Technical building block

• US 10,474,433 B1
• Filed: 10/16/2018
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Hayen, Jon, Tarpley, Clint, Thatte, Vivek M
• Primary Examiner(s): Kang, Insun
• Application Number:
  US16/161,281
• Time in Patent Office: 392 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse

Abstract

A virtual technical building block software development tool and a software development interface that speed accurate and quality software design are provided. The tools develop enterprise software architecture designs, and utilize a library of symbols and a virtual template. The library of symbols includes service oriented architecture symbols and enterprise application integration symbols. The template includes multiple sections to be displayed on a computing device screen. Each section includes a blank space bounded by a frame, and all of the sections are vertically aligned with one another to guide design flow. The sections of the template include, from top to bottom vertically, (1) a technical capabilities section; (2) an interaction sequence section; (3) a service topology section; (4) an integration flow section; and (5) a logging section. The technical building block software development tool streamlines software development and significantly reduces implementation and design time, and ensures reproducible quality of design.

Claims

1. A software development template implemented and embedded on a computing device for use when developing enterprise software architecture designs, the software development template comprising:

a plurality of sections to be displayed on a computing device screen, each section including blank space bounded by a frame with all of the sections being vertically aligned with one another, the sections including;

a technical capabilities section configured to receive a plurality of capability components, each capability component representing a function of a software architecture design;

an interaction sequence section configured to receive a plurality of interaction components illustrating the interaction between the capability components;

a service topology section configured to receive a plurality of service components that represent hardware and software performing functions of the capability components and the interaction components, each service component being associated with the capability components and interaction components in one column;

an integration flow section configured to receive a plurality of integration components which represent hardware and software implementing a flow of information between a service requestor and a service provider, each integration component being associated with the capability components, interaction components, and service components in one column; and

a logging section configured to receive a plurality of logging components which represent hardware and software indicating the occurrence of events or activities related to the function of the software design, each logging component resulting from an action of one or more of the capability components, interaction components, service components, and integration components.

2. The software development template of claim 1, wherein each interaction component in the interaction sequence section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section.

3. The software development template of claim 1, wherein each service component in the service topology section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section and interaction components in the interaction sequence section.

4. The software development template of claim 1, wherein each integration component in the integration flow section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, interaction components in the interaction sequence section, and service components in the service topology section.

5. The software development template of claim 1, wherein each logging component in the logging section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, interaction components in the interaction sequence section, service components in the service topology section, and integration components in the integration flow section.

6. The software development template of claim 1, wherein capability components representing similar functions are positioned in a same column of the technical capabilities section.

7. The software development template of claim 1, wherein the technical capabilities section further includes a plurality of lines, each line connecting at least two capability components to one another, each line including at least one arrowhead indicating a direction of flow of data between the capability components and the interaction sequence section further includes a plurality of lines between each pair of adjacently-positioned interaction components, the lines indicating a request, a response, and a time out, as necessary.

8. The software development template of claim 1, wherein each interaction component includes a vertically-oriented bar and a label positioned therewith describing a specific implementation of the functions of the capability components associated with the interaction component.

9. The software development template of claim 1, wherein the service components include service oriented architecture symbols and the integration components include enterprise application integration symbols.

10. The software development template of claim 1, wherein the integration flow section includes a request subsection in which integration components requesting service, data, or access are placed and a response subsection in which integration components responding to requests are placed and the logging section includes a system logging subsection in which logging components log system events and an application logging subsection in which logging components log messages at an application level.

11. A software development interface implemented and embedded on a computing device for use when developing enterprise software architecture designs, the software development interface comprising:

a library of service oriented architecture symbols representing service components;

a library of enterprise application integration symbols representing integration components; and

a template comprising a plurality of sections to be displayed on a computing device screen, each section including blank space bounded by a frame with all of the sections being vertically aligned with one another, the sections including;

a technical capabilities section configured to receive a plurality of capability components, each capability component representing a function of a software architecture design,

an interaction sequence section configured to receive a plurality of interaction components illustrating the interaction between the capability components,

a service topology section configured to receive a plurality of service components that represent hardware and software performing functions of the capability components and the interaction components, each service component being associated with the capability components and interaction components in one column,

an integration flow section configured to receive a plurality of integration components which represent hardware and software implementing a flow of information between a service requestor and a service provider, each integration component being associated with the capability components, interaction components, and service components in one column, and

a logging section configured to receive a plurality of logging components which represent hardware and software indicating the occurrence of events or activities related to the function of the software design, each logging component resulting from an action of one or more of the capability components, interaction components, service components, and integration components.

