Extracting Ontological Information from Software Design Data

• US 20090125872A1
• Filed: 11/08/2007
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kannan, Kalapriya, Mittal, Sumit, Srivastava, Biplav, Chafle, Girish Bhimrao, Agarwal, Vikas
• Granted Patent: US 8,336,024 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/10 Requirements analysis; Specification techniques

Abstract

A method, computer System and computer program product for generating ontological information from design data are disclosed. The design data has a plurality of classes, the classes having at least one association with another class. The design data is processed on the basis of rules to identify environmental artifacts. The design data is processed on the basis of rules to identify implementation artifacts. All classes that are implementation artifacts are eliminated from the design data. New associations for non-eliminated design data that have broken class associations as a result of the elimination are established. The design data remaining following the elimination is processed to preserve environmental artifact relationships between the retained classes to generate an ontology.

Claims

1. A method for generating ontological information from design data, said design data having a plurality of classes, said classes having at least one association with another class, said method comprising:

processing said design data on the basis of rules to identify environmental artifacts;

processing said design data on the basis of rules to identify implementation artifacts;

eliminating from said design data all classes that are implementation artifacts;

establishing new associations for non-eliminated design data that have broken class associations as a result of said elimination; and

processing said design data remaining following said elimination to preserve environmental artifact relationships between said retained classes to generate an ontology.

2. The method of claim 1, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the design data comprises UML design data, and said design data having (i) a plurality of classes, each said class having at least one association with another class, and each said association having at least one attribute, and (ii) a sequence of execution of said classes.

3. The method of claim 2, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, further comprising:

processing said class data to identify classes having an implementation artifact, and eliminating such classes from said class data;

creating a new association for non-eliminated classes having a dangling association as a result of the elimination of class data; and

processing said newly associated design data with said sequence of execution data to preserve environmental relationships.

4. The method of claim 3, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said implementation artifacts are controller and boundary class data.

5. The method of claim 3, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said processing to preserve environmental relationships includes at least one of:

maintaining relationships between a class with said ancestors and descendants;

maintaining aggregation and composition relationships between a class having a PART-OF relationship with another class; and

maintaining directional associations between a class having a USING relationship with another class.

6. The method of claim 3, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said new associations are created by identifying propagating edges of disconnected nodes in a class, and forming a new edge having the attributes of role, cardinality, and direction.

7. The method of claim 3, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, further comprising merging at least two sets of said ontological information subject to an ontology requirement.

8. A computer system for generating ontological information from design data, said design data having a plurality of classes, said classes having at least one association with another class, said system operating under program control to:

process said design data on the basis of rules to identify environmental artifacts;

process said design data on the basis of rules to identify implementation artifacts;

eliminating from said design data all classes that are implementation artifacts;

establish new associations for non-eliminated design data that have broken class associations as a result of said elimination; and

process said design data remaining following said elimination to preserve environmental artifact relationships between said retained classes to generate an ontology.

9. The system of claim 8, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein the design data for generating ontological information includes UML design data, said design data having (i) a plurality of classes, each said class having at least one association with another class, and each said association having at least one attribute and (ii) a sequence of execution of said classes.

10. The system of claim 9, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, operating under program control to:

process said class data to identify classes having an implementation artifact, and eliminating such classes from said class data;

create a new association for non-eliminated classes having a dangling association as a result of the elimination of class data; and

process said newly associated design data with said sequence of execution data to preserve environmental relationships.

11. The system of claim 10, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said implementation artifacts are controller and boundary class data.

12. The system of claim 10, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said process to preserve environmental relationships includes at least one of:

maintaining relationships between a class with said ancestors and descendants;

maintaining aggregation and composition relationships between a class having a PART-OF relationship with another class and

maintaining directional associations between a class having a USING relationship with another class

13. The system of claim 10, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, wherein said new associations are created by identifying propagating edges of disconnected nodes in a class, and forming a new edge having the attributes of role, cardinality, and direction.

14. The system of claim 10, all the limitations of which are incorporated herein by reference, further comprising merging at least two sets of said ontological information subject to an ontology requirement.

15. A method for generating new design data based on ontological information from previous design data, said previous design data having a plurality of classes, said classes having at least one association with another class, said method comprising:

processing said previous design data on the basis of rules to identify environmental artifacts;

processing said previous design data on the basis of rules to identify classes having an implementation artifact;

eliminating from said previous design data all classes having an implementation artifact;

establishing new associations for non-eliminated design data that have broken class associations as a result of said elimination;

processing said previous design data remaining following said elimination to preserve environmental artifact relationships between said retained classes to generate an ontology;

inputting new design requirements data;

identifying environmental artifacts in new design requirements data;

applying said ontology to said environmental artifacts; and

maintaining and propagating relationships between environmental artifacts after elimination of the implementation artifact to generate a reduce ontology to serve as a template for new design data.

16. A method for generating new design data for a new software project based on ontological information from previous design data, said previous design data having a plurality of classes, said classes having at least one association with another class, said method comprising:

inputting a sequence diagram for said new project;

eliminating from said existing ontology environmental classes which are not part of said sequence diagram to generate a reduced ontology;

establishing new relationships for non-eliminated entities in said reduced ontology that have broken relationships as a result of said elimination; and

processing said reduced ontology following said elimination to preserve environmental artifact relationships between said retained classes to generate a new ontology specific to said new project.