WEB SERVICES BROKER AND METHOD OF USING SAME

• US 20080040510A1
• Filed: 02/09/2007
• Published: 02/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Navy The USA As Represented By The Secretary of The
• Original Assignee: Navy The USA As Represented By The Secretary of The
• Inventors: Warner, Elizabeth, Petry, Frederick E., Ladner, Roy, Aha, David W., Moore, Philip G., Gupta, Kalyan
• Granted Patent: US 8,209,407 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/958 Organisation or management of web site content, e.g. publishing, maintaining pages or automatic linking

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention includes an apparatus, which includes a mediator operable to receive a user request and to transmit a user response; and a dynamic knowledge base including a web service classifier and a domain-relevant ontology. The mediator is operable to transform the user request into a web service request, using said dynamic knowledge base, and to transform a web service response into the user response, using the dynamic knowledge base. Optionally, the dynamic knowledge base includes a web service interface operation index. Optionally, the web service interface operation index includes an autonomous, dynamic web service interface operation index or a static web service interface operation index.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a mediator operable to receive a user request and to transmit a user response; and

a dynamic knowledge base comprising a web service classifier and a domain-relevant ontology,

wherein said mediator is operable to transform the user request into a web service request, using said dynamic knowledge base, and to transform a web service response into the user response, using said dynamic knowledge base.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said dynamic knowledge base comprises a web service interface operation index.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said web service interface operation index comprises one of an autonomous, dynamic web service interface operation index and a static web service interface operation index.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising

a patroller operable to search at least one of a web service registry, an intranet and an internet for a web service, the web service comprising a web service interface specification and an operation, said web service interface specification comprising a network location, said operation comprising an operation name, said operation generating operational data, said operational data comprising a data specialization,

said patroller being operable to transmit the web service interface specification to said web service classifier, said web service classifier comprising a first classifier and a second classifier, said first classifier being operable to determine whether the web service interface specification is relevant to a domain of interest, said second classifier being operable to determine whether the operation generates the operation data relevant to the domain of interest,

said patroller being operable to identify a data term and an interface term for the operation,

said patroller being operable to consult the ontology to identify an ontology concept corresponding to the data term and to identify an interface concept corresponding to the interface term,

said patroller being operable to generate a map for a web service operation request, said map comprising the interface concept and the interface term,

said patroller being operable to store the operation name, the network location, the map, and the data concept in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said web service classifier comprises a third classifier being operable to assign a label to the data specialization, said patroller being operable to store the data specialization in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said patroller is operable to generate a web service operation request template at least in part from the web service interface specification.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said patroller is operable to store the template in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

8. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said patroller is operable to extract a unique identification from the web service interface specification, the unique identification comprising the network location, the operation name, and a web service name, said patroller being operable to store the unique identification in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

9. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said map comprises a path defining a location of the interface term relative to a root object of the web service operation request.

10. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said mediator is operable to identify a user request term, a user request value, and a user request label from the user request, said mediator being operable to consult the ontology to identify a user request concept for the user request term, said mediator being operable to retrieve from the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index an indexed web service operation based on the user request concept and user request label, said mediator being operable to generate the web service operation request using the user request concept, the user request term, the user request value, and the map.

11. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said mediator is operable to identify a user request term, a user request value, and a user request label from the user request, said mediator being operable to consult the ontology to identify a user request concept for the user request term, said mediator being operable to retrieve from the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index an indexed web service operation based on the user request concept and user request label, said mediator being operable to generate the web service operation request using the user request concept, the user request term, the user request value, the map, and the web service operation request template.

12. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said mediator is operable to identify a web service response term, a web service response value, and a web service response label from the web service response, said mediator being operable to consult the ontology to identify a web service response concept for the web service response term, said mediator being operable to retrieve from the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index an indexed web service operation based on the web service response concept and web service response label, said mediator being operable to generate the user response using the web service response concept, the web service response term, the web service response value, and the map.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said mediator is operable to transmit the web service request and to receive the web service response.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said web service classifier comprises at least one of a case-based reasoning classifier, a decision tree classifier, a support vector machine classifier, a linear regression classifier, a non-linear regression classifier, and a neural network classifier.

