Apparatus for automatically generating source code

• US 20030046061A1
• Filed: 07/01/2002
• Published: 03/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company
• Inventors: Preston, Keith R, Leathem, Caroline A
• Granted Patent: US 7,197,739 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/436 Semantic checking

Abstract

A method of automatically generating software from one or more predefined functions in accordance with an input statement entered in natural language, the method comprising the steps of:

(i) analysing the input statement for its semantic content, so as to extract first semantically meaningful elements from the input statement;

(ii) analysing the one or more predefined functions for their semantic content, so as to extract one or more sets of second semantically meaningful elements from the one or more predefined functions;

(iii) identifying at least one of a condition, an action and/or a statement in the input statement;

(iv) comparing the first semantically meaningful elements with the second semantically meaningful elements so as to identify one or more predefined functions that correspond to one or more action and/or statement of the input statement;

(v) combining at least some of the first semantic elements in accordance with any conditions identified at step (iii) so as to generate corresponding condition variables;

(vi) combining functions and condition variables identified at steps (iv) and (v) according to a set of predetermined rules in order to generate the software.

Claims

1. A method of automatically generating software from one or more predefined functions in accordance with an input statement entered in natural language, the method comprising the steps of:

(i) analysing the input statement for its semantic content, so as to extract first semantically meaningful elements from the input statement;

(ii) analysing the one or more predefined functions for their semantic content, so as to extract one or more sets of second semantically meaningful elements from the one or more predefined functions;

(iii) identifying at least one of a condition, an action and/or a statement in the input statement;

(iv) comparing the first semantically meaningful elements with the second semantically meaningful elements so as to identify one or more predefined functions that correspond to one or more action and/or statement of the input statement;

(v) combining at least some of the first semantic elements in accordance with any conditions identified at step (iii) so as to generate corresponding condition variables;

(vi) combining functions and condition variables identified at steps (iv) and (v) according to a set of predetermined rules in order to generate the software.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which the comparing step (iv) includes the steps of:

a) inputting a set of second semantically meaningful elements into a predetermined rule;

b) inputting the first semantically meaningful elements into the rule;

c) processing the rule;

d) evaluating the result of step (c); and

e) repeating steps (a) to (c) for different sets of second semantically meaningful elements until a solution is evaluated at step (d).

3. A method according to claim 1 or claim 2, in which the step (v) of combining at least some of the first semantic elements to form condition variables includes the steps, for each condition identified at step (iii), of:

a) identifying an event governing the condition;

b) identifying an entity associated with the event;

c) identifying a relation between the event and the entity; and

d) concatenating the event, the entity and the relation therebetween, thereby forming a condition variable.

4. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, in which the functions and condition variables identified at steps (iv) and (v) are inserted respectively into a predetermined code template.

5. Apparatus for automatically generating software from one or more predefined functions in accordance with an input statement entered in natural language, the apparatus comprising:

(i) extracting means for extracting first semantically meaningful elements from the input statement and for extracting one or more sets of second semantically meaningful elements from the one or more predefined functions;

(ii) identifying means for identifying any or all of conditions, actions and/or statements in the input statement;

(iii) comparing means for comparing first semantically meaningful elements with second semantically meaningful elements so as to identify one or more predefined functions that correspond to one or more action and/or statement in the input statement;

(iv) first combining means for combining at least some of the first semantic elements in accordance with the conditions identified by identifying means (ii) so as to generate corresponding condition variables;

(v) second comparing means for combining the condition variables and predefined functions identified by means (iii) and (iv) according to a set of predetermined rules in order to generate the software.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the extracting means is a natural language parser.

7. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 or 6, including a predetermined code template.

8. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the identifying means identifies conditions, actions and statements in accordance with the occurrence of one or more predetermined semantic patterns

9. Apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the software is used in the control of terminal devices in a communications system.

10. Apparatus for generating code instructions for controlling equipment to carry out one or more activities, said apparatus comprising

a) an input for receiving instructions for use in controlling the equipment;

b) received instruction processing means for extracting one or more operations and one or more logical operators from received instructions;

c) means for storing a plurality of code instructions for controlling the equipment to carry out activities;

d) means for processing stored code instructions so as to identify a code instruction relevant to an operation extracted from a received instruction;

e) means for translating extracted logical operators into code; and

f) code generating means for selecting at least one identified code instruction and combining it with at least one translated logical operator to generate said code instructions for controlling the equipment to carry out the one or more activities.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said received instructions comprise natural language.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein the received instruction processing means comprises a parser.

13. Apparatus according to any one of claims 10 or 11, 12 wherein the received instruction processing means also provides the means for processing stored code instructions.