USER-EXPERIENCE-CENTRIC ARCHITECTURE FOR DATA OBJECTS AND END USER APPLICATIONS

• US 20090300060A1
• Filed: 05/28/2008
• Published: 12/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Richter, Kai S., Beringer, Joerg
• Granted Patent: US 8,131,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/24 Object-oriented
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses enable generation of data objects having properties that reflect business understanding and how the data objects are to be used. A user experience data object (“UX object”) is semantically defined by object characteristics including actions, attributes, and relations needed to incorporate the UX object into one or more user interface (UI) contexts. The UI contexts are contexts from which the UX object will be accessed or in which it will be used. One or more UX object usages define object characteristics related to a specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed. A usage has business logic decoupled from the UX object, and is associated with the UX object. The UX object and one or more usages are provided to enable the UX object to be incorporated into a UI component that allows access to the UX object.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

instantiating a user experience data object (“

UX object”

), the UX object semantically defined by object characteristics including actions, attributes, and relations needed to incorporate the UX object into one or more user interface (UI) contexts from which the UX object is to be accessed;

instantiating a UX object usage, the usage having business logic decoupled from the UX object, the usage defining object characteristics related to a specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed;

associating the UX object with the usage; and

providing the UX object and the usage for reusable incorporation into a UI component to present the UX object with only the object characteristics related to the specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein instantiating the semantically defined UX object comprises:

instantiating a UX object defined based on an understanding of what a user will do with the UX object, including domain knowledge that indicates a perception of the UX object within a business domain.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein instantiating the semantically defined UX object further comprises:

binding the UX object to a backend system; and

providing the bound UX object as a reusable building block for UI component generation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more one or more UI contexts comprise one or more of a mobile device UI platform, or a business application UI.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the UX object comprises a first UX object and further comprising:

instantiating a second UX object, where a subset of object characteristics of the first UX object and a subset of object characteristics of the second UX object match the object characteristics defined by the usage.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage comprises a first usage and further comprising:

instantiating a second usage defining object characteristics related to a second specific context, where the object characteristics defined by the first usage and the object characteristics of defined by the second usage are included within the object characteristics defined by the UX object.

7. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-readable storage medium having content stored thereon to provide instructions to cause a machine to perform operations, including:

instantiating a user experience data object (“

UX object”

), the UX object semantically defined by object characteristics including actions, attributes, and relations needed to incorporate the UX object into one or more user interface (UI) contexts from which the UX object is to be accessed;

instantiating a UX object usage, the usage having business logic decoupled from the UX object, the usage defining object characteristics related to a specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed;

associating the UX object with the usage; and

providing the UX object and the usage for reusable incorporation into a UI component to present the UX object with only the object characteristics related to the specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 7, wherein the content to provide instructions for instantiating the semantically defined UX object further comprises content to provide instructions for

binding the UX object to a backend system;

and

providing the bound UX object as a reusable building block for UI component generation.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 7, wherein the one or more one or more UI contexts comprise UI building blocks that provide a standard content template to be filled with content.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 7, wherein the UX object comprises a first UX object, the content further comprising content to provide instructions for

instantiating a second UX object, where a subset of object characteristics of the first UX object and a subset of object characteristics of the second UX object match the object characteristics defined by the usage.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 7, wherein the usage comprises a first usage, the content further comprising content to provide instructions for

instantiating a second usage defining object characteristics related to a second specific context, where the object characteristics defined by the first usage and the object characteristics of defined by the second usage are included within the object characteristics defined by the UX object.

12. The article of manufacture of claim 7, where the content to provide instructions for instantiating the usage comprises content to provide instructions for

instantiating a UX object usage derived from a source usage, the derived usage inheriting all content of the source usage, and customizable to overwrite the derived content.

13. A computer implemented method comprising:

defining an object container representing a user interface (UI) context in which to provide views of one or more objects;

generating logic for the object container to invoke a user experience data object (“

UX object”

) from the object container, the UX object semantically defined by object characteristics including actions, attributes, and relations describing one or more usage contexts from which the UX object is to be accessed, the UX object bound to a backend system;

generating logic for the object container to invoke a UX object usage from the object container, the usage having business logic decoupled from the UX object, the usage defining object characteristics related to a specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed; and

generating a UI component from the object container to present the UX object with only the object characteristics related to the specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed, where accessing the UX object causes operations to be performed on the UX object in the backend system.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

defining UI view transitions describing a transition from one view of the UX object to a different view, the UI view transitions semantically representing an end-user application.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein defining the UI view transitions from one view to a different view comprises:

defining UI view transitions from one view of the UX object to a different view of the UX object.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein defining the UI view transitions from one view to a different view comprises:

defining UI view transitions from one view of the UX object to a view of a different UX object related to the UX object.

17. A method comprising:

accessing a communication interface; and

providing a data signal on the communication interface to a client for reusable incorporation of data in the data signal into a user interface component, the data signal having data defining;

a user experience data object (“

UX object”

), the UX object semantically defined by object characteristics including actions, attributes, and relations needed to incorporate the UX object into one or more user interface (UI) contexts from which the UX object is to be accessed;

a UX object usage, the usage having business logic decoupled from the UX object, the usage defining object characteristics related to a specific context in which the UX object is to be accessed; and

an association between the UX object and the UX object usage.

18. The method of claim 17, the data signal further having data defining:

a UI pattern defining object characteristics of the UX object for a particular user interface scenario, where the UI pattern is associated with one or more usages.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the data signal having data defining the UI pattern comprises:

defining a UI pattern selected from the group including list views, results views, search views, dashboard views, and status views.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein providing the data signal to a client comprises:

providing the UX object and the usage to a server system to be used as the “

model”

components of a model-view-controller (MVC) user interface (UI) pattern.