12. The software development interface of claim 11, wherein each interaction component in the interaction sequence section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, each service component in the service topology section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section and interaction components in the interaction sequence section, each integration component in the integration flow section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, interaction components in the interaction sequence section, and service components in the service topology section, and each logging component in the logging section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, interaction components in the interaction sequence section, service components in the service topology section, and integration components in the integration flow section.

13. The software development interface of claim 11, wherein capability components representing similar functions are positioned in a same column of the technical capabilities section.

14. The software development interface of claim 11, wherein the technical capabilities section further includes a plurality of lines, each line connecting at least two capability components to one another, each line including at least one arrowhead indicating a direction of flow of data between the capability components and the interaction sequence section further includes a plurality of lines between each pair of adjacently-positioned interaction components, the lines indicating a request, a response, and a time out, as necessary.

15. The software development interface of claim 11, wherein each interaction component includes a vertically-oriented bar and a label positioned therewith describing a specific implementation of the functions of the capability components associated with the interaction component.

16. The software development interface of claim 11, wherein the integration flow section includes a request subsection in which integration components requesting service, data, or access are placed and a response subsection in which integration components responding to requests are placed and the logging section includes a system logging subsection in which logging components log system events and an application logging subsection in which logging components log messages at an application level.

17. The software development interface of claim 11, wherein the service components include service oriented architecture symbols and the integration components include enterprise application integration symbols.

18. A software development interface implemented and embedded on a computing device for use when developing enterprise software architecture designs, the software development interface comprising:

a library of service oriented architecture symbols representing service components;

a library of enterprise application integration symbols representing integration components; and

a template comprising a plurality of sections to be displayed on a computing device screen, each section including blank space bounded by a frame with all of the sections being vertically aligned with one another, the sections including;

a technical capabilities section configured to receive a plurality of capability components, each capability component representing a function of a software architecture design, an interaction sequence section configured to receive a plurality of interaction components illustrating the interaction between the capability components,

a service topology section configured to receive a plurality of service components that represent hardware and software performing functions of the capability components and the interaction components, each service component being associated with the capability components and interaction components in one column, wherein the service components include service oriented architecture symbols,

an integration flow section configured to receive a plurality of integration components which represent hardware and software implementing a flow of information between a service requestor and a service provider, each integration component being associated with the capability components, interaction components, and service components in one column, wherein the integration components include enterprise application integration symbols, and

a logging section configured to receive a plurality of logging components which represent hardware and software indicating the occurrence of events or activities related to the function of the software design, each logging component resulting from an action of one or more of the capability components, interaction components, service components, and integration components.

19. The software development interface of claim 18, wherein

the technical capabilities section further includes a plurality of lines, each line connecting at least two capability components to one another, each line including at least one arrowhead indicating a direction of flow of data between the capability components,

each interaction component includes a vertically-oriented bar and a label positioned therewith describing the specific implementation of the function of the capability component associated with the interaction component,

the interaction sequence section further includes a plurality of lines between each pair of adjacently-positioned interaction components, the lines indicating a request, a response, and a time out, as necessary,

the integration flow section includes a request subsection in which integration components requesting service, data, or access are placed and a response subsection in which integration components responding to requests are placed, and

the logging section includes a system logging subsection in which logging components log system events and an application logging subsection in which logging components log messages at an application level.

20. The software development interface of claim 18, wherein each interaction component in the interaction sequence section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, each service component in the service topology section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section and interaction components in the interaction sequence section, each integration component in the integration flow section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, interaction components in the interaction sequence section, and service components in the service topology section, and each logging component in the logging section is vertically aligned with its associated capability components in the technical capabilities section, interaction components in the interaction sequence section, service components in the service topology section, and integration components in the integration flow section.