AIT Gateway Unifying Disparate Sensor Data Formats
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Disparate automated identification technologies (AITs) across large enterprises lead to inefficiencies and loss of information due to lack of ubiquitous visibility, ineffective data collection, and inadequate systems integration in manufacturing and service processes.
Innovation Solution
An AIT information management system that transforms data from diverse automated identification components into a common XML format, providing spatial location data and integrating various AIT solutions like RFID, UID, UWB, Wi-Fi, and GPS through a gateway device for unified management and access.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple disparate AIT solutions are deployed across enterprise divisions, then each division can track its specific assets, but ubiquitous visibility and information sharing across the enterprise are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple disparate AIT solutions (RFID, barcode, GPS, Wi-Fi) into a unified hybrid AIT system with a common data structure. The gateway device aggregates data from various AIT components and divisions, enabling enterprise-wide visibility while maintaining divisional tracking capabilities. This merging resolves the contradiction by creating a consolidated system that preserves local functionality while adding global visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The hybrid AIT system is designed with universal functionality to support multiple AIT technologies and enterprise divisions simultaneously. The common data structure and gateway device can handle diverse AIT data formats and protocols, making the system universally applicable across different divisions and asset types, thus achieving both divisional reliability and enterprise-wide information sharing.
2Ease of operation
If disparate AIT solutions are managed independently across divisions, then each division maintains operational autonomy, but system integration and scalability are inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The system is segmented into independent modular components: individual AIT components (RFID readers, barcode scanners, GPS devices), divisional gateway interfaces, and a central aggregation layer. Each division can operate its AIT components independently while the gateway device provides optional centralized integration. This segmentation allows divisions to maintain autonomy while enabling scalable integration when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The hybrid AIT system provides dynamic configurability where divisions can operate autonomously or integrate with the enterprise system based on needs. The gateway device can dynamically adapt to different data formats and protocols from various AIT components, allowing the system to flexibly adjust its integration level and scale from divisional to enterprise-wide operations.
3Productivity
If multiple AIT data formats are used across different devices, then each device can optimize for its specific technology, but data transformation and common reporting become inefficient
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway device serves as an intermediary between diverse AIT components with different data formats and the enterprise system. It receives data in various native formats from RFID, barcode, GPS, and Wi-Fi devices, automatically transforms them into a common data structure, and forwards them for unified processing. This intermediary approach allows devices to maintain their optimized native formats while eliminating transformation delays in the main data flow.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes data format parameters based on the source device type. The gateway device automatically adjusts transformation rules according to the incoming data format (RFID UUID, barcode structure, GPS coordinates), converting each to the standardized common data structure efficiently. This parameter-based transformation approach minimizes processing time by applying optimized conversion rules for each device type.
Data Source
AI summary
Computer-readable storage media and methods are described in relation to management, control, and distribution of automated identification technology (AIT) information and data associated with sensors and tags utilized for asset identification and tracking. The method includes generating a gateway for at least one of read and write access to deployed identification sensors and tags associated with a set of assets, the sensors and tags incorporating a plurality of disparate native solution formats, providing data storage and management with hierarchical functionality in a common data format for information passing through the generated gateway, the information related to the assets as provided by the deployed identification sensors and tags, executing a service framework for data delivery to and from the deployed sensors and tags via a publish and subscribe middleware service layer that provides access to the gateway through a common middleware interface, and providing a user interface through which commands to the common middleware interface are generated.