Dynamic and generic process automation system
First Claim
1. A process automation system for controlling the execution of processes on a plurality of processing nodes each having processing agents associated therewith, the system comprising a GPAE (generic process automation engine) and an ORB (object request broker) bus connected to the plurality of processing nodes, the GPAE having:
- a) a build time part for creating and storing at least one process definition identifying a logical sequence of work items, pre-conditions and post-conditions for the execution of work items, and propagation rules for propagating outputs of work items to inputs of other work items, and for creating and storing a request to create a process instance for a particular process definition;
b) a run time part comprising process instance servers for coordinating the enactment of the work items forming part of the process definitions and a scheduler for scheduling each work item forming part of the process definition either for execution at a given time and by a particular processing agent on a particular one of the processing nodes or for execution by a human, the scheduler using constraint propagation logic;
wherein the ORB is a CORBA bus, and the process instance servers are CORBA Process Servers that contain a set of process instance objects that control the execution of the work items forming part of the process definition for the relevant process instance.
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Abstract
GPAE is a dynamic and generic object-oriented process automation engine that provides workflow management (WFM) services in a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. This invention decouples process definitions, run-time process management, and process execution agents. The system consists of three major parts: (a) a build time part used to capture and store process definitions, and to request the enactment of a process; (b) a run time part used to schedule, execute, and monitor the requested process; (c) a CORBA bus to plug-in software applications needed to execute processes, and to allow interactions among the system components. This GPAE invention, based on CORBA, and event-driven and constraint propagation models, provides near optimal scheduling and resource allocation schemes. This invention is generic, scalable, flexible, and enables the process automation in a distributed heterogeneous platform environment, while sharing global resources and services efficiently.
467 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A process automation system for controlling the execution of processes on a plurality of processing nodes each having processing agents associated therewith, the system comprising a GPAE (generic process automation engine) and an ORB (object request broker) bus connected to the plurality of processing nodes, the GPAE having:
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a) a build time part for creating and storing at least one process definition identifying a logical sequence of work items, pre-conditions and post-conditions for the execution of work items, and propagation rules for propagating outputs of work items to inputs of other work items, and for creating and storing a request to create a process instance for a particular process definition; b) a run time part comprising process instance servers for coordinating the enactment of the work items forming part of the process definitions and a scheduler for scheduling each work item forming part of the process definition either for execution at a given time and by a particular processing agent on a particular one of the processing nodes or for execution by a human, the scheduler using constraint propagation logic; wherein the ORB is a CORBA bus, and the process instance servers are CORBA Process Servers that contain a set of process instance objects that control the execution of the work items forming part of the process definition for the relevant process instance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A process automation system for controlling the execution of processes on a plurality of processing nodes each having processing agents associated therewith, the system comprising a GPAE (generic process automation engine) and an ORB (object request broker) bus connected to the plurality of processing nodes, the GPAE having:
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a) a build time part for creating and storing at least one process definition identifying a logical sequence of work items, pre-conditions and post-conditions for the execution of work items, and propagation rules for propagating outputs of work items to inputs of other work items, and for creating and storing a request to create a process instance for a particular process definition; b) a run time part comprising process instance servers for coordinating the enactment of the work items forming part of the process definitions and a scheduler for scheduling each work item forming part of the process definition either for execution at a given time and by a particular processing agent on a particular one of the processing nodes or for execution by a human, the scheduler using constraint propagation logic; wherein processing agents may be added, deleted or changed during run time.
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Specification