Universal Entity Mapping With Source-Linked Attributes

Solution Overview

Problem

Organizations face challenges in efficiently managing and tracking entities across multiple domains due to the use of different hardware, software, and varying modeling approaches, leading to inefficiencies in inventorying and maintaining entities, and the need for costly bespoke inventory systems.

Innovation Solution

A universal entity mapping and inferencing system that constructs internal models of the environment to structure and evaluate signals, providing a unified solution for inventorying and tracking entities with globally unique identifiers, reducing the need for bespoke systems by enabling seamless integration and transformation across domains.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If organizations use different hardware, software, and modeling approaches to manage entities across multiple domains, then they can operate with existing diverse systems, but they face inefficiencies in inventorying and maintaining entities and incur high costs for bespoke inventory systems

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to manage entities across multiple domainsVSAvoidefficiency in inventorying and maintaining entities

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a universal entity mapping system that provides a unified approach to inventorying and tracking entities across multiple domains. The system uses a common data model with standardized attributes (name, description, type, status) that can represent various entity types including hardware, software, services, and physical assets. This universal model eliminates the need for separate bespoke inventory systems for each domain, thereby improving productivity while maintaining adaptability across diverse organizational contexts

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

2Adaptability or versatility

If organizations use different hardware, software, and modeling approaches to manage entities across multiple domains, then they can operate with existing diverse systems, but they incur high costs for bespoke inventory systems

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveability to manage entities across multiple domainsVSAvoidcost of inventory systems

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSEase of manufacture

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a universal entity mapping system that provides a unified approach to inventorying and tracking entities across multiple domains. The system uses a common data model with standardized attributes (name, description, type, status) that can represent various entity types including hardware, software, services, and physical assets. This universal model eliminates the need for separate bespoke inventory systems for each domain, thereby improving productivity while maintaining adaptability across diverse organizational contexts

Inventive Principle:

Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Adaptability or versatility

If a universal entity mapping system is implemented to provide unified inventorying across domains, then integration and prediction capabilities are enhanced, but the system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveintegration capabilities across domainsVSAvoidsystem structure complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the complex task of universal entity mapping into distinct functional components: a data ingestion module that collects data from various sources, an entity extraction module that identifies and extracts entity information, a relationship detection module that establishes connections between entities, and a prediction module that forecasts future states. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by making each component independent and manageable while achieving unified integration across domains through their coordinated operation

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentUS20250299207A1Universal entity mapping and inferencing system

Publication Date: 2025.09.25 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A data ingestion system generates an entity with a unique address and identifies a source system from which a signal is to be extracted. Entity data is read from the source system and stored in an entity structure which includes a unique address. A signal from the data source is read and classified to identify attributes of the entity. Each attribute of the entity is extracted and added to an attribute data structure which, itself, has a unique address that relates the attribute to the entity. The attribute data structure also includes a source identifier which identifies the source of the signal from which the attribute was obtained. As new signals are received from the data source, additional entity data structures (with unique addresses) can be added to the data store, and additional attribute data structures (with unique addresses) can be added to the existing entities without changing the existing entities themselves.