Method for visually programming instruction set for process

• US 20050197880A1
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 41 Winding Corporation
• Original Assignee: Data Quality Solutions
• Inventors: Walsh, John G., Walsh, Jeremy M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,320,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method for visually programming an instruction set for a process is proposed. The method is based on receiving a request to design the process, providing a process designer interactive display, storing a library containing at least one function, accepting via the process designer interactive display function-related information concerning the function, outputting via the process designer interactive display a graphical representation of the function-related information, and generating the instruction set for the process based upon the function and the function-related information.

Claims

1. A method for visually programming an instruction set for a process, comprising:

receiving a request to design the process;

providing a process designer interactive display;

storing a library containing at least one function;

accepting, via the process designer interactive display, function-related information concerning the function that comprises at least one of a function input, a function output, an input connection to the function, an output connection from the function, and a function setting;

outputting, via the process designer interactive display, a graphical representation of the function-related information; and

generating the instruction set for the process based upon the function and the function-related information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to design the process comprises at least one of creating or modifying the process.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the process designer interactive display comprises a process definition area, comprising:

a library area configured to display information concerning the library;

an input field area configured to display a function input identifier representative of the function input;

an output field area configured to display a function output identifier representative of the function output; and

a process step definition area configured to display a function identifier representative of the function.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a relation between the function identifier and at least one of the function input identifier or the function output identifier is specified by a graphical manipulation of the process designer interactive display.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the function input identifier, the function identifier, and the function output identifier are connectible to one another via drag and drop functionality.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the library area is adjacent to the input field area.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the library area is adjacent to the process step definition area.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the library area is located to the left of the input field area.

9. The method of claim 3, wherein the input field area and the output field area are both adjacent to the process step definition area.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the input field area is located to the left of the process step definition area, which is located to the left of the output field area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the library area is located to the left of the input field area.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the library area, the input field area, the process step definition area, and the output field area are visually separated from one another.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction set is a source code file.

14. The method of claim 3, wherein the function output identifier of one function is connectible to the function input identifier of another function via drag and drop functionality.

15. The method of claim 3, wherein the process designer interactive display comprises a visual representation of a road, which visually indicates a path for information from source to destination.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the road provides directional flow information from the source to the destination.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the road is represented by a directional arrow.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the road comprises plural roads.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein, when plural roads are displayed, the plural roads are visually distinguishable from one another.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the road may be created by a pointing device of a terminal.

21. The method of claim 3, wherein the function input identifier is visually distinguishable on the process designer interactive display.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the function input identifier is represented by a visually distinguishable icon or symbol.

23. The method of claim 3, wherein the function output identifier is visually distinguishable on the process designer interactive display.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the function output identifier is represented by a visually distinguishable icon or symbol.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the function input includes conditions to specify actions to be taken upon an occurrence or non-occurrence of a specified event.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein an interactive page is provided to define the conditions for an element of a process step.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the function setting is inputted via a function settings interactive page.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operational testing of the instruction set.

29. The method of claim 2, wherein each function is maintained in a function registry or function library and made available for subsequent use in defining additional processes or modified processes.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the process utilizes different vendors'"'"' products.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the different vendors'"'"' products are on various platforms.

32. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing effectiveness of various functions and settings from different vendors; and

selecting the most effective functions and settings.

33. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying an interactive page for inputting property information about the function.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the property information includes at least one of a function name, a function icon, an associated product name, a function type, and a function description.

35. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating temporary step files containing information about the function;

creating a process steps file by joining a group of the temporary step files associated with the process; and

creating a function attributes file containing information about attributes of the function;

wherein the instruction set is generated by retrieving the function attributes file for each step in the process steps file, mapping data in the process steps file to corresponding fields in the function attributes file and mapping each function attributes file to a function template file including a function template.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the information about attributes of the function contains at least information about the number of inputs of the function and the number of outputs of the function.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the function attributes file contains information provided in XML format.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the function template includes a sequence of instructions that at least define variables of the function.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein the temporary step files are provided in XML format.

40. The method of claim 35, wherein the function template file includes source code instructions.

41. The method of claim 35, wherein the function template file includes XML tags that correspond to fields in associated parts of the function attribute file.

42. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a user interface for a user to create or modify the function.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the user interface permits the user to reuse the function from multiple software applications.

44. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

a function wizard for importing a pre-built function into the library or modifying an existing function.

45. The method of claim 1, wherein a process created by the method is recursively used to create the function.

46. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a product selection page for selecting a product used for the function from various vendors'"'"' products on various platforms.

47. The method of claim 1, wherein the process is a business process.

48. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the function input and the function output has a data type.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the data type is at least one of a boolean type, a character type, an integer type, and a floating point decimal type.

50. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one function comprises a procedure or routine.