SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING SETS OF MODEL OBJECTS VIA UNIFIED MANAGEMENT INTERFACE

• US 20110055761A1
• Filed: 08/31/2009
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Williamson, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,417,734 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/835
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Embodiments relate to a unified management interface and related resources for managing sets of model objects. A modeling client can host modeling logic and an application programming interface (API) to create, access, manipulate, and import/export modeling objects used in modeling applications, such as engineering, medical, financial, and other modeling platforms. The source data accepted into the modeling client can include consumer or business-level applications, whose spreadsheet, database or other content can be extracted and encapsulated in object-oriented format, such as extensible markup language (XML) format. A graphical control application can be used to manage one or more sets of modeling objects from a unified interface, to permit, for instance, the selection and configuration of the connections, activation status, security settings, and/or other attributes of model objects. The management interface can be used to control how the model objects and other resources can exchange outputs, share internal data, and otherwise operate.

Claims

1. A method of managing a set of model objects, comprising:

accessing a set of source data;

generating a set of managed model objects from the set of source data, each model object in the set of model objects being based on at least one extracted data element and at least one attribute of the extracted data element;

generating a management interface representing the set of managed model objects, the management interface comprising a set of selectable management actions to be be performed on at least a subset of the set of managed model objects; and

initiating at least one of the set of selectable management actions based on user input received via the management interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the management interface comprises a graphical user interface, and the set of managed model objects are represented by icons on the graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of selectable management actions comprises at least one of deactivating a model object, activating a model object, establishing a connection between at least two model objects, reporting a communications status of at least one model object, reporting a security status of at least one model object, and establishing a connection to at least one remote resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the management interface is updated on at least a substantially real-time basis to indicate a status of the set of managed model objects.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of managed model objects comprises at least one model object encoded in extensible markup language (XML) format.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of source data comprises at least one of spreadsheet data, database data, word processing data, or presentation data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the management interface comprises an authentication module to authenticate a user of the management interface.

8. A client system, comprising:

an interface to a set of source data; and

a processor, communicating with the set of source data via the interface, the processor being configured to

generate a set of managed model objects from the set of source data, each model object in the set of model objects being based on at least one extracted data element and at least one attribute of the extracted data element,

generate a management interface representing the set of managed model objects, the management interface comprising a set of selectable management actions to be be performed on at least a subset of the set of managed model objects, and

initiate at least one of the set of selectable management actions based on user input received via the management interface.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the management interface comprises a graphical user interface, and the set of managed model objects are represented by icons on the graphical user interface.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of selectable management actions comprises at least one of deactivating a model object, activating a model object, establishing a connection between at least two model objects, reporting a communications status of at least one model object, reporting a security status of at least one model object, and establishing a connection to at least one remote resource.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the management interface is updated on at least a substantially real-time basis to indicate a status of the set of managed model objects.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of managed model objects comprises at least one model object encoded in extensible markup language (XML) format.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of source data comprises at least one of spreadsheet data, database data, word processing data, or presentation data.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to execute an authentication module to authenticate a user of the management interface.

15. A set of managed model objects stored in a computer readable medium, comprising:

a set of model objects extracted from a set of source data, each model object in the set of model objects being based on at least one extracted data element and at least one attribute of the extracted data element; and

an interface to a management interface module, communicating with the set of model objects, the management interface module generating a set of selectable management actions to be performed on at least a subset of the model objects based on user input.

16. The set of managed model objects of claim 15, wherein the management interface comprises a graphical user interface, and the set of managed model objects are represented by icons on the graphical user interface.

17. The set of managed model objects of claim 15, wherein the set of selectable management actions comprises at least one of deactivating a model object, activating a model object, establishing a connection between at least two model objects, reporting a communications status of at least one model object, reporting a security status of at least one model object, and establishing a connection to at least one remote resource.

18. The set of managed model objects of claim 15, wherein the management interface is updated on at least a substantially real-time basis to indicate a status of the set of managed model objects.

19. The set of managed model objects of claim 15, wherein the set of managed model objects comprises at least one model object encoded in extensible markup language (XML) format.

20. The set of managed model objects of claim 15, wherein the management interface is configured to authenticate a user of the management interface.