STATECHART GENERATION USING FRAMES

• US 20070282570A1
• Filed: 05/30/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: THOMPSON, WILLIAM K., Davis, Paul C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,797,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A Statechart for management of an interaction is generated automatically from a frame that describes the interaction by extracting a data model and a set of goals from frame and then generating a Statechart from the data model and the set of goals. The data model includes a set of data fields to be completed during the interaction Procedural logic is extracted from the frame and used to annotate the Statechart with, for example, initial and final rules, prompts and grammar. The Statechart may be stored for future use or editing, or used to manage a current interaction.

Claims

1. A method for automatic generation of a Statechart for management of an interaction, the method comprising:

extracting a data model and a set of goals from a frame that describes the interaction, the data model comprising a set of data fields to be completed during the interaction;

generating a Statechart from the data model and the set of goals;

extracting procedural logic from the frame;

adding the procedural logic to the Statechart; and

outputting the Statechart.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein generating a Statechart from the data model and the set of goals comprises:

generating a set of states corresponding to completion states of the data model;

generating an initial pseudo-state and a final state;

generating a transition from the initial pseudo-state to an empty state of the set of states;

generating transitions between each state of the set states and its subset states;

removing outgoing transitions from any state of the set of states that satisfies at least one goal of the set of goals; and

generating transitions to the final state from any state of the set of states that satisfies at least one goal of the set of goals.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein adding the procedural logic to the Statechart comprises, for each state of the Statechart:

finding a goal of the set of goals that refers to the state;

finding an unsatisfied atom within the goal;

finding a field of the data model to which the goal atom refers;

adding initial rules, prompts and grammar for the field to the state as entry actions; and

adding final rules for the field to the state as exit actions.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein adding the procedural logic to the Statechart further comprises adding initial rule pre-conditions to the state as guards on the entry actions and adding final rule pre-conditions to the state as guards on the final actions.

5. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein adding the procedural logic to the Statechart further comprises:

adding initial rules, prompts and grammar on initial transitions of the Statechart; and

adding final rules on final transitions of the Statechart.

6. A method in accordance with claim 3, wherein adding the procedural logic to the Statechart further comprises adding event handlers for the field to the state as internal transitions.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the Statechart comprises:

a set of states corresponding to completion states of the data model;

an initial pseudo-state;

a final state;

a transition from the initial pseudo-state to an empty state of the set of states;

incoming transitions to each state of the set states from any of its subset states that do not satisfy any goal of a set of goals; and

outgoing transitions to the final state from any state of the set of states that satisfies at least one goal of the set of goals.

8. A computer readable medium storing programming instructions that, when executed on a processor, perform the method of claim 1.

9. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the frame comprises a representation stored on a computer readable representation.

10. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising presenting the Statechart to an interaction designer for modification.

11. A method in accordance with claim 1, further comprising combining the Statechart with a Statechart generated by a different method.

12. A system for automatic generation of a Statechart for management of an interaction, the system comprising:

an input for receiving a frame that describes the interaction;

a processor operable to;

extract a data model and a set of goals from a frame that, the data model comprising a set of data fields to be completed during the interaction;

generate a Statechart from the data model and the set of goals;

extract procedural logic from the frame; and

add the procedural logic to the Statechart; and

an output for outputting the Statechart.

13. A system in accordance with claim 12, further comprising a memory for storing the Statechart.

14. A computer readable medium storing a program of instructions that, when executed on a processor, generate a Statechart for management of an interaction, the program of instructions comprising:

instructions to extract a data model and a set of goals from a frame that, the data model comprising a set of data fields to be completed during the interaction;

instructions to generate a Statechart from the data model and the set of goals;

instructions to extract procedural logic from the frame;

instructions to add the procedural logic to the Statechart; and

instructions to output the Statechart.

15. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein generating a Statechart from the data model and the set of goals comprises:

generating a set of states corresponding to completion states of the data model;

generating an initial pseudo-state and a final state;

generating a transition from the initial pseudo-state to an empty state of the set of states;

generating transitions between each state of the set states and its subset states;

removing outgoing transitions from any state of the set of states that satisfies at least one goal of the set of goals; and

generating transitions to the final state from any state of the set of states that satisfies at least one goal of the set of goals.

16. A computer readable medium in accordance with claim 14, wherein adding the procedural logic to the Statechart comprises, for each state of the Statechart:

finding a goal of the set of goals that refers to the state;

finding an unsatisfied atom within the goal;

finding a field of the data model to which the goal atom refers;

adding initial rules, prompts and grammar for the field to the state as entry actions; and

adding final rules for the field to the state as exit actions.