Patent ID: 8131694

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for providing objects with object classification, the method comprising using a processor to perform the acts of: receiving, at a classification engine, from one of a plurality of processes, a request to classify a data object representing a real world item, the request comprising a process value identifying the requesting process, the data object comprising a plurality of property definitions, each of the plurality of property definitions comprising at least one access right to the associated property definition for at least one of the plurality of processes; determining which of the property definitions of the data object that the requesting process is allowed to access, the determining based on the process value received from the requesting process and the at least one access right of each of the property definitions; selecting, from a plurality of classes available to the plurality of processes, a class comprising a set of class property definitions that most closely matches the determined property definitions of the data object; allocating the selected class to the data object, the class allocation comprising an attribute indicating that only the requesting process is allowed to change the class allocation of the data object; and assigning the set of class property definitions to the data object in response to allocating the selected class to the data object.