Knowledge Extraction and Transformation

• US 20100275182A1
• Filed: 07/01/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EvolveWare, Inc.
• Original Assignee: EvolveWare, Inc.
• Inventors: Rambhia, Ajay M., Marfatia, Miten
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,653 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/110
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/51 Source to source
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/73 Program documentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/74 Reverse engineering; Extracting design information from source code
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/022 Knowledge engineering; Knowledge acquisition
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/048 Fuzzy inferencing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present disclosure includes a system and method for learning (or discovering and extracting) business knowledge from a collection of source code. The collection of source code is abstracted to generate an abstracted data stream, which is then transformed to an Extensible Markup Language (XML) format. The transformed data in XML format can be further converted to target formats or processed to satisfy different needs such as software system documentation, migration, impact analysis and security analysis. The disclosure also includes an implementation and operation for a pattern abstraction engine configured to receive an input data stream and format it for abstraction into a standard format using a pattern matching mechanism. The disclosure also includes an implementation and operation for a contextual pattern decoder engine configured to extract knowledge attributes and contextual taxonomy from classified blocks of an input data stream.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for transforming source code of an application, the method comprising:

receiving the source code in a programming language;

identifying a plurality of blocks in the source code using a first pattern, wherein a pattern comprises a text string that includes one or more restrictions and a piece of text matches the pattern if the piece of text satisfies the one or more restrictions of the pattern;

classifying two or more of the plurality of blocks into a logic block that corresponds to a business rule;

discovering a knowledge element from the logic block using a second pattern, the knowledge element being one of the following;

a data entity and a variable;

tracing a life cycle of the knowledge element in the logic block; and

transforming the source code into a desired target format based on a third pattern and the life cycle of the knowledge element.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein tracing the life cycle of the knowledge element comprises:

creating a life cycle flow graph for the knowledge element identifying how a value of the data entity changes within the logic block due to actions performed by one or more statements in the logic block.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

marking the knowledge element, life cycle information of the knowledge element, and one or more statements associated with the knowledge element in the logic block using the life cycle flow graph.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

extracting taxonomy information from the logic block using the life cycle flow graph, wherein the taxonomy information comprises information such as a name of the knowledge element used in the logic block.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein transforming the source code comprises:

transforming the source code into the desired target format based on the extracted taxonomy information and contextual information derived from the logic block using the life cycle flow graph.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

deriving an association of the knowledge element with the one or more statements in the logic block.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the third pattern is identified based on attributes of the desired target format.

8. A system for transforming source code of an application, comprising:

a contextual pattern decoder engine configured to receive the source code in a programming language;

a pattern classification engine configured to identify a plurality of blocks in the source code using a first pattern and classify two or more of the plurality of blocks into a logic block that corresponds to a business rule, wherein a pattern comprises a text string that includes one or more restrictions and a piece of text matches the pattern if the piece of text satisfies the one or more restrictions of the pattern; and

a contextual pattern decoder engine configured to discover a knowledge element from the logic block using a second pattern, the knowledge element being one of the following;

a data entity and a variable, trace a life cycle of the knowledge element in the logic block, and transform the source code into a desired target format based on a third pattern and the life cycle of the knowledge element.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the contextual pattern decoder engine is further configured to create a life cycle flow graph for the knowledge element identifying how a value of the data entity changes within the logic block due to actions performed by one or more statements in the logic block.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the contextual pattern decoder engine is further configured to mark the knowledge element, life cycle information of the knowledge element, and one or more statements associated with the knowledge element in the logic block using the life cycle flow graph.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the contextual pattern decoder engine is further configured to extract taxonomy information from the logic block using the life cycle flow graph, wherein the taxonomy information comprises information such as a name of the knowledge element used in the logic block.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the contextual pattern decoder engine is further configured to transform the source code into the desired target format based on the extracted taxonomy information and contextual information derived from the logic block using the life cycle flow graph.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the contextual pattern decoder engine is further configured to derive an association of the knowledge element with the one or more statements in the logic block.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the third pattern is identified based on attributes of the desired target format.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium structured to store instructions executable by at least one processor to transform source code of an application, the instructions when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to:

receive the source code in a programming language;

identify a plurality of blocks in the source code using a first pattern, wherein a pattern comprises a text string that includes one or more restrictions and a piece of text matches the pattern if the piece of text satisfies the one or more restrictions of the pattern;

classify two or more of the plurality of blocks into a logic block that corresponds to a business rule;

discover a knowledge element from the logic block using a second pattern, the knowledge element being one of the following;

a data entity and a variable;

trace a life cycle of the knowledge element in the logic block; and

transform the source code into a desired target format based on a third pattern and the life cycle of the knowledge element.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to:

create a life cycle flow graph for the knowledge element identifying how a value of the data entity changes within the logic block due to actions performed by one or more statements in the logic block.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to:

mark the knowledge element, life cycle information of the knowledge element, and one or more statements associated with the knowledge element in the logic block using the life cycle flow graph.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to:

extract taxonomy information from the logic block using the life cycle flow graph, wherein the taxonomy information comprises information such as a name of the knowledge element used in the logic block.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to:

transform the source code into the desired target format based on the extracted taxonomy information and contextual information derived from the logic block using the life cycle flow graph.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed by the at least one processor further cause the at least one processor to:

derive an association of the knowledge element with the one or more statements in the logic block.