SCHEMA FRAMEWORK AND METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NORMALIZING SCHEMA

• US 20080059518A1
• Filed: 10/31/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: WTVIII, Inc.
• Original Assignee: WTVIII, Inc.
• Inventors: VINCENT, Winchel
• Application Number:
  US11/930,615
• Publication Number:
  US 20080059518A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/103Y
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/80 of semi-structured data, e.g. markup language structured data such as SGML, XML or HTML content-based retrieval of web data G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/197 Version control for software G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

The schema framework of the present invention is a set of rules and best practices that a user follows when creating schema in accordance with the present invention. By following these rules, schema are produced that can be used, reused, and managed in a distributed computing environment, thus reducing the time and effort associated with creating instance documents. Certain rules govern the content and format of the schema namespaces. Each schema namespace includes a category identifier that identifies a category to which the schema associated with the namespace relates. Once an instance document has been published by storing it in a schema repository, the schema and the namespace associated with that schema are “frozen” and cannot be changed. By freezing the schema and namespace, the schema and namespace become standardized, which facilitates instance document generation, validation, and use across a distributed system.

Claims

1. A method for creating a mark up language schema, the method comprising:

creating a mark up language schema namespace in accordance with a predefined set of rules of construction to identify the mark up language schema, the mark up language schema namespace including a category identifier that identifies a category to which the mark up language schema relates, the category identifier providing information about where the mark up language schema associated with the mark up language namespace is stored in a directory tree memory structure;

normalizing the mark up language schema namespace to determine whether the mark up language schema namespace complies with the predefined set of rules of construction; and

storing the mark up language schema in a schema repository.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the category identifier is selected from the group comprising a geographical region, a legal jurisdiction, an organization, an institution, an industry, a department, an agency, a type of document, a type of form, a person, an address, a location and a place.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising publishing an instance document associated with the mark up language schema namespace, wherein after the instance document has been published, the mark up language schema and the associated mark up language namespace are frozen and cannot be changed.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark up language namespace further includes a version identifier that identifies a version to which the mark up language schema corresponds.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the mark up language namespace further is a uniform resource identifier (URI).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language schema namespace is unique within a mark up language schema framework and identifies a unique mark up language schema within the schema framework.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of normalizing further includes determining whether the mark up language namespace includes a uniform resource identifier (URI) and a category identifier, wherein the category identifier identifies a genre to which the mark up language schema associated with the mark up language namespace relates.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark up language schema namespace includes a description of mark up language elements provided by the mark up language schema.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the mark up language schema namespace that points to a location at which the mark up language schema is archived in the first schema repository.