Managing statements relating to a computer system state

• US 20070174706A1
• Filed: 11/07/2005
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Kaiser, Matthias
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

Operations to manage statements relating to a computer system state include obtaining, in a computer system and from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system. Each statement comprises several elements. The operations comprise assigning focus values to the elements of each statement, each focus value indicating a relevance of the element to the current state of the computer system. The operations comprise identifying a subset of the statements based on the focus values. The operations comprise making a first output to a user, the first output being selected from several predefined outputs using the subset of the statements. The output may represent the current state to the user or it may present at least one of several predefined goals to the user for selection, the at least one goal being identified as being possible to accomplish based on the current state.

Claims

1. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier, the computer-program product comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform operations to manage statements relating to a computer system state, the operations comprising:

obtaining, in a computer system and from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system, each statement comprising several elements;

assigning focus values to the elements of each statement, each focus value indicating a relevance of the element to the current state of the computer system;

identifying a subset of the statements based on the focus values; and

making a first output to a user, the first output being selected from several predefined outputs using the subset of the statements.

2. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the focus values correspond to which of the elements occur most frequently in the statements.

3. The computer-program product of claim 2, wherein each focus value indicates total occurrences of the corresponding element in the statements.

4. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the focus values are assigned using a relevancy algorithm.

5. The computer-program product of claim 4, wherein the elements are of types including concepts, properties associated with the concepts, and relationships existing between the concepts, and wherein the relevancy algorithm attributes different weights to the types of elements.

6. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the focus value for at least one of the elements is assigned based on a semantic of the element.

7. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the several sources comprises an application program and wherein a first statement of the obtained statements corresponds to a state of the application program.

8. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the several sources comprises an input device and wherein a first statement of the obtained statements corresponds to user input.

9. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the several sources comprises a data repository and wherein a first statement of the obtained statements corresponds to stored information retrieved from the data repository.

10. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the first output comprises a representation of the current state of the computer system to the user.

11. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the elements are of types including concepts, properties associated with the concepts, and relationships existing between the concepts.

12. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein assigning the focus values further comprises determining whether at least one of the concepts is more relevant than an attribute associated therewith.

13. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the focus values are assigned based on determining which of the concepts, properties and relationships occur most frequently in the statements.

14. The computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the types of elements are defined in a model, and wherein assigning the focus values further comprises determining, from the model, whether two or more elements have a common type.

15. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the statements comprise logical propositions that have been determined to be true in the current state of the computer system.

16. The computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise analyzing the subset to identify, among several predefined goals, at least one goal as being possible to accomplish based on the current state, and wherein the first output presents the at least one goal to the user for selection.

17. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in an information carrier, the computer-program product comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform operations to represent a computer system state to a user, the operations comprising:

obtaining, from a model that is maintained in a computer system and updated at times, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system, each statement including at least one element, wherein the model uses the statements to associate each of several predefined goals with at least one of several predefined actions that can be performed in the computer system to accomplish the associated predefined goal;

determining a subset of the statements that is most relevant to the current state of the computer system, the subset being determined by analyzing which of the elements occur most frequently in the statements; and

making an output to a user that includes the subset of the statements, the output indicating to the user that the subset represents the current state of the computer system.

18. A computer system comprising:

a statement obtaining module that obtains, from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system, each statement comprising several elements;

a focus value assigning module that assigns focus values to the elements of each statement, each focus value indicating a relevance of the element to the current state of the computer system; and

a subset identifying module that identifies a subset of the statements based on the focus values;

wherein the computer system makes a first output to a user, the first output being selected from several predefined outputs using the subset of the statements.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the elements are of types including concepts, properties associated with the concepts, and relationships existing between the concepts.

20. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the computer system analyzes the subset to identify, among several predefined goals, at least one goal as being possible to accomplish based on the current state, and wherein the first output presents the at least one goal to the user for selection.