Distributing relocatable services in middleware for smart items

• US 20070282746A1
• Filed: 05/12/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Neugebauer, Mario, Anke, Juergen
• Granted Patent: US 8,296,408 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management

Abstract

A composite service associated with an analysis of data may be determined, the composite service associated with service metadata and including first and second component services having an ordering of execution for the analysis of the data based on the service metadata. The first component service, configured to generate a first result, may be deployed to a first service execution environment located at a device layer. The second component service, configured to generate a second result based on the first result, may be deployed to a second service execution environment located at a device handling layer. A request for an analysis result associated with the analysis of data may be received. The composite service may be invoked based on an entry point. The analysis result may be received, and may be based on the second result generated by the second component service.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a composite service associated with an analysis of data generated by one or more sensors, the composite service associated with service metadata and including a first component service and a second component service having an ordering of execution for the analysis of the data based on the service metadata;

deploying the first component service to a first service execution environment located at a device layer, the first component service configured to generate a first result;

deploying the second component service to a second service execution environment located at a device handling layer, the second component service configured to generate a second result based on the first result;

receiving a request for an analysis result associated with the analysis of data generated by the one or more sensors and the composite service;

invoking the composite service based on an entry point of the composite service; and

receiving the analysis result, wherein the analysis result is based on the second result generated by the second component service.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request for the analysis result comprises receiving the request for the analysis result from a request buffer configured to store requests generated by a business application located at a backend system, and wherein one or more of the sensors is associated with a product embedded information device (PEID).

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request for the analysis result comprises receiving a subscription request for the analysis result.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the composite service comprises determining one or more service executables and the service metadata of the composite service from a service repository.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the composite service comprises determining, from the service metadata, the ordering of execution of the first component service and the second component service.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

determining a deployment of the first component service to the device layer and a deployment of the second component service to the device handling layer based on the ordering of execution and device metadata.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first component service is configured to generate the first result based on the analysis of data collected directly from one or more of the sensors.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the device metadata includes device characteristics of each device located at the device layer.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the device characteristics include one or more of a device description, a device name, a device identifier, a device type, a device vendor, a software description, an operating system description, a service, a hardware description, a processor description, a connection description, a connection speed, a connection type, a memory description, a total memory, a free memory, battery power indicator, a device status, or an execution platform.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the second component service is configured to calculate the second result using one or more of a linear regression, a moving average, threshold monitoring, a notification, or a number of occurrences of an event or item.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the device layer includes one or more of a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, a smart items device, a device within a sensor network, a sensor mote, or a product embedded information device.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request for the analysis result comprises receiving the request for the analysis result from a product lifecycle management (PLM) application and wherein one or more of the sensors is configured to generate data associated with a specified product.

13. A system comprising:

a middleware layer including a request handling layer and a device handling layer, the middleware layer in communication with an application and a device layer including one or more devices, wherein the request handling layer includes;

a service repository that is configured to store at least one composite service in association with service metadata describing an ordering of execution of a first component service and a second component service of the composite service;

a request handler that is configured to receive from the application a request for an analysis result associated with an analysis of data generated by the one or more devices during execution of the composite service; and

a service manager that is configured to determine device metadata associated with each of the devices, the service manager being further configured to initiate deployment of the first component service to a first service execution environment located at the device layer and to initiate deployment of the second component service to a second service execution environment located at the device handling layer based on the service metadata and the device metadata.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the device layer includes one or more of a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, a smart items device, a device within a sensor network, a sensor mote, or a product embedded information device.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the service repository is configured to store one or more service executables and the service metadata associated with the composite service.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the second component service is configured to calculate one or more of a linear regression, a moving average, threshold monitoring, a notification, or a number of occurrences of an event or item.

17. A service manager configured to:

determine a composite service associated with an analysis of data generated by one or more sensors, the composite service associated with service metadata and including a first component service and a second component service having an ordering of execution for the analysis of the data;

initiate deployment of the first component service to a first service execution environment located at a device layer, the first component service configured to generate a first result;

initiate deployment of the second component service to a second service execution environment located at a device handling layer, the second component service configured to generate a second result based on the first result;

receive a request for an analysis result associated with the analysis of data generated by the one or more sensors and the composite service; and

invoke the composite service based on an entry point of the composite service to obtain the analysis result, wherein the analysis result is based on the second result generated by the second component service.

18. The service manager of claim 17 wherein the second component service is configured to calculate the second result using one or more of a linear regression, a moving average, threshold monitoring, a notification, or a number of occurrences of an event or item.

19. The service manager of claim 17 wherein the device layer includes one or more of a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, a smart items device, a device within a sensor network, a sensor mote, or a product embedded information device.

20. The service manager of claim 17 wherein the request for the analysis result includes a subscription request for the analysis result.