JUST-IN-TIME WORKFLOW

• US 20070150329A1
• Filed: 12/19/2006
• Published: 06/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Brook, John, Singh, Rawinder
• Granted Patent: US 8,185,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063118 Staff planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0875 Itemisation or classification of parts, supplies or services, e.g. bill of materials

Abstract

Disclosed are arrangements, referred to as just-in-time workflow (JITW) arrangements, which provide a decentralised process (900) for performing a sequence of tasks, in which individual network services successively identify (961), assemble (960) and execute (962) a chain of subsequent network services on the basis of their suitability to communicate over a network and to perform their associated tasks.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically constructing a distributed process engine comprising an ordered list of network services that forms an instance of a logical process for carrying out a task, wherein said services are drawn from a pool of heterogeneous network services, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a template comprising at least two constraints on network services forming said logical process instance;

(b) selecting and instantiating a first said service from said pool to said ordered list, depending on the first constraint in said template;

(c) identifying a subset of potential second services, by at least one of said first service, a member of said subset, and a third service, depending on a next constraint in said template;

(d) instantiating to said ordered list a second service from within said subset of potential second services based on detection of at least one of an event, a parameter, a status, and a constraint monitored by at least one of said first service, a member of said subset, and a fourth service; and

(e) repeating, if the template does not indicate construction is complete, steps (c), (d) and (e) with said second service as said first service.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said detecting at least one of the event, the parameter the status and the constraint is further provided with information relating to the task to be carried out by said logical process instance.

3. The method of claim 1 in which said at least one of the event, the parameter, the status and the constraint is initiated or evaluated by user interaction at a physical location of instantiation of at least one of said services in said ordered list other than the start and end services of said ordered list.

4. The method of claim 1 in which said at least one of the event, the parameter, the status, and the constraint is initiated, evaluated or caused externally to said service monitoring said event, parameter, status or constraint.

5. The method of claim 1 in which said at least one of the event, the parameter, the status, and the constraint is initiated, evaluated or caused dynamically to said service monitoring said event, parameter, status or constraint.

6. The method of claim 1 in which said at least one of the event, the parameter, the status, and the constraint is initiated, evaluated or caused during the construction period of said ordered list of network services.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said carrying out of said task occurs substantially simultaneously with said construction of said ordered list of network services.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said carrying out of said task occurs after said construction of said ordered list of network services.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein said carrying out of said task continues or pauses depending on progress of construction of said ordered list of network services.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein said constructed ordered list of network services is utilised to carry out a plurality of tasks.

11. The method of claim 1 or claim 10 wherein the constructed ordered list of network services is deconstructed after carrying out the task(s).

12. The method of claim 1 wherein each service comprised by said ordered list removes itself from said ordered list upon completion of its portion of the task being carried out.

13. The method of claim 7 or claim 8, further comprising the step of determining usage information for the list or a partial list of network services and task information about the corresponding task or partial task carried out.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the steps of:

(a) sending, by the complete or partial workflow process engine, said usage information and task information over the network to an audit server; and

(b) accumulating, by the audit server, said usage and task information for said complete or partial workflow process engine.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said usage information comprises at least one of:

type of service, quantity of data processed, information about data processed, and quality level of the processing.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of accumulating, by the audit server, usage information and task information for another concurrent complete or partial workflow process engine assembled from the network services in the pool.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of determining a customer charge depending upon at least one of the accumulated usage information and the accumulated task information.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein said second service is selected from said subset of potential second services dependent upon said second service having a valid security certificate.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said second service is selected from said subset of potential second services dependent upon said second service having a valid security certificate, and wherein the accumulating step comprises:

(a) verifying, in regard to each said network service, that said network service has a corresponding valid security certificate, and

(b) performing the accumulating step only for those network services having said corresponding valid security certificate.

20. A system for dynamically constructing a distributed process engine comprising an ordered list of network services that forms an instance of a logical process for carrying out a task, wherein said services are drawn from a pool of heterogeneous network services, said system comprising:

at least one memory module for storing a program; and

at least one processor for executing the program, said program comprising;

(a) code for providing a template comprising at least two constraints on network services forming said logical process instance;

(b) code for selecting and instantiating a first said service from said pool to said ordered list, depending on the first constraint in said template;

(c) code for identifying a subset of potential second services, by at least one of said first service, a member of said subset, and a third service, depending on a next constraint in said template;

(d) code for instantiating to said ordered list a second service from within said subset of potential second services based on detection of at least one of an event, a parameter, a status, and a constraint monitored by at least one of said first service, a member of said subset, and a fourth service; and

(e) code for repeating, if the template does not indicate construction is complete, steps (c), (d) and (e) with said second service as said first service.

21. A computer program product including a computer readable medium having recorded thereon a computer program for directing a processor to execute a method for dynamically constructing a distributed process engine comprising an ordered list of network services that forms an instance of a logical process for carrying out a task, wherein said services are drawn from a pool of heterogeneous network services, said program comprising:

(a) code for providing a template comprising at least two constraints on network services forming said logical process instance;

(b) code for selecting and instantiating a first said service from said pool to said ordered list, depending on the first constraint in said template;

(c) code for identifying a subset of potential second services, by at least one of said first service, a member of said subset, and a third service, depending on a next constraint in said template;

(d) code for instantiating to said ordered list a second service from within said subset of potential second services based on detection of at least one of an event, a parameter, a status, and a constraint monitored by at least one of said first service, a member of said subset, and a fourth service; and

(e) code for repeating, if the template does not indicate construction is complete, steps (c), (d) and (e) with said second service as said first service.