METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING COMPONENTS OF APPLICATION ENABLEMENT SUITE

• US 20120254825A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Sharma, Alok, Cai, Yigang
• Granted Patent: US 8,776,011 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/36 Software reuse
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A method of managing components of an AES includes: a) providing an application developer with access to a workflow designer engine via a developer portal, wherein the workflow designer engine and developer portal are in operative communication with an AES; b) activating a network application manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage network application function via the user device in conjunction with a graphical user interface (GUI) controlled by the developer portal; and c) creating a new network application using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new network application in conjunction with the GUI. An associated apparatus includes a workflow designer engine server with a workflow designer engine module; and a developer portal server with a developer portal module.

Claims

1. A method of managing components of an application enablement suite (AES), comprising:

a) providing an application developer with access to a workflow designer engine via a developer portal in response to a proper authentication sequence, wherein the workflow designer engine and developer portal are in operative communication with an AES, wherein the authentication sequence is initiated in response to the application developer activating the workflow designer engine via a user device in operative communication with the developer portal;

b) activating a network application manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage network application function via the user device in conjunction with a graphical user interface (GUI) controlled by the developer portal; and

c) creating a new network application using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new network application in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new network application is associated with a new or existing network service available to subscribers via the AES.

2. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating an application program interface (API) manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage API function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new API using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new API in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new API is associated with the new network application.

3. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating an application service manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application service function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new application service using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application service in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application service is associated with the new network application.

4. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating an application rule/policy manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application rule/policy function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new application rule/policy using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application rule/policy in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application rule/policy is associated with the new network application.

5. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating an application enabler manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application enabler function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new application enabler using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application enabler in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application enabler is associated with the new network application.

6. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating an application mashup manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application mashup function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new application mashup using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application mashup in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application mashup is associated with the new network application.

7. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating an application bundle manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application bundle function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new application bundle using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining the new application bundle in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application bundle is associated with the new network application.

8. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating a test manager of the workflow designer engine in response to selection of a manage test function via the GUI; and

e) testing the new network application using simulators of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal to verify the new network application is capable of providing the new or existing network service to subscribers via the AES.

9. The method set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

d) activating a deployment manager of the workflow designer engine in response to selection of a manage deployment function via the GUI; and

e) deploying the new network application using a deployment management module of the developer portal and repositories of the developer portal to make the new network application available to appropriate nodes of the AES such that the new network application is available in conjunction with providing the new or existing network service to subscribers via the AES.

10. The method set forth in claim 1 wherein the new or existing network service is a composite network service associated with at least one of multiple network services, multiple service providers, multiple service networks, and multiple communication sessions.

11. A method of managing components of an application enablement suite (AES), comprising:

a) providing an application developer with access to a workflow designer engine via a developer portal in response to a proper authentication sequence, wherein the workflow designer engine and developer portal are in operative communication with an AES, wherein the authentication sequence is initiated in response to the application developer activating the workflow designer engine via a user device in operative communication with the developer portal;

b) activating a composite network application manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage composite network application function via the user device in conjunction with a graphical user interface (GUI) controlled by the developer portal;

c) creating a new composite network application using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new composite network application in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new composite network application is associated with a new or existing composite network service available to subscribers via the AES and associated with at least one of multiple network services, multiple service providers, multiple service networks, and multiple communication sessions;

d) activating an application program interface (API) manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage API function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

e) creating a new API using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new API in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new API is associated with the new composite network application.

12. The method set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

f) activating an application rule/policy manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application rule/policy function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

g) creating a new application rule/policy using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application rule/policy in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application rule/policy is associated with the new composite network application.

13. The method set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

f) activating an application enabler manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application enabler function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

g) creating a new application enabler using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application enabler in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application enabler is associated with the new composite network application.

14. The method set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

f) activating an application mashup manager of the workflow designer engine in response to the application developer selecting a manage application mashup function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI; and

g) creating a new application mashup using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application mashup in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application mashup is associated with the new composite network application.

15. The method set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

f) activating a development tool manager of the workflow designer engine in response to selection of a manage development tool function via the GUI; and

g) creating a new simulator for testing the new composite network application using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal based at least in part on test processes and parameters for the new simulator identified via the GUI, wherein the new simulator is adapted for testing the new composite network application in conjunction with repositories of the developer portal to verify that the new composite network application is capable of providing the new or existing network service to subscribers via the AES.

16. The method set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

f) activating a development tool manager of the workflow designer engine in response to selection of a manage development tool function via the GUI; and

g) creating a new rule/policy creation tool for the new composite network application using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal based at least in part on operating processes and parameters for the new composite network application identified via the GUI, wherein the new rule/policy creation tool enables the application developer to create and manage rules and policies for the new composite network application using the workflow designer engine and developer portal.

17. The method set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

f) activating a development tool manager of the workflow designer engine in response to selection of a manage development tool function via the GUI; and

g) creating a new configuration management tool for the new composite network application using archetypes of the workflow designer engine and repositories of the developer portal based at least in part on application development processes and parameters for the new composite network application identified via the GUI, wherein the new configuration management tool is for configuration control of the new composite network application using the workflow designer engine and developer portal.

18. An apparatus for managing components of an application enablement suite (AES), comprising:

a workflow designer engine server including a workflow designer engine module; and

a developer portal server including a developer portal module in operative communication with the workflow designer engine module, wherein the workflow designer engine module and developer portal module are in operative communication with an AES;

wherein the developer portal module provides an application developer with access to the workflow designer engine module in response to a proper authentication sequence, wherein the authentication sequence is initiated in response to the application developer activating the workflow designer engine module via a user device in operative communication with the developer portal module;

wherein the workflow designer engine module activates a composite network application manager in response to the application developer selecting a manage composite network application function via the user device in conjunction with a graphical user interface (GUI) controlled by the developer portal module;

wherein a new composite network application is created using archetypes of the workflow designer engine module and repositories in storage devices of the developer portal module in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new composite network application in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new composite network application is associated with a new or existing composite network service available to subscribers via the AES and associated with at least one of multiple network services, multiple service providers, multiple service networks, and multiple communication sessions;

wherein the workflow designer engine module activates an application program interface (API) manager in response to the application developer selecting a manage API function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI;

wherein a new API is created using archetypes of the workflow designer engine module and repositories in storage devices of the developer portal module in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new API in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new API is associated with the new composite network application.

19. The apparatus set forth in claim 18 wherein the workflow designer engine module activates an application rule/policy manager in response to the application developer selecting a manage application rule/policy function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI;

and

wherein a new application rule/policy is created using archetypes of the workflow designer engine module and repositories in storage devices of the developer portal module in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application rule/policy in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application rule/policy is associated with the new composite network application.

20. The apparatus set forth in claim 18 wherein the workflow designer engine module activates an application enabler manager in response to the application developer selecting a manage application enabler function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI;

and

wherein a new application enabler is created using archetypes of the workflow designer engine module and repositories in storage devices of the developer portal module in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application enabler in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application enabler is associated with the new composite network application.

21. The apparatus set forth in claim 18 wherein the workflow designer engine module activates an application mashup manager in response to the application developer selecting a manage application mashup function via the user device in conjunction with the GUI;

and

wherein a new application mashup is created using archetypes of the workflow designer engine module and repositories in storage devices of the developer portal module in response to the application developer defining at least some parameters for the new application utility in conjunction with the GUI, wherein the new application mashup is associated with the new composite network application.