Item identity federation and visibility as a service using a data sharing policy determined based on a visibility offering and a visibility intent

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11829924-B2
Application number	US-202117147152-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 12, 2021
Priority date	Jan 12, 2021
Publication date	Nov 28, 2023
Grant date	Nov 28, 2023

Abstract

According to one or more embodiments of the disclosure, a service deploys a first service connector to a first deployment network of a first organization and a second service connector to a second deployment network of a second organization. The service receives a selected visibility offering by the first organization and a selected visibility intent for the second organization. The service determines a data sharing policy by matching the selected visibility offering by the first organization to the selected visibility intent for the second organization. The service configures the first service connector to capture data specified by the data sharing policy from the first deployment network and provide that data to the second service connector.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
deploying, by a device executing a service, a first service connector to a first deployment network of a first organization of a supply chain and a second service connector to a second deployment network of a second organization of the supply chain, wherein the first service connector and the second service connector are configured to capture item-related data via an item identification device of the first organization and an item identification device of the second organization, respectively;
receiving, at the device, a selected visibility offering by the first organization, the selected visibility offering comprising information published about items from the first organization;
receiving, at the device, a selected visibility intent for the second organization, the selected visibility intent comprising information requested about items by the second organization;
determining, by the device, a data sharing policy by matching the selected visibility offering by the first organization to the selected visibility intent for the second organization; and
configuring, by the device and based on one or more item identification technologies utilized by the first organization and plugin data of the first organization, the first service connector by constructing a software element of the first service connector which, once instantiated, is caused to interface with one or more endpoint devices or networking equipment via the plugin data to capture item-related data specified by the data sharing policy using the one or more item identification technologies and provide that item-related data to the second service connector,
wherein the one or more item identification technologies comprise one or more of: a barcode scanner, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag scanner, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag scanner, or an ultrawideband (UWB) tag scanner, and
wherein the plugin data is associated with one or more of: an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a warehouse management system (WMS), a warehouse execution system (WES), or a transport management system (TMS).

2. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the item-related data specified by the data sharing policy is indicative of an event associated with a particular item that was shipped from the second organization to the first organization.

3. The method as in claim 2 , wherein the event comprises one of: the particular item being received by the second organization or the particular item being sent by the second organization.

4. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the device determines the data sharing policy further in part by matching the selected visibility offering by the first organization to a selected visibility intent for a third organization of the supply chain, wherein the first organization, the second organization, and the third organization are selected from a group consisting of: a manufacturer, a warehouse, and a transporter operable to transport items from the manufacturer to the warehouse.

5. The method as in claim 4 , wherein the device configures the first service connector to provide the item-related data specified by the data sharing policy to a third service connector deployed to a third deployment network of the third organization.

6. The method as in claim 1 , wherein receiving the selected visibility offering by the first organization comprises:
sending, by the device and to a user interface, a set of different types of data that the first service connector can provide; and
receiving, at the device and from the user interface, a selection of a subset of the set of different types of data that the first service connector can provide.

7. The method as in claim 6 , further comprising:
selecting, by the device, the set of different types of data that the first service connector can provide based on a profile associated with the first organization and on a profile associated with the second organization.

8. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the one or more endpoint devices or networking equipment comprises at least one of: a BLE beacon, a UWB anchor, a Layer-2 switch, a wireless access point, or a wireless access point controller.

9. The method as in claim 1 , wherein the device further configures the first service connector with a signed certificate for authenticating communications of the first service connector.

10. An apparatus, comprising:
one or more interfaces;
a processor coupled to the one or more interfaces and configured to execute one or more processes; and
a memory configured to store a process that is executable by the processor, the process when executed configured to:
deploy a first service connector to a first deployment network of a first organization of a supply chain and a second service connector to a second deployment network of a second organization of a supply chain, wherein the first service connector and the second service connector are configured to capture item-related data via an item identification device of the first organization and an item identification device of the second organization, respectively;
receive a selected visibility offering by the first organization, the selected visibility offering comprising information published about items from the first organization;
receive a selected visibility intent for the second organization, the selected visibility intent comprising information requested about items by the second organization;
determine a data sharing policy by matching the selected visibility offering by the first organization to the selected visibility intent for the second organization; and
configure, based on one or more item identification technologies utilized by the first organization and plugin data of the first organization, the first service connector by constructing a software element of the first service connector which, once instantiated, is caused to interface with one or more endpoint devices or networking equipment via the plugin data to capture item-related data specified by the data sharing policy using the one or more item identification technologies and provide that item-related data to the second service connector,

wherein the one or more item identification technologies comprise one or more of: a barcode scanner, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag scanner, a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tag scanner, or an ultrawideband (UWB) tag scanner, and
wherein the plugin data is associated with one or more of: an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, a warehouse management system (WMS), a warehouse execution system (WES), or a transport management system (TMS).

11. The apparatus as in claim 10 , wherein the item-related data specified by the data sharing policy is indicative of an event associated with a particular item that was shipped from the second organization to the first organization.

12. The apparatus as in claim 11 , wherein the event comprises one of: the particular item being received by the second organization or the particular item being sent by the second organization.

13. The apparatus as in claim 10 , wherein the apparatus determines the data sharing policy further in part by matching the selected visibility offering by the first organization to a selected visibility intent for a third organization of the supply chain, wherein the first organization, the second organization, and the third organization are selected from a group consisting of: a manufacturer, a warehouse, and a transporter operable to transport items from the manufacturer to the warehouse.

14. The apparatus as in claim 13 , wherein the apparatus configures the first se

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Yannuzzi Marcelo
• Obstfeld Joel Abraham
• Van Lingen Franciscus Johannes Marcellus
• Jain Anuj

Classifications

• G06Q10/083 Primary

  Shipping · CPC title

• G06Q10/0637

  Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals · CPC title

• G06Q10/087 Primary

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title