Patent ID: 7756902

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: receiving a user selection, through a user interface, of a type and quantity of physical objects that are currently being processed within a process flow of a physical processing environment, for which a virtual movement data is to be generated in order to run a simulation which tests a functionality or a capability of the physical processing environment; accessing a movement graph defining, for each of two or more possible destination reading points within the process flow that the physical objects may move to from each origin data reading point, a probability that the physical objects will move to each respective possible destination reading point, and a time window that the physical objects are expected to move from the origin data reading point to each of the two or more possible destination data reading points within the process flow; accessing current status information of the user-selected type of physical objects within the physical processing environment wherein the type of physical object is a palletized type, a grouped type, or an individual type; generating, based on the selected type of the physical objects, the accessed movement graph, and the accessed current status information, the virtual movement data for the selected quantity of physical objects within the process flow, the virtual movement data specifying a sub-quantity of the physical objects likely to move to, and an expected time of arrival of the specified sub-quantity at, each respective possible destination reading point from the origin data reading point, for input to the origin data reading point or possible destination data reading points wherein the virtual movement data is generated as a simulation model or a testing script; inputting at least a portion of the generated virtual movement data to the origin or possible destination data reading points, thereby simulating the virtual movement within the process flow; and outputting a representation of the simulated virtual movement to the user through the user interface.