Integrated business process modeling environment and models created thereby

• US 7,120,896 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2001
• Issued: 10/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vitria Technology Incorporated (Innovation Technology Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Vitria Technology Incorporated (Innovation Technology Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Wang, Haiying, Banerjee, Deb, Budhiraja, Navin, Rubin, Elisa Jill, Skeen, Marion Dale
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN BA, HOANG VU A
• Application Number:
  US09/984,977
• Publication Number:
  US 20030084127A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,805 Days
• Field of Search: 717/107, 717/100, 717/108, 717/110, 717/118, 717/105, 717/109, 717/113, 709/219, 709/226, 709/249, 710/200, 718/103, 715/763, 715/771, 719/330
• US Class Current: 717/105
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

An integrated modeling environment for creating integration models of computer architecture for executing business processes. The models include components having ports defining standard interfaces. The components can represent business process models for executing business processes. Connection information is stored in a repository so that binding of communication protocols can occur during deployment after creation of the model and can be looked up during runtime.

Claims

1. An integration model for graphically modeling and configuring business systems by integrating applications, the model comprising:

components coupled together in an object oriented, graphical representation of a computer architecture for integrating plural business processes, wherein the components include;

executable process logic of a business process to direct data flow among components;

a first port defining, at run time, a standard representation of an external interface of said component for representing data flow between components; and

code for identifying and binding the standard representation of the external interface and for looking up connection information stored in a repository, said connection information including information indicating a second port to which said first port is to be connected, information relating to the type of said second port, and information indicating how to connect to said second port.

2. The components as recited in claim 1, wherein said code is in the form of an object.

3. The components as recited in claim 2, wherein said code is written in an object-oriented programming language from a source of origin identified by JAVA.

4. The components as recited in claim 1, wherein said code is generated automatically based on properties of the ports.

5. The components as recited in claim 1, wherein said code defines a communication protocol.

6. The components as recited in claim 5, wherein the communication protocol defining how messages are to be formatted and how delivery is guaranteed is from a source of origin identified by CORBA.

7. The components as recited in claim 5, wherein the communication protocol is Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

8. The components as recited in claim 5, wherein the communication protocol corresponds to a channel.

9. The components as recited in claim 1, wherein said first port includes properties defining a direction and type of information flow.

10. The components as recited in claim 1, wherein the executable process logic is embodied in an integration model nested in said components.

11. The components as recited in claim 1, wherein the executable process logic is embodied in a business process model nested in said components.

12. An object oriented, graphical integration model of a computer architecture for integrating plural business processes, said model comprising:

plural components including executable process logic of a business process and a port defining a standard representation of an external interface of said components; and

wires graphically connecting said components and defining connection information between ports of desired components;

wherein the port connection information is automatically defined at run-time based on the wires configured in an integration module.

13. The integration model as recited in claim 12, further comprising a repository for storing the connection information defined by said wires and port type information, and wherein said components include code for looking up said connection information and said port type information to facilitate deployment of connections between said components.

14. The integration model as recited in claim 13, wherein said connection information includes information indicating ports to be connected, information relating to the type of said ports, and information indicating how to connect said ports.

15. The integration model as recited in claim 13, wherein said code is in the form of an object.

16. The integration model as recited in claim 15, wherein said code is written in an object-oriented programming language from a source of origin identified by JAVA.

17. The integration model as recited in claim 13, wherein said code is generated automatically based on properties of the ports.

18. The integration model as recited in claim 17 wherein said properties of said ports include a direction and type of imformation.

19. The integration model as recited in claim 13, wherein said code defines a communication protocol.

20. The An integration model as recited in claim 19, wherein the communication protocol defining how messages are to be formatted and how delivery is guaranteed is from a source of origin identified by CORBA.

21. The integration model as recited in claim 19, wherein the communication protocol is Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

22. The integration model as recited in claim 19, wherein the communication protocol corresponds to a channel.

23. The integration model as recited in claim 12, wherein the executable process logic of at least one of said components is embodied in an integration model nested in said at least one of said components.

24. The integration model as recited in claim 12, wherein the executable process logic of at least one of said components is embodied in a business process model nested in said at least one of said components.

25. A method of creating an object oriented, graphical integration model of a computer architecture for integrating plural business processes, said method comprising:

identifying a plurality of components, at least some of said components including executable process logic of a business process and at least one port defining a standard representation of an external interface for data flow between said components;

creating connections between said ports corresponding to desired components; and

binding, after said identifying step and said creating step, communication protocols to the connections to define communications parameters between said desired components.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein said creating step comprises storing port connection information and port type information in a repository, and wherein said binding step comprises looking up said connection information and said port type information to configure connections between components.

27. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein said identifying step includes generating code for looking up said port connection information and said port type information to facilitate deployment of connections between components.

28. The method as recited in claim 27 wherein said port connection information includes information indicating ports to be connected, information relating to the type of the ports, and information indicating how to connect said ports.

29. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein said code is in the form of an object.

30. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein said code is written in an object-oriented programming language from a source of origin identified by JAVA.

31. The method as recited in claim 29, wherein said identifying step comprises automatically generating said code based on properties of the port.

32. The method as recited in claim 27, wherein said code defines a communication protocol.

33. The method as recited in claim 32, wherein the communication protocol defining how messages are to be formatted and how delivery is guaranteed is from a source of origin identified by CORBA.

34. The method as recited in claim 32 wherein the communication protocol is Remote Method Invocation (RMI).

35. The method as recited in claim 32 wherein the communication protocol corresponds to a channel.

36. A method of deploying an object oriented, graphical integration model of a computer architecture for integrating plural business processes, said method comprising:

identifying a plurality of components, at least one of said components including executable process logic of a business process and at least one port defining a standard representation of an external interface for data flow between said components;

creating connections between ports of desired components;

storing said components and connections in a repository as objects;

filling out unresolved component references; and

deploying the objects by configuring run time properties of the objects.

37. The method as recited in claim 36, wherein said deploying the objects step comprises designation of a node or a physical device in which said components are to be executed.

38. The method as recited in claim 37, wherein said node comprises plural computers.

39. A method of creating reusable components for use in an object oriented, graphical representation of a computer architecture for integration and execution of plural business processes, said method comprising:

identifying child objects each including executable process logic of a business process and a port defining a standard representation of an external interface for data flow between the components of each child objects;

creating connections between desired ports of the child objects;

defining properties of the child objects that can be changed; and

packaging the child objects as nested objects in a parent object.

40. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein the executable process logic comprises code objects, said step of packaging comprises bundling the code objects into an archive file and said step of defining properties comprises designating properties of the code objects as one of read only, hidden, or changeable.

41. The method as recited in claim 40, wherein the code objects are JAVA code objects and wherein the archive file is a platform independent file from a source of origin identified by JAVA Archive (JAR) file.