15. An apparatus comprising;

a mediator operable to receive a user request and to output a user response; and

a dynamic knowledge base comprising a self populating web-service interface index and a domain-relevant ontology,

wherein said mediator is operable to transform the user request into a web service request using said dynamic knowledge base, and to transform the web service response into the user response using said dynamic knowledge base.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein said dynamic knowledge base comprises a web service classifier.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising

a patroller operable to search at least one of a web service registry and an internet for a web service, the web service comprising a web service interface specification and an operation, said web service interface specification comprising a network location, said operation comprising an operation name, said operation generating operational data, said operational data comprising a data specialization,

said patroller being operable to transmit, the web service interface specification to said web service classifier, said web service classifier comprising a first classifier and a second classifier, said first classifier being operable to determine whether the web service interface specification is relevant to a domain of interest, said second classifier being operable to determine whether the operation generates the operation data relevant to the domain of interest,

said patroller being operable to identify a data term and an interface term for the operation,

said patroller being operable to consult the ontology to identify an ontology concept corresponding to the data term and to identify an interface concept corresponding to the interface term,

said patroller being operable to generate a map for a web service operation request, said map comprising the interface concept and the interface term,

said patroller being operable to store the operation name, the network location, the map, and the data concept in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said web service classifier comprises a third classifier being operable to assign a label to the data specialization, said patroller being operable to store the data specialization in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

19. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said patroller is operable to generate a web service operation request template at least in part from the web service interface specification.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said patroller is operable to store the template in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

21. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said patroller is operable to extract a unique identification from the web service interface specification, the unique identification comprising the network location, the operation name, and a web service name, said patroller being operable to store the unique identification in the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index.

22. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said map comprises a path defining a location of the interface term relative to a root object of the web service operation request.

23. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said mediator is operable to identify a user request term, a user request value, and a user request label from the user request, said mediator being operable to consult the ontology to identify a user request concept for the user request term, said mediator being operable to retrieve from the autonomous, dynamic web service interlace index an indexed web service operation based on the user request concept and user request label, said mediator being operable to generate the web service operation request using the user request concept, the user request term, the user request value, and the map.

24. The apparatus according to claim 19, wherein said mediator is operable to identify a user request term, a user request value, and a user request label from the user request, said mediator being operable to consult the ontology to identify a user request concept for the user request term, said mediator being operable to retrieve from the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index an indexed web service operation based on the user request concept and user request label, said mediator being operable to generate the web service operation request using the user request concept, the user request term, the user request value, the map, and the web service operation request template.

25. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein said mediator is operable to identify a web service response term, a web service response value, and a web service response label from the web service response, said mediator being operable to consult the ontology to identify a web service response concept for the web service response term, said mediator being operable to retrieve from the autonomous, dynamic web service interface index an indexed web service operation based on the web service response concept and web service response label, said mediator being operable to generate the user response using the web service response concept, the web service response term, the web service response value, and the map.

26. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said mediator is operable to transmit the web service request and to receive the web service response.

27. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein said web service classifier comprises at least one of a case-based reasoning classifier, a decision tree classifier, a support vector machine classifier, a linear regression classifier, a non-linear regression classifier, and a neural network classifier.

28. A method comprising:

providing a dynamic knowledge base comprising a web service classifier and a domain-relevant ontology;

receiving a user request;

transforming the user request into a web service request using the dynamic knowledge base;

transforming a web service response into a user response using the dynamic knowledge base; and

transmitting the user response.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the dynamic knowledge base comprises one of an autonomous, dynamic web service interface operation index and a static web service interface operation index.

30. A method comprising:

providing a dynamic knowledge base comprising a self-populating web service interface index and a domain-relevant ontology;

receiving a user request,;

transforming the user request into a web service request using the dynamic knowledge base;

transforming a web service response into a user response using the dynamic knowledge base; and

transmitting the user response.

31. The method according to claim 31, wherein said dynamic knowledge base comprises a web service classifier.