Patent Document ID: 8346724
Application ID: 12330463
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method, comprising: employing a processor to carry out the following acts: receiving an attribute value, the attribute value being measured via a sensor or derived from one or more values received from one or more sensors; processing the received attribute value; identifying attribute value requests related to the received attribute value that meet predetermined criteria which cause the received attribute value to be pushed to one or more clients; when one or more requests are identified and multiple instances of the attribute value are available, mediating the available multiple instances of the attribute value to produce a mediated attribute value and additional information associated therewith; pushing one of the received attribute value or a mediated value; and processing the additional information, the additional information including at least one of uncertainty or accuracy information, a timestamp of when the value was created or supplied or was most accurate, an indication that the value is a constant, indications of restrictions on whether the availability of the attribute instance or of the particular value is available to a specific client, data type, units, a format version, a name, or generic attribute property supplied by a client, history information, an indication of the supplier of the attribute, an indication of equivalent attributes, indications of clients that have registered for the attribute or consumed values for the attribute, descriptions of clients in order to track statistics, information to be used to evaluate characterization module efficiency or to facilitate process optimization, an indication of a verification of accuracy, a consumer rating or reputation based on input from a set of clients, a cost to use the value, future availability of the attribute value, or a version of the attribute, said processing the additional information comprises: when a time stamp is received, associating a time stamp to the attribute value; when accuracy information is received, associating the accuracy information to the attribute value; when accuracy decay information is received, associated the accuracy decay information to the attribute value; when a constant attribute value is received, conveying that the received attribute value is a constant; and when information associated with clients that are to have access to the received attribute value, associating the information with the received attribute value to restrict access thereof to the intended clients.