Method and apparatus for creating an adaptive application

• US 20040210557A1
• Filed: 04/30/2004
• Published: 10/21/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adaptik Corp. (Sapiens International Corp. NV)
• Original Assignee: Adaptik Corp. (Sapiens International Corp. NV)
• Inventors: Pettit, John Bartholomew III, Batakci, Lutfu, Merkel, Christopher Fredrick, Kivanc, Bulent, Kadambi, Govindaraj, Uluakar, Tamer
• Granted Patent: US 7,191,188 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

An Adaptive Software Application consists of several types of modules, called Adaptive Units, which are highly parameterized such that they can adapt to varying business requirements by virtue of externally provided parameters. An Adaptive Application is assembled through repeated use of various combinations of different types of Adaptive Units. Large and complex business systems can be rapidly implemented through this approach. An Adaptive Unit includes an interface component that can present information to and accept information from the outside world (such as a web page or a system interface), a processing logic component that can manipulate and evaluate information based on received parameters received (such as comparisons and decisions as in the case of data dependency decisions), and a data persistence logic component that retrieves, adds, updates, and deletes data targeting one or more Occurrence Databases. All three components of an Adaptive Unit are parameter driven. These parameters are not specific to any particular business. One embodiment for providing parameters to these components includes a Definition Database. There may be one or more Occurrence Databases depending on the number of business processes supported by the business application for which the Adaptive Application is being adapted. The Occurrence Database includes generic (also referred to as meta model driven) tables that are not specific to any particular business.

Claims

1. A computer readable media have encoded thereon a software application that can be adapted to varying business requirements, said software application comprising a plurality of adaptive units adapted to interact with a user and further being programmed to:

utilize data from a definition database as parameters that govern operations for capturing, manipulating and storing of information;

store and retrieve information in an occurrence database including metal-model based tables; and

accommodate storing new data fields in the occurrence database without requiring restructuring said occurrence database.

2. A method for adapting a software application to varying business requirements comprising:

providing a plurality of adaptive units adapted to interact with a user, perform data manipulation functions, and data persistence functions, said adaptive units;

utilizing data from an external source as parameters that govern operations for capturing, manipulating and storing information;

storing and retrieving information in an occurrence database including meta-model based tables; and

accommodating storage of new data fields in the occurrence database without requiring restructuring said occurrence database.

3. A method for creating a software application comprising:

creating one or more web pages for each of a plurality of previously identified user interface screens for the software application by copying a plurality of preexisting web page element templates in various combinations;

assigning one or more view names to each web page element template copied;

inserting the one or more view names into each copied web page element template; and

using the one or more assigned view names to obtain a plurality of parameters for the web page element template from a definition database.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising storing in a definition database all necessary information associated with each assigned view name.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein all necessary information includes one or more of the following:

a view, an entity, an entity ancestry, a plurality of questions, a plurality of question relations, a plurality of answer options, a plurality of view items, a plurality of view item dependency lines, and a plurality of view item dependency values.

6. A method for creating software for a business application comprising:

providing a database including at least a definition portion and an occurrence portion;

providing a plurality of adaptive units that when arranged in various combinations create a user interface; and

providing a plurality of preexisting code components, which are reusable and modular in form.