Collaborative business plug-in framework

• US 20040221261A1
• Filed: 04/01/2003
• Published: 11/04/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Blevins, Mike
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A plug-in framework can be used in an integration system to extend business process management functionality. A plug-in manager, which can be part of an integration process engine, is used to support configuration, design, and run-time management of the plug-ins. A plug-in API is used to provide support for configuration, design, and run-time interactions between the process engine and a deployed plug-in. The plug-in API can consist of components such as session beans, run-time management classes, and packages.

This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Claims

1. A plug-in framework for integrating business processes, comprising:

a plug-in manager for supporting the management of plug-ins; and

a plug-in API for supporting the design and development of plug-ins.

2. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

said plug-in manager supports the management of plug-ins including the configuration, design, and run-time management of plug-ins.

3. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

said plug-in manager can route plug-in related requests.

4. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a process engine for controlling run-time instances.

5. A plug-in framework according to claim 4, wherein:

the process engine contains the plug-in manager.

6. A plug-in framework according to claim 5, wherein:

the plug-in manager can work with plug-ins external to the process engine.

7. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the plug-in manager further supports workflow import and export.

8. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the plug-in manager further enables interpretation of incoming plug-in data.

9. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the plug-in manager provides run-time management of plug-ins during workflow execution.

10. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the plug-in manager stores plug-in configuration information in an integration data store.

11. A plug-in framework according to claim 4, wherein:

the process engine further monitors run-time execution and progress.

12. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the plug-in API provides support for configuration, design, and run-time interactions between the process engine and a deployed plug-in.

13. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the plug-in API consists of components selected from the group consisting of session beans, run-time management classes, and packages.

14. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a design client for designing plug-in interaction.

15. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a run-time management client.

16. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a database store for storing run-time instances.

17. A plug-in framework according to claim 16, wherein:

said database store further stores templates and template definitions.

18. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a server for managing plug-in deployment.

19. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a session bean for providing lifecycle management.

20. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a session bean for provides caching, persistence, and transaction management.

21. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a security realm service for supporting security interfaces.

22. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a Java Message Service instance for transmitting XML content.

23. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

a clustering service for grouping servers used by said process engine.

24. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, wherein:

the process engine comprises components selected from the group consisting of session beans, entity bean, startup classes, and message-driven beans.

25. A plug-in framework according to claim 1, further comprising:

an event queue for receiving event messages.

26. A plug-in framework according to claim 25, further comprising:

an event processor for managing events received by the event queue.

27. A plug-in framework according to claim 4, wherein said process engine can automatically detect a plug-in.

28. A plug-in framework for integrating business processes, comprising:

means for supporting the management of plug-ins; and

means for supporting the design and development of plug-ins.

29. A computer-program product for execution by a server computer for integrating business processes, comprising:

computer code for supporting the management of plug-ins; and

computer code for supporting the design and development of plug-ins.

30. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

object code executed by the processor, the object code configured to;

support the management of plug-ins; and

support the design and development of plug-ins.