TRANSPARENT BUSINESS DATA COMPOSITION SYSTEMS AND/OR METHODS

• US 20120137205A1
• Filed: 11/26/2010
• Published: 05/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Software AG
• Original Assignee: Software AG
• Inventors: Pandrangi, Phani, Froomin, Loren, Noehren, Mike, Brinkmann, Olaf
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,752 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Certain example embodiments described herein relate to techniques for enabling a business process model (BPM) to be transparent (in whole or in part) from the source of data that triggers it. More particularly, certain example embodiments relate to techniques enabling transparent composition and decomposition of e-form data from one or more e-form formats into data that is directly usable by a Business Process Model Engine. Information from an e-form may, for example, be used in a business process, e.g., after a template or document type is created that represents the e-form in a format that the BPM Engine understands, and the e-form may be transparently composed into and decomposed out from the business data in certain example embodiments.

Claims

1. A method of transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, the method comprising:

receiving an electronic form (e-form), the e-form being created according to a first source type;

consulting, via at least one processor, an algorithm with predefined rules for extracting information regarding the structure and/or layout of the e-form, at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would be apparent if the e-form were viewed and at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form were viewed;

extracting, via the at least one processor, the information regarding the structure and/or layout of the e-form based on the predefined rules;

building, via the at least one processor, a template or document type based on the extracted information, the template or document type being in a second source type different from the first source type; and

storing to a non-transitory storage location the template or document type.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second source type is a business process model (BPM) engine understandable format.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first source type is not understandable by the BPM engine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes information pertaining to displayed fields and/or text.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes non-displayed namespace information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes hierarchical information about visible fields.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the algorithm includes predefined rules for each of a plurality of different source formats.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a system, perform a method according to claim 1.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the structure and/or format information is previously defined using a method according to claim 1.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein all said structure and/or format information is previously defined using a method according to claim 1.

9. A system for transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, comprising:

an interface configured to receive an electronic form (e-form), the e-form being created according to a first source type;

an algorithm including predefined rules indicating how information regarding the structure and/or layout of the e-form is to be extracted, at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would be apparent if the e-form were viewed and at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form were viewed; and

at least one processor configured to;

extract the information regarding the structure and/or layout of the e-form based on the predefined rules,

build a template or document type based on the extracted information, the template or document type being in a second source type different from the first source type, and

store to a non-transitory storage location the template or document type.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the second source type is a business process model (BPM) engine understandable format.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first source type is not understandable by the BPM engine.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes information pertaining to displayed fields and/or text.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes non-displayed namespace information.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes hierarchical information about visible fields.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the data store is a database that includes predefined rules for each of a plurality of different source formats.

16. A method of transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, the method comprising:

receiving a request for an e-form from a user, the e-form being in a first format or of a first type;

building the e-form based on previously defined structure and format information about the e-form, and content data provided regarding the e-form;

enabling the user to edit the e-form, the e-form being editable while in a second format or of a second type; and

saving the e-form in the first format or first type based on the previously defined structure and format information about the e-form, and the user'"'"'s edits.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first format or first type is not directly understandable by a business process model (BPM) engine.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the second format or second type is directly understandable by the BPM engine.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising executing one or more business processes via the BPM engine as a result of the editing of the e-form.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

listening to a plurality of locations on a server; and

executing said one or more business processes in response to a document being placed in one of said locations on the server.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a system, perform a method according to claim 16.

22. A system for transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, comprising:

an interface configured to receive a request for an e-form from a user, the e-form being in a first format or of a first type; and

at least one processor configured to;

build the e-form based on previously defined structure and format information about the e-form, and content data provided regarding the e-form,

enable the user to edit the e-form, the e-form being editable while in a second format or of a second type, and

save the e-form in the first format or first type based on the previously defined structure and format information about the e-form, and the user'"'"'s edits.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the first format or first type is not directly understandable by a business process model (BPM) engine.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the second format or second type is directly understandable by the BPM engine.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute one or more business processes via the BPM engine as a result of the editing of the e-form.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a plurality of listened to locations on a server,

wherein said one or more business processes are executable in response to a document being placed in one of said listened to locations on the server.

28. A method of transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, comprising:

receiving a request for an e-form from a user, the e-form being in a first format or of a first type;

building the e-form based on previously defined structure and format information about the e-form, and content data provided regarding the e-form; and

saving the e-form in a third format or third type based on further, different previously defined structure and format information about the e-form, and the user'"'"'s edits,

wherein the first and third formats or first and third types are not directly understandable by a business process model (BPM) engine, and

wherein the second format or second type is directly understandable by the BPM engine.