Method and system for storing, retrieving, and managing data for tags
Patent No. US7956742 (titled "Method and system for storing, retrieving, and managing data for tags") on Jan 24, 2007. The application was issued on Jun 7, 2011.
What is this patent about?
’742 is related to the field of data management and information retrieval for identification devices. Specifically, it addresses the technical challenge of aggregating and querying information associated with physical or abstract objects that are tracked via various signaling technologies. The background context involves the proliferation of data generated by sensors and identification hardware, which often remains siloed across disparate databases, making it difficult to reconstruct the full lifecycle or environmental history of a specific item.
The underlying idea behind ’742 is the creation of a unified data space that bridges the gap between raw hardware events and high-level entity attributes through a common identifier. By treating a unique ID as a join key, the system can synthesize a comprehensive profile of an object—such as its manufacturing origin, transit temperature, and current location—even when that data is scattered across multiple independent repositories. This insight allows for complex, multi-dimensional queries that go beyond simple location tracking to include historical and relational context.
The claims of ’742 focus on a method and system for accessing, linking, and organizing data by correlating entity-specific information with tag-specific information using a shared identifier. The independent claims specifically cover the process of receiving a search request, identifying the relevant ID that matches the search criteria, and then automatically aggregating additional data associated with that ID from across various repositories. This includes ranking the aggregated results to form an ordered list that provides a consolidated response to the user's query.
In practice, the invention utilizes a crawling subsystem to discover and ingest data from various sources, such as PML files, web pages, and relational databases. A data reorganizer then processes this information, often employing shredding techniques to convert semi-structured XML data into optimized relational formats or native tree structures. By building specialized spatial and temporal indices, the system can efficiently resolve queries that involve proximity, such as determining if a specific food item was ever near a hazardous chemical during its distribution.
This approach differs from prior solutions by moving beyond the limitations of standard web search engines, which typically return isolated links rather than synthesized data. While a traditional search might find a manufacturer's page and a retailer's page separately, this invention uses the tag identifier to merge those records into a single, coherent entity history. Furthermore, the implementation of a type system with inheritance properties allows the system to infer characteristics of objects, enabling more sophisticated logical searches based on what an object 'is' or 'has'.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical Landscape
In the early 2000s when ’742 was filed, data collection from physical objects was typically implemented using localized, siloed identification systems where tags functioned primarily as static identifiers for inventory or access control. At a time when systems commonly relied on isolated databases to store information related to specific tag reads rather than integrated, cross-domain data structures, the ability to correlate disparate data points across multiple repositories was limited. Hardware and software constraints of the era made the real-time aggregation and complex querying of multi-source tag data non-trivial, as network architectures were generally optimized for point-to-point communication rather than the synthesis of global historical, environmental, and relational data associated with a single entity.
Prosecution Position
The disclosed invention represents a meaningful technical advancement through the architectural shift from simple tag identification to a comprehensive data management and query system that links multi-source information across a plurality of repositories. By integrating control data and information data directly within a tag-component communication framework, the system enables the construction of complex data structures that can respond to sophisticated queries involving temporal, spatial, and relational attributes. This capability overcomes the technical constraint of data fragmentation by providing a mechanism to link and organize disparate data portions associated with a specific identifier, thereby enabling the tracking of complex event chains and high-order derivatives of object behavior that were previously inaccessible in localized monitoring systems.
Claims
This patent contains a total of 11 claims, with claims 1, 8, 9, 10, and 11 serving as the independent claims. The independent claims focus on methods and systems for accessing, linking, and organizing data from multiple repositories by using tag identifiers to process queries, aggregate information, and generate ranked or ordered results. The dependent claims serve to further define the process by specifying response delivery formats like web pages or electronic mail, detailing query types such as spatial or temporal comparisons, and establishing criteria for ordering and managing search results.
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US7956742
- Application Number
- US11657895A
- Filing Date
- Jan 24, 2007
- Publication Date
- Jun 7, 2011
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO , Google Patents