WORKFLOWS AND PRESETS FOR WORKFLOWS

• US 20120159494A1
• Filed: 12/17/2010
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Shafiee, Mohammad Reza, Kalia, Puneet, Liu, Wei, Gupta, Anurag, Sureka, Ashutosh K., Naggar, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,116,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups

Abstract

A system generate a workflow identifier, create a workflow that includes a first work unit, assign the workflow identifier to the workflow, update the workflow by adding a second work unit to the workflow, receive a work order to process the workflow, decompose the workflow into constituent work units in response to the work order, instantiate tasks that correspond to the constituent work units, and execute a work unit process for each of the tasks.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a workflow manager configured to;

obtain a workflow identifier,

create a workflow that includes a first work unit and a second work unit,

assign the workflow identifier to the workflow, and

update the workflow by connecting the first work unit to the second work unit;

work order components configured to;

receive a work order associated with the workflow,

decompose the workflow into constituent work units, and

create tasks that correspond to the constituent work units; and

a command processor configured to execute, for each task, a corresponding work unit process.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a configuration manager configured to create the first work unit and the second work unit.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to:

change a state of the workflow from testing to active.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to:

retrieve a list of workflows based an account identifier provided in a user request.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to:

retrieve a set of parameters and corresponding values for the first work unit in the workflow.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to:

group one or more of the parameters; and

save the group as a preset associated with the first work unit of the workflow.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to:

generate an identifier for the preset; and

assign the identifier to the preset.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the workflow manager is further configured to at least one of:

retrieve a list of presets based on a user request;

update a preset for a workflow;

or

change a state of a particular preset.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more databases that include at least one of:

work unit table, workflow table, parameter table, preset table, or connector table.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the one or more databases further include association tables, the association tables comprising at least one of:

a table of associations between work units and parameters;

a table of associations between a connector and work units of a workflow;

or

a table of associations between a workflow, a preset, and a customer account.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a fast and secure protocol (FASP) server that communicates with a customer device over a virtual private network.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an application server that includes the workflow manager.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a work unit for transcoding media.

14. A method comprising:

generating a workflow identifier;

creating a workflow that includes a first work unit;

assigning the workflow identifier to the workflow;

updating the workflow by adding a second work unit to the workflow;

receiving a work order to process the workflow;

decomposing the workflow into constituent work units in response to the work order;

instantiating tasks that correspond to the constituent work units; and

executing a work unit process for each of the tasks.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

creating the first work unit and the second work unit.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

changing a state of the workflow from new to tested upon completion of testing the workflow.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

selecting one or more of parameters to form a preset; and

saving the preset.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

generating an identifier for the preset;

creating the preset;

assigning the identifier to the preset; and

using the preset in another workflow.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

selecting one or more presets in the database; and

saving the workflow with the selected presets.

20. A computer-readable storage device, comprising computer-executable instructions for execution by at least one processor, the instructions causing the at least one processor to:

generate a workflow identifier;

create a workflow that includes a first work unit and a second work unit;

assign the workflow identifier to the workflow;

update the workflow by connecting the first work unit to the second work unit;

receive a work order associated with the workflow;

decompose the workflow into constituent work units;

create tasks that correspond to the constituent work units; and

execute, for each of the tasks, a corresponding work unit process.