Relationships

Instance relationships describe the links between particular instances of entities, events, or streaming data. They are sent in Instance messages only and represent actual runtime relationships.

These relationships must follow the relationship patterns that are defined in a schema message. The schema establishes which types may be related while an instance message defines which individual objects are related.

Instance relationships describe what exists and identify a source instance, a target instance and a relationship type defined in the schema. You can use an instance relationship to:

• Associate a streaming data instance with the entity it describes

• Link events to the entities or assets on which they occur

• Describe logical relationships between individual entities

• Represent runtime associations that change over time