Software systems exist that provide various services for enterprises or other organizations. Such software systems may rely on decentralized, manual, and potentially error-prone data collection, while storing collected data in a centralized back-end system where business logic execution also occurs. These and other software systems may be extended through the use of smart item (also referred to as smart device), technologies, in which physical items (e.g., goods, tools, rooms, vehicles, persons, or shelves) are augmented or enhanced by the addition or inclusion of locally-provided or embedded technology.
For example, radio-frequency identification (RFID) systems, embedded systems, sensor motes, and/or sensor networks may be used in the above-described manner to provide business software applications with fast access to real-world data. For example, smart item technologies may be used support the detection, reading, or writing of RFID tags, as well as to support communication with, and control of, wireless sensor networks and embedded systems. In many instances, smart items may include, or may be associated with, devices having local processing power, memory, and/or communication capabilities, and that are capable of providing data about the device and its properties, or information about a current state or environment of the smart item devices. Accordingly, some such devices may be used in the execution of service components of back-end or underlying business applications, and, in particular, may do so in a collaborative way, e.g., by forming mobile ad-hoc networks to collect, process, or transmit business data.
Examples of smart items may include an RFID tag, which may be passive or active, and which may be attached to a physical object, as referenced above, and used to provide product or handling information related to the object. Other examples of smart items may include various sensors, such as, for example, environmental sensors (e.g., a temperature, humidity, or vibration sensor), which, as just referenced, may be capable of communicating to form one or more sensor networks. These and other types of smart items also may include embedded systems, which may refer generally to any system in which a special-purpose processor and/or program is included, and/or in which the system is encapsulated in the device being controlled.
Through automatic real-time object tracking and local, on-site execution of business logic, smart item technology may provide businesses with accurate and timely data about business operations, and also may help streamline and automate the business operations. Accordingly, cost reductions and additional business benefits (e.g., increased asset visibility, improved responsiveness, and extended business opportunities) may be obtained.
Using their local communication capabilities, smart items may communicate with one another to form local networks, e.g., sensor networks. In a given sensor network, such communication may occur using a proprietary communications protocol that is understood by each of the smart items in the network, but that may not be understood by other smart items and/or networks. For example, the communications protocol of a sensor network may be unique to a particular hardware and/or software platform used in the sensor network, or may be unique to a manufacturer of the smart items. Accordingly, it may be difficult to collect data regarding such sensor networks in a timely fashion, in a format that is applicable to multiple ones of the sensor networks, and without overwhelming or depleting communications resources of the devices and/or sensor networks. As a result, for example, back-end applications depending on data from the sensor network(s) may not have access to the data in a sufficiently timely or useful fashion.