Patent ID: 8555398

Claim:
A method for providing role-based data access to sensor-related data, comprising: providing an interface allowing one or more accessing applications residing on a variety of systems and associated with a plurality of enterprises/organizations to receive sensor-related data; receiving a query for sensor-related data from an accessing application associated with an entity, wherein the entity is one of an enterprise/organization, an individual associated with an enterprise/organization, and a sub-organization associated with an enterprise/organization; identifying at least one function of the entity with respect to one or more groups of products bearing Electronic Product Codes; identifying one or more roles associated with the entity based on the at least one identified function of the entity, wherein the one or more roles associated with the entity are defined in relation to other entities from whom the entity is to receive sensor-related data; performing the query to generate a result set within an extent permitted by access authorization associated with the identified one or more roles of the entity; and providing the result set to the accessing application through the interface.