Method and system for storing, retrieving, and managing data for tags

What is this patent about?

’870 is related to the field of data management and information retrieval, specifically focusing on systems that track, store, and organize data generated by identification tags. The technology addresses the challenges of managing disparate data streams from various sources—such as RFID tags, GPS devices, and environmental sensors—that are associated with physical or abstract objects.

The underlying idea behind ’870 is to treat tag identifiers as the primary keys for a global, searchable index that aggregates information across disconnected data repositories. Rather than viewing a tag as a simple beacon, the invention treats it as a link to a distributed history, allowing the system to reconstruct the movement, environmental exposure, and relational associations of an object by linking fragmented data from manufacturers, distributors, and sensors into a unified timeline.

The claims of ’870 focus on a method and system for retrieving and organizing tag-related data by accessing multiple repositories to extract location and entity information. The independent claims specifically require determining which tag identifiers satisfy a search query and then ranking those identifiers based on their tag references. This mechanism essentially applies a link-analysis logic to physical objects, prioritizing results based on how frequently a tag is referenced within the broader data structure.

In practice, the system utilizes a crawling subsystem to discover tag data and a reorganization subsystem to normalize this data into a searchable format. When a user submits a query, the system does not just return a single record; it synthesizes a response by connecting the tag's current location with historical events and relationships, such as which other tagged entities were in close proximity at a specific time. This allows for complex spatial-temporal queries, such as identifying food items that passed through a specific port while being near certain chemicals.

This approach differs from prior solutions by moving beyond simple point-to-point tracking or isolated database lookups. While traditional web search engines index static pages via URLs, this invention indexes the dynamic state of physical objects via tag identifiers. By aggregating data from multiple owners—such as a manufacturer’s origin data and a retailer’s environmental logs—the system provides a comprehensive lifecycle view of an object that no single repository could offer alone.