Patent ID: 7757949

Claim:
A method for structuring a system, comprising: receiving, at a data processing device, information characterizing a first article as having a first characteristic, wherein the information is received by interrogating a tag associated with the first article using an interrogation device; accessing a machine-readable description of a system of articles, the system description comprising a collection of data objects, each data object representing an article in the system, and a collection of descriptions of relationships between the articles in the system; the data processing device identifying a first relationship between a second article and a third article in the system of articles, wherein: the second and the third article are represented by second and third data objects in the collection of data objects, the second data object characterizes the second article as having the first characteristic, and the first relationship characterizes one or more of a chemical interaction, an operational compatibility, and an electrical compatibility between the second article and the third article; establishing a second relationship between the first article and the third article, the second relationship emulating the one or more of the chemical interaction, the operational compatibility, and the electrical compatibility between the second article and the third article, wherein establishing the second relationship comprises the data processing device writing the second relationship into the machine-readable description of a system of articles; the data processing device identifying a third relationship between a fourth article and a fifth article in the system of articles, wherein: the fourth and the fifth article are represented by fourth and fifth data objects in the collection, the fourth data object characterizes the fourth article as having the first characteristic, the third relationship characterizes one or more of a chemical interaction, an operational compatibility, and an electrical compatibility between the fourth article and the fifth article; and establishing a fourth relationship between the first article and the fifth article, the fourth relationship emulating the one or more of the chemical interaction, the operational compatibility, and the electrical compatibility between the fourth article and the fifth article, wherein establishing the fourth relationship comprises the data processing device writing the fourth relationship into the machine-readable description of a system of articles.