Message parser and formatter

• US 20020078349A1
• Filed: 06/29/2001
• Published: 06/20/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Russell, Marso, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 6,834,382 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/166
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

The present invention relates to a utility for transforming messages from an external form to the internal representation of a given application and vice versa. The utility can handle messages relative to a variety of external systems and a variety of different formats without recompiling. In one embodiment, the invention is implemented in connection with a classified information processing and distribution system (100). Multiple input sources (102) provide information to the system (100) at various levels of classification and this information is reported over various communication channels (106, 108 and 110) and in different message formats. The system (100) sanitizes that data to the classification levels required for dissemination over lower level channels (112 and 114) to addressees (104), at least some of whom do not have clearance sufficient to receive all of the input information. A MAG module (118) transforms input data from the various external formats into the internal data representation of an ADS module. The MAG module (118) further receives sanitized information from the ADS module in the internal representation and transforms such information into the various external formats of the addressee systems. The module (118) is a table driven subsystem that can access multiple external format specifications stored in a table structure so as to implement the noted transformations.

Claims

1. A method for use in transforming a message between a first internal form associated with an internal system and a second form for use by a first external system, said method comprising the steps of:

establishing a generic processing engine for performing a transformation process relative to an information stream associated with an eternal system, said generic processing engine being adaptable to handle messages in multiple forms associated with multiple external systems;

first operating said processing engine to receive said message in one of said first and second forms;

second operating said generic processing engine to access storage including at least first external specification information relating to said second form of said external system and second external specification information relating to a third form of a second external source;

configuring said generic processing engine based on said first external specification information; and

third operating said generic processing engine as configured using said first external specification information to transform said message between said first internal form and said second external form.

2. A method for use in transforming a message between a first internal form associated with an internal system and a second form for use by a first external system, said method comprising the steps of:

A) establishing a processing module for processing a data stream, said processing module including a parsing engine and a processing engine;

B) operating said parsing engine to select a portion from said data stream and define said portion as a parent object;

C) operating said parsing engine to parse said parent object into multiple child objects wherein each of said child objects has a child content that is a subset of a parent content of said parent;

D) operating said processing engine to perform a predefined process on at least a first one of said multiple child objects;

E) redefining at least a second one of said multiple child objects as a parent object, said second one of said multiple child objects being the same as or different from said first one of said multiple objects; and

repeating said steps of C and D with respect to said redefined object;

wherein said processing module is operative for recursively processing said information stream so as to achieve a desired level of processing resolution with respect to said information stream.