Method for Dynamically Determining a Predetermined Previous Condition of a Rule-based System

• US 20100042572A1
• Filed: 08/12/2008
• Published: 02/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stratus Technologies Ireland Ltd. (Stratus Technologies Bermuda Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Stratus Technologies Bermuda Ltd. (Stratus Technologies Bermuda Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Al-Beik, Haitham Mahmoud, Bergsten, Bjorn
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,416 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

A method for dynamically determining a predetermined previous condition of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules. Each of the plurality of rules is associated with a transaction and a condition under which the transaction is executed. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of (a) determining a system condition; (b) determining an immediate previous condition that caused the system condition; (c) setting the immediate previous condition to the system condition; and (d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until the predetermined previous condition is reached.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically determining a predetermined previous condition of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each of the plurality of rules is associated with a transaction and a condition under which the transaction is executed, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining a system condition;

(b) determining an immediate previous condition that caused the system condition;

(c) setting the immediate previous condition to the system condition; and

(d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until the predetermined previous condition is reached.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining an immediate previous condition comprising the step of determining a rule associated with the immediate previous condition wherein the execution of the rule causes the system condition.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the rule comprises a data structure comprising an explanation describing the reason for executing the rule.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction comprises indicia as to the initiator of the transaction, wherein the indicia is selected from one of a user, a system component and a policy condition, and wherein the predetermined previous condition is reached when the indicia is a user or a system component.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the transaction further comprises:

a unique transaction identifier identifying the transaction;

a description of the transaction;

a timestamp indicating the time of the transaction; and

an explanation explaining why the transaction was executed.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the immediate previous condition is associated with at least one derivation, each derivation comprising a rule and an explanation for executing the rule.

7. A method of deriving a cause of a given state of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each rule comprising a transaction and a condition, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) determining a transaction resulting in the given state;

(b) determining a condition under which the transaction executes;

(c) determining which rule of the plurality of rules was executed by the condition; and

(d) determining an explanation associated with the transaction.

8. A method of inspecting a rule-based system in a given state, the rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each rule comprising a transaction, each transaction initiated by a corresponding condition, each condition containing at least one derivation and an explanation associated with the rule, the method comprising:

for each transaction in the series of rule executions,

(a) determining the condition executing the transaction;

(b) determining the derivation identifying the rule triggering the transaction;

(c) determining the explanation associated with the rule, thereby

generating the cause of the given state by combining the explanation for each of the executed rules.

9. An apparatus for dynamically determining a predetermined previous condition of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each of the plurality of rules is associated with a transaction and a condition under which the transaction is executed, the apparatus comprising:

a first condition determining module adapted to determine a given system condition of the rule-based system;

a second condition determining module adapted to determine an immediate previous condition that caused the given system condition, the second condition determining module in communication with the first condition determining module; and

a condition setting module adapted to set the immediate previous condition to the given system condition, the condition setting module in communication with both the first condition determining module and the second condition determining module,

wherein the condition setting module iteratively sets the immediate previous condition of a given system condition to the given system condition until the predetermined previous condition is reached.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the first condition determining module is the second condition determining module.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the second condition determining module determines an immediate previous condition by determining a rule associated with the immediate previous condition, wherein the execution of the rule causes the given system condition.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the rule comprises a data structure comprising an explanation describing the reason for executing the rule.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the transaction comprises indicia as to the initiator of the transaction, wherein the indicia is selected from one of a user, a system component and a policy condition, and wherein the predetermined previous condition is reached when the indicia is a user or a system component.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein the transaction further comprises:

a unique transaction identifier identifying the transaction;

a description of the transaction;

a timestamp indicating the time of the transaction; and

an explanation explaining why the transaction was executed.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the immediate previous condition is associated with at least one derivation, each derivation comprising a rule and an explanation for executing the rule.

16. An apparatus for deriving a cause of a given state of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each rule comprising a transaction and a condition, the apparatus comprising:

a transaction determining module adapted to determine a transaction resulting in the given state;

a condition determining module adapted to determine a condition under which the transaction executes, the condition determining module in communication with the transaction determining module;

a rule determining module adapted to determine which rule of the plurality of rules was executed by the condition, the rule determining module in communication with the condition determination module; and

an explanation determining module adapted to determine an explanation associated with the transaction, the explanation determining module in communication with the rule determining module.

17. A apparatus for inspecting a previous state of a rule-based system, the rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each rule comprising a transaction, each transaction initiated by a corresponding condition, each condition containing at least one derivation and an explanation associated with the rule, the apparatus comprising:

a rule execution module adapted to execute transactions in a series of rules,

a condition determining module adapted to determine each of the conditions causing the corresponding transactions, the condition determining module in communication with the rule execution module;

a derivation determining module adapted to determine each of the derivations that identifies the corresponding rule, the derivation determining module in communication with the condition determining module;

an explanation determining module adapted to determine each of the explanations associated with each of the rules, the explanation determining module in communication with the derivation determining module,

a cause generating module adapted to generate the cause of the given state by combining the explanation for each of the executed rules, the cause generating module in communication with the explanation determining module.

18. An apparatus for dynamically determining a predetermined previous condition of a rule-based system comprising a plurality of rules, each of the plurality of rules is associated with a transaction and a condition under which the transaction is executed, the apparatus comprising a processor adapted to perform the steps of:

(a) determining a system condition;

(b) determining an immediate previous condition that caused the system condition;

(c) setting the immediate previous condition to the system condition; and

(d) repeating steps (b) and (c) until the predetermined previous condition is reached.