Dynamic display of data item evaluation

• US 20030115545A1
• Filed: 10/21/2002
• Published: 06/19/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Simon, Eric, Llirbat, Francois, Hull, Richard Baxter
• Granted Patent: US 7,055,098 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/500
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/31 Programming languages or programming paradigms
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A graphical user interface (GUI) is provided for use in conjunction with attribute evaluation utilizing computation rules and a combining policy. The graphical user interface displays a visual representation of the evaluation of attributes. The GUI displays a representation of the evaluation status of attributes and their associated computation rules during execution. The display may be updated dynamically to provide a user with a visual representation of the progression of attribute evaluation. The representation of evaluation status may include representations of the values assigned to, as well as the state of, data items and associated computation rules. States may be visually represented in the display in various ways, such as using various colors or labels associated with the data items and associated computation rules. Further, the particular data items and computation rules for which evaluation status is represented may be user selectable.

Claims

1. In a computer system which implements an object-focused workflow system and which evaluates at least one attribute by evaluating a plurality of computation rules corresponding to the at least one attribute to produce a collection of values and assigning a final value to said attribute by applying at least one combining policy to said collection of values, a method for displaying a representation of the evaluation of said at least one attribute on a display screen comprising the steps of:

displaying a representation of the evaluation status of said at least one attribute, wherein said at least one attribute corresponds to an object in said object-focused workflow system;

displaying a representation of the evaluation status for each of said plurality of computation rules, each of said computation rules defining whether a value should be contributed to said at least one attribute; and

displaying a representation of said at least one combining policy, each of said combining policies defining a manner in which said contributed data values are combined in order to determine a final value for said at least one attribute.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

dynamically updating said display during evaluation of said at least one attribute.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying a time that said final value was assigned to said at least one attribute.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said representation of the evaluation status of a computation rule includes an indication of a state of said computation rule and a second indication of a value produced by said evaluation of said computation rule, wherein said value produced by said evaluation of said computation rule is displayed only when said state is a particular one of a plurality of possible states.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said representation of the evaluation status of said at least one attribute includes said final value assigned to said at least one attribute, wherein said final value is displayed after said combining policy is applied to said collection of values.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein said representation of the evaluation status of said at least one attribute includes an indication of a state of said at least one attribute.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying a representation of said combining policy.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said representation of the evaluation status of said at least one attribute is indicated, at least in part, by color.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said representation of the evaluation status of said plurality of computation rules is indicated, at least in part, by color.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying said computation rules.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying representations of said computation rules in a structure which represents said combining policy.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein a representation of a selected combining policy comprises a textual description of said selected combining policy.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein a representation of a selected combining policy comprises a name of a function specifying said selected combining policy.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said at least one attribute comprises a plurality of attributes;

the object-focused workflow system comprises an instance of a workflow specification, whereby the computer system implements said instance of said workflow specification;

the step of displaying a representation of the evaluation status of said at least one attribute further comprises the step of displaying a representation of an evaluation status for each of the plurality of attributes;

the method further comprises the steps of;

initializing said representations of evaluation statuses of the plurality of attributes;

initializing said representations of said evaluation statuses of said computation rules associated with each of said plurality of attributes;

executing said instance of said workflow specification;

receiving at least one event occurring during execution of said instance of said workflow specification; and

based on said at least one event, performing one or more of the following steps;

(i) updating said representation of the evaluation status of said plurality of attributes;

(ii) updating said representations of the evaluation statuses of said computation rules associated with each of said plurality of attributes; and

(iii) updating said representation of said at least one combining policy.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of receiving at least one event further comprises the step of receiving, after a snapshot is constructed from said instance of said workflow specification, said at least one event occurring during execution of said workflow instance.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein each of said at least one events comprises one of a plurality of predetermined events.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

displaying data dependencies between attributes and computation rules.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said representation of the evaluation of said attributes is formatted as a grid, said method further comprising the steps of:

displaying said representation of said evaluation statuses of said at least two attributes in a horizontal row; and

displaying the representation of the evaluation status of the computation rules in vertical columns aligned with associated attributes.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the attributes displayed are user-selectable.

20. In a computer system which implements an object-focused workflow system and which evaluates at least one attribute by evaluating a plurality of computation rules corresponding to the at least one attribute to produce a collection of values and assigning a final value to said attribute by applying at least one combining policy to said collection of values, an improvement for displaying a representation of the evaluation of said at least one attribute on a display screen comprising:

a memory storing computer program instructions executable by a processor of said computer system, said computer program instructions defining the steps of;

displaying a representation of the evaluation status of said at least one attribute, wherein said at least one attribute corresponds to an object in said object-focused workflow system;

displaying a representation of the evaluation status for each of said plurality of computation rules, each of said computation rules defining whether a value should be contributed to said attribute; and

displaying a representation of said at least one combining policy, each of said combining policies defining a manner in which said contributed data values are combined in order to determine a final value for said attribute.