800) has arrived at the second location (20).

3. Method (502) for retrieving meta-data (M) and content-data (C) relating to an object (800) that has been transported in a transportation system (90) from a first location (10) to a second location (20), in the transportation system (90), a first computer (901) has been serving the first location (10) and a second computer (902) is serving the second location (20),

the method (501) comprising the following steps performed by the second computer (901):

reading (540) type-data (323) from the first memory portion (321) of a tag (300) attached to the object (800), type-data (323) having been written (520) to the first memory portion (321) of the tag (300) by the first computer (901) that has queried (510) an exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T),

querying (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M); and

reading (560) content-data (324) from a second memory portion (322) of the tag (300), wherein the first computer (901) has been written (530) content-data (324) to the second memory portion (322) of the tag (300).

4. Computer-assisted procedure (501/502) to communicate data in a transportation system (90) that physically transports objects (800) from a first location (10) to a second location (20), wherein the objects (800) have write-read memory tags (300), wherein prior to communicating, data is separated into meta-data (M) and content-data (C), respectively, the procedure comprising:

communicating content-data (C) on the tags (300), communicating meta-data (M) through a computer network, and communicating type-data (T) that represents meta-data (M) on the tags.

5. The computer-assisted procedure of claim 4, wherein system computers (901, 902, 900) perform complementary methods for forwarding data (501) and for retrieving data (502), wherein

to forward (501) data from the first location (10), a first computer (900) queries (510) an exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T) according to a predefined type-to-meta table (105), writes type-data (T) to the tags (300), and writes content-data (C) to the tags (300),

to retrieve (502) data at the second location (20) where the objects are arriving, a second computer (902) reads type-data (T) from the tags (300), queries (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M) according to the same table (105), and reads (560) content-data (C) from the tags (300).

6. The computer-assisted procedure of claim 4, wherein the first computer (900) selectively queries a first and a second exchange computer, and wherein the second computer (902) selectively queries the first and the second exchange computer depending on the type data (T).

7. Computer-program product (101) with processor code means to cause a first computer (901) to forward predefined meta-data (M) and predefined content-data (C) to a second computer (902), the predefined meta-data (M) and predefined content-data (C) relating to an object (800) that is transported from a first location (10) to a second location (20),

the computer-program product (101) comprising:

first code means (110) for querying (510) an exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T), wherein the exchange computer (900) stores a meta-data (M) to type-data assignment table (105) such that the second computer (902).is able to query (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M) once the object (800) has arrived at the second location (20);

second code means (120) for writing (520) type-data (323) to a first memory portion (321) of a tag (300) at the object (800) such that the second computer (902) is able to read (540) type-data (323) from the first memory portion (321) of the tag (300);

third code means (130) for writing (530) content-data (324) to a second memory portion (322) of the tag (300) such that the second computer (902) is able to read (560) the content-data (324) from the second memory portion (322) of the tag (300) once the object (800) has arrived at the second location (20).

8. Computer-program product (102) with processor code means to cause a computer (902) to retrieve meta-data (M) and content-data (C) relating to an object (800) that has been transported in a transportation system (90) from a first location (10) with a further computer (901) to a second location (20), the computer-program product (102) comprising:

first code means (140) for reading (540) type-data (323) from the first memory portion (321) of a tag (300) attached to the object (800), type-data (323) having been written (520) to the first memory portion (321) of the tag (300) by the further computer (901) that has queried (510) an exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T),

second code means (150) for querying (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M); and

third code means (160) for reading (560) content-data (324) from a second memory portion (322) of the tag (300), wherein the further computer (901) has written (530) content-data (324) to the second memory portion (322) of the tag (300).

10. Computer system (901, 902, 900) with a first application computer (901), a second application computer (902), and an exchange computer (900), wherein the computers are coupled at least temporarily, the computer system (901, 902, 900) supporting a transportation system (90) that physically transports (60) an object (800) with a tag (300) from a first location (10) to a second location (20), the computer system (901, 902, 900) for transmitting content-data (C) and meta-data (M) relating to the object and characterized by the following:

the first computer (900) at the first location (10) has means for querying (510) the exchange computer (900) with meta-data (M) for type-data (T);

means for writing (520) type-data (323) to a first memory portion (321) of the tag (300); and

means for writing (530) content-data (324) to a second memory portion (322) of the tag (300); and

the second computer (902) at the second location (20) has means for reading (540) type-data (323) from the first memory portion (321) of the tag (300);

means for querying (550) the exchange computer (900) with type-data (T) for meta-data (M); and

means for reading (560) content-data (324) from the second memory portion (322) of the tag (300).