| CIM_LogicalIdentity is an abstract and generic association, indicating that two LogicalElements represent different aspects of the same underlying entity. This relationship conveys what could be defined with multiple inheritance. It is restricted to the 'logical' aspects of a ManagedSystemElement. In most scenarios, the Identity relationship is determined by the equivalence of Keys or some other identifying properties of the related Elements. The association should only be used in well understood scenarios. This is why the association is abstract - allowing more concrete definition and clarification in subclasses. One of the scenarios where this relationship is reasonable is to represent that a Device is both a 'bus' entity and a 'functional' entity. For example, a Device could be both a USB (bus) and a Keyboard (functional) entity. |
