Patent ID: 7725577

Claim:
A method comprising: routing messages from a first enterprise application to a second enterprise application through a middleware message routing engine of a middleware layer, wherein the middleware layer is adapted to map a first message structure of a message received from the first enterprise application to a second message structure of a message destined for the second enterprise application; receiving smart item messages transmitted from a smart items infrastructure that includes a plurality of smart items into a queue of a message handing layer; extracting smart item messages from the queue into a plurality of message processors of the message handing layer, wherein the message processors are configured to route smart item messages from the plurality of smart items to the message routing engine, and wherein the message routing engine is adapted to map a message structure of a smart item message to a message structure of a message destined for one or more enterprise applications; monitoring a quality of service parameter associated with the smart item message traffic transmitted from the plurality of smart items through the middleware message routing engine to the one or more enterprise applications; and controlling, in response to the monitored quality of service parameter, a number of parallel message processors that route messages from the plurality of smart items to the message routing engine.