SYNCHRONIZING BUSINESS TRANSACTION RECORDS FROM ASYNCHRONOUS MESSAGES RECEIVED OUT OF SEQUENCE

• US 20090254921A1
• Filed: 04/03/2008
• Published: 10/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Rudge, William, Vishnuvajhala, Ravikiran
• Granted Patent: US 8,301,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A method for processing business transaction orders received asynchronously. The method includes receiving a first message for a business object, the business object comprising an order between a first party and a second party, and storing the business object including a first entity within a data store. The method further includes receiving a second message for the business object including a second entity, and storing the second entity with the business object. Respective chronological indicators for the first entity and the second entity are examined. Based on the chronological indicators, object attribute metadata describing a current status of the business object is updated, and the business object is processed in accordance with the updated object attribute metadata.

Claims

1. A method for processing business transaction orders received asynchronously, comprising:

receiving a first message for a business object, the business object comprising an order between a first party and a second party;

storing the business object including a first entity within a data store;

receiving a second message for the business object including a second entity;

storing the second entity with the business object;

examining respective chronological indicators for the first entity and the second entity;

based on the chronological indicators, updating object attribute metadata describing a current status of the business object; and

processing the business object in accordance with the object attribute metadata.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message and the second message are received asynchronously via a distributed communications network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first message is an initial order and the second message is an update to the initial order.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first entity and the second entity include respective identifiers indicating correspondence to the business object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first entity and the second entity include respective entity data indicating instructions regarding the processing of the business object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the chronological indicators processed by an order receiving engine at a receiving party and are configured to describe a time at which a corresponding entity was generated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the chronological indicators are generated by an order sending engine at a sending party.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the business object is a sales transaction for the provision of a product or a service from a first party to a second party.

9. A method for processing multiple business transaction messages received by a receiving party asynchronously from a sending party, comprising:

asynchronously receiving a plurality of messages for a business object at the receiving party, the orders transmitted from the sending party;

associating the messages with the business object;

for each of the messages, examining entities included in each message, wherein each entity has a respective chronological indicator to determine a time at which each entity was generated;

based on the chronological indicators, processing the messages to obtain a current status of the business object; and

processing the business object in accordance with the current status.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of messages are received via the Internet.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the entities included in the messages have respective identifiers indicating correspondence to the business object.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the entities include respective entity data indicating instructions regarding the processing of the business object.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the current status is generated by examining an incremental difference between the entities as determined by their respective chronological indicators.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each subsequent message sent from the sending party after a previous message is configured to describe the incremental difference between the subsequent message and the previous message to reduce transmission of redundant information.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the current status is generated by examining a latest one of the messages as determined by its respective chronological indicator and ignoring earlier messages as determined by their respective chronological indicators.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein each subsequent one of the messages received by the receiving party includes agreed-upon attributes regarding the business object to enable the ignoring of the earlier messages.

17. An order receiving system for synchronizing business transaction records from asynchronous messages received out of sequence, the order receiving system including a processor coupled to a computer readable memory having computer readable code, which when executed by the processor causes the order receiving system to implement a method, comprising:

storing a plurality business transaction records for a business transaction;

associating the records with the business object;

for each of the records, examining respective chronological indicators of the records to determine a time at which a corresponding record was generated, wherein the chronological indicators are generated by a sending party;

based on the chronological indicators, processing the records to obtain a current status of the business transaction; and

processing the business transaction in accordance with the current status.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the current status is generated by examining an incremental difference between the messages as determined by their respective chronological indicators, and wherein each subsequent order sent from the sending entity after a previous order describes the incremental difference to reduce transmission of redundant information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the current status is generated by examining a latest one of the messages as determined by its respective chronological indicator and ignoring earlier messages as determined by their respective chronological indicators.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each subsequent one of the messages received by the receiving entity includes agreed-upon attributes regarding the business object to enable the ignoring of the earlier messages.