METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING APPLICATION SIMULATIONS

• US 20090055154A1
• Filed: 08/20/2007
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: WELLS, Bradley K., HOLLAND, Jeffrey W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines

Abstract

A method and system for generating application simulations and, more particularly, a method and system for graphical data scrubbing in application simulation image sequences. The method comprises creating a graphical representation of identified data and scrubbing instances of the identified data. The method further comprises replacing the scrubbed identified data with the graphical representation of the identified data. The system includes a computer infrastructure to perform at least the steps of the method.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating a graphical representation of identified data;

scrubbing instances of the identified data; and

replacing the scrubbed identified data with the graphical representation of the identified data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying subsets of the identified data;

scrubbing the subsets of the identified data; and

replacing the scrubbed subsets of the identified data with corresponding subsets of the graphical representation of the identified data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the subsets of identified data are created by obscuring the identified data with an object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

identifying font characteristics of the identified data and background color; and

searching a simulation to determine all instances of the identified data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified data is at least textual data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising randomly generating text which is represented by the graphical representation of the identified data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of claim 1 are platform independent.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps of claim 1 are provided by a provider which at least one of creates, maintains, deploys and supports a computer infrastructure that performs the steps of claim 1.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a single instance of the identified data is selected and all instances of the selected identified data are replaced with the graphical representation of the identified data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation of identified data is created from text entered by a developer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein a size of the graphical representation of identified data corresponds to a size of an input area of a target software, which is a largest area that will be replaced and a subset of the identified data is smaller than the input area.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing pixel by pixel an original graphical representation of the identified data a simulation screen and when a pixel is a same on the simulation screen and the original graphical representation, the pixel is replaced with a corresponding pixel from the new graphical representation of the identified data.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein font characteristics are saved at simulation creation time for later use.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a background color of the identified data by determining a center pixel color in an input area; and

determining text color of the identified data by finding a color in the input area which does not match the background color,

wherein finding the text color comprises starting with a pixel in a center of the input area and testing pixels on either or both sides until a pixel of a color different from the background color is encountered.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a dialog to permit matching data characteristics between the identified data and the graphical representation of the identified data.

16. A method, comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure being operable to;

create a graphical representation of identified data;

locate all instances of the identified data;

scrub all instances and subsets of the identified data; and

replace the scrubbed identified data and subsets thereof with the graphical representation of the identified data and subsets thereof.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to determine characteristics of the identified data and match the graphical representation of the identified data to the characteristics.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to generate random text which is representative of the graphical representation of the identified data.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to determine a size of an input area, which is a largest size that will be replaced with the graphical representation of the identified data and the subset of the identified data is smaller than the size of the input area

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the computer infrastructure is further operable to search for all instances of the identified data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the search is a pixel by pixel comparison between an original graphical representation of the identified data and a simulation screen.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the steps of claim 16 are performed on at least one of a subscription, advertising and fee basis.

23. A system comprising a server having a database containing data associated with at least entries of a target software and a simulation of the target software, the at least one of a hardware and software component searches for instances of identified data in the simulation, scrubs the identified data and replaces the scrubbed identified data with a generated graphical representation of the identified data, which is not the same as the scrubbed identified data.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one of a hardware and software component is operable to at least one of:

identify characteristics of the identified data;

identify the characteristics based on a pixel by pixel analysis; and

identify subsets of the identified data, scrub the subsets and replace the subsets with a corresponding subset of the generated graphical representation.

25. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:

create a graphical representation of identified data;

scrub instances of the identified data; and

replace the scrubbed identified data with the graphical representation of the identified data.