A
SSET
A
SSIGNMENT
M
ODEL
As revised 2006.06.05
Bionic Buffalo Tech Note #56
Security:
Unrestricted
An
Asset
is a highly generic entity. Almost any kind of object or entity may be considered to be an
Asset
. Because
Asset
s might be very simple, they are not expected to have any attributes or
operations.
AssetTag
s exist because the
Asset
s themselves are assumed to be only trivial objects. An
AssetTag
has the operations and attributes we might like an
Asset
itself to have, but cannot always
expect. In some environments, the
Asset
may not be a “proper” object: it may have a
NIL
reference,
but still is presumed to exist, and it can be identified using its description in the
AssetTag
.
The
AssetOwner
is the initial source of
Asset
s. An
AssetOwner
may be a factory, or it may have
acquired the
Asset
by transfer from some other
AssetOwner
.
AssetOwner
s consign
Asset
s to
AssetBroker
s, who attempt to satisfy the requests of
AssetCustomer
s.
AssetBroker
s contribute to the process in two main ways:
•
They may consolidate or aggregate the
Asset
s of multiple
AssetOwner
s, so that an
AssetCustomer
may deal with a single
AssetBroker
rather than multiple
AssetOwner
s.
•
They may match the requests of
AssetCustomer
s to available inventory, in order to fulfill the
AssetCustomer
s' requirements. When a request is satisfied, the
AssetList
is assigned to
the
AssetCustomer
.
An
AssetCustomer
, once an
AssetList
have been assigned to him, has use of those
Asset
s until
he releases them or until the term of the assignment expires.
3. Asset Descriptions and Requirements
An
AssetBroker
must match a customer's requirements to an asset's description. This is done by
means of the
AssetDescription
and the
AssetRequirement
.
The
AssetDescription
is a string containing a sequence of assignments of values to variables. It is
essentially the source code for a brief software program. The initial value of the
AssetDescription
is provided by the
AssetOwner
, but it may be modified by the
AssetBroker
.
The
AssetRequirement
is provided by the
AssetCustomer
. It is a short program, in the form of
a string, which returns a number (the score) indicating the extent to which the description satisfies the
requirements. A score of zero is no match at all; a higher valued score is a better match than a lower
valued score. The requirement program is evaluated after assigning values to the variables as specified
in the description. Undefined variables are given empty or zero values.
The requirement program may also include an assignment to the variable
_alternative_group
.
When two or more requirement programs assign the same value to
_alternative_group
, then only
the one with the highest score is considered a match. (Of course, none of the available assets may satisfy
Copyright 2006 Bionic Buffalo. All rights reserved.
File tn0056; Modified 2006-06-15 12:24:32
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