An alert notification facility for RFID event repositories

RFID event data repositories such as EPCglobal’s EPC Information Services (EPCIS) contain valuable information that is not only useful for ad-hoc data analysis but also for on-demand information needs according to the publish-subscribe paradigm. The EPCIS standard defines a query control interface that allows running queries against events and master data stored in the EPCIS repository according to a time schedule when the query is (repeatedly) executed. However, this asynchronous query mode is not ideal for some types of information needs. For example, the request “Let me know immediately whenever a certain type of item has not returned to a secure location within a specified time interval” can be expressed more effectively by a dedicated alert and notification system. We discuss a framework for defining alerts of arbitrary complexity and its integration into an EPCIS implementation.