AUTOMATING USER'S OPERATIONS

• US 20090089368A1
• Filed: 09/22/2008
• Published: 04/02/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fujiwara, Yayoi, Nakayama, Yasutomo, Gotoh, Yasuhisa
• Granted Patent: US 9,355,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

To select a communication sequence for automating user'"'"'s operations, a system performing a user'"'"'s operation is provided, which acquires and stores a communication history of a client with a server in receipt of a user'"'"'s operation; accesses the storage to detect from the history a plurality of communication sequences that cause the same screen transition on the client; accesses the storage to select an input parameter that is included in all of the plurality of communication sequences and that has a parameter value changed for each communication sequence; accepts an input of a new parameter value to be set as a value of the selected input parameter; and sets the new parameter value to the selected input parameter in response to the input of the new parameter value, to execute a communication sequence that causes the same screen transition as that caused by the detected communication sequences.

Claims

1. A system performing a user'"'"'s operation on behalf of a user, comprising:

a storage device;

a history acquisition unit which acquires a history of communication of a client computer with a server computer in receipt of a user'"'"'s operation and stores the history in the storage device;

a detection unit which accesses the storage device to detect from the history a plurality of communication sequences that cause the same screen transition on the client computer;

a first selection unit which accesses the storage device to select an input parameter that is included in all of the plurality of communication sequences and that has a parameter value changed for each communication sequence;

an input accepting unit which causes the client computer to accept an input of a new parameter value to be set as a parameter value of the selected input parameter; and

an execution unit which sets the new parameter value to the selected input parameter in response to the input of the new parameter value, and causes the client computer to execute a communication sequence that causes the same screen transition as the screen transition caused by the detected communication sequences.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a second selection unit which accesses the storage device to select, for at least one of the plurality of communication sequences detected by the detection unit, a plurality of input parameters having the same parameter value set therefor, wherein

the input accepting unit causes the client computer to accept an input of a new parameter value to be set commonly for the plurality of input parameters selected by the second selection unit, and

the execution unit sets the accepted parameter value to each of the plurality of input parameters selected by the second selection unit, for execution of the communication sequence.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the history acquisition unit acquires, as the history, a request that the client computer transmits to the server computer and a response that the server computer returns to the client computer in response to the request,

the system further comprises a match determination unit which accesses the storage device to determine, for at least one of the plurality of communication sequences detected by the detection unit, whether the parameter value of a first parameter included in a first response matches the parameter value of a second parameter included in a second request transmitted later than the first response, and

on the condition that the parameter values of the first and second parameters match, the execution unit causes the parameter value of the first parameter received as a part of the first response to be set to the second parameter included in the second request transmitted later than the first response, during execution of the communication sequence.

4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit which performs setting as to whether to allow the input accepting unit to accept an input of a new parameter value to be set for the input parameter selected by the first selection unit based on an instruction from the user, wherein:

the input accepting unit causes the client computer to accept the input of the new parameter value on the condition that the setting unit allows the input accepting unit to accept the input of the new parameter value.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein:

in the case of not accepting the input of the new parameter value to be set for the input parameter selected by the first selection unit, the setting unit sets a fixed parameter to be set for the input parameter based on an instruction from the user, and

in the case of not accepting the input of the new parameter value to be set for the input parameter selected by the first selection unit, the execution unit sets the fixed parameter set by the setting unit to the input parameter selected by the first selection unit, for execution of the communication sequence.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein:

the input accepting unit displays a form for accepting an input of the new parameter value on a web browser operating in the client computer, and

the execution unit sets the parameter value input to the form to the selected input parameter in accordance with an instruction of the user, for execution of a communication sequence that causes the same screen transition as the screen transition caused by the detected communication sequences.

7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a generating unit which generates a program for causing the client computer to function as the input accepting unit and the execution unit, the generating unit accepting an input of a program name from the user and storing the program in the storage device in association with the input program name, wherein:

the client computer reads the program name from the storage device for display, and reads the program corresponding to the program name designated by the user from the storage device for execution.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a setting unit which sets, based on an instruction from the user, a screen at which a screen transition by the communication sequence executed by the execution unit is to be interrupted, wherein:

the execution unit interrupts execution of the communication sequence on the condition that communication corresponding to transition to the screen set by the setting unit is performed during the execution of the communication sequence,

when the execution of the communication sequence is interrupted, the input accepting unit causes the client computer to accept an input of a new parameter value to be set for a parameter in the communication after restart, and

on the condition that the input of the new parameter value is accepted, the execution unit sets the new parameter value and restarts the communication sequence.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the detection unit detects a plurality of communication sequences each of which appears with a frequency equal to or greater than a predetermined reference frequency, from among a plurality of communication sequences causing the same screen transition.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the detection unit classifies the history into communication sessions, and for each of the classified sessions, detects a plurality of communication sequences that appear with a frequency equal to or greater than the predetermined reference frequency.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein

the communication sequence includes a request and a response in HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol),

the screen transition includes a plurality of web pages displayed sequentially,

the history acquisition unit acquires, as the history, a request that the client computer transmits to the server computer and a response that the server computer returns to the client computer in response to the request, and the detection unit selects any request corresponding to a response of HTML data from among the history, and detects a plurality of communication sequences that appear with a frequency equal to or greater than the predetermined reference frequency from among sequences of the requests selected.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the detection unit eliminates from the history any request corresponding to a response having a status code indicating error or invalidity, and detects a plurality of communication sequences that appear with a frequency equal to or greater than the predetermined reference frequency from among the remaining sequences of the requests.

13. The system according to claim 1, wherein the execution unit stops the execution of the communication sequence on the condition that a response having a status code indicating error or invalidity is received during the execution of the communication sequence.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the execution unit causes the execution of the communication sequence to be continued on the condition that the response received during the execution of the communication sequence matches the response included in the history except for the parameter value.

15. A program for causing a computer having a storage device to function as a system performing a user'"'"'s operation on behalf of a user, the program causing the computer to function as:

a history acquisition unit which acquires a history of communication of a client computer with a server computer in receipt of a user'"'"'s operation and stores the history in the storage device;

a detection unit which accesses the storage device to detect from the history a plurality of communication sequences that cause the same screen transition on the client computer;

a first selection unit which accesses the storage device to select an input parameter that is included in all of the plurality of communication sequences and that has a parameter value changed for each communication sequence;

an input accepting unit which causes the client computer to accept an input of a new parameter value to be set as a parameter value of the selected input parameter; and

an execution unit which sets the new parameter value to the selected input parameter in response to the input of the new parameter value, and causes the client computer to execute a communication sequence that causes the same screen transition as the screen transition caused by the detected communication sequences.

16. A method for performing a user'"'"'s operation on behalf of a user by a computer having a storage device, comprising the steps of:

acquiring a history of communication of a client computer with a server computer in receipt of a user'"'"'s operation and storing the history in the storage device;

accessing the storage device to detect from the history a plurality of communication sequences that cause the same screen transition on the client computer;

accessing the storage device to select an input parameter that is included in all of the plurality of communication sequences and that has a parameter value changed for each communication sequence;

causing the client computer to accept an input of a new parameter value to be set as a parameter value of the selected input parameter; and

setting the new parameter value to the selected input parameter in response to the input of the new parameter value, and causing the client computer to execute a communication sequence that causes the same screen transition as the screen transition caused by the detected communication sequences.