Visual tool for developing service components for use in advanced intelligent networks

• US 7,167,917 B2
• Filed: 01/03/2002
• Issued: 01/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Creamer, Thomas E., Moore, Victor S., Walters, Glen R., McIntyre, Joseph H., Lozinski, Zygmunt A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US10/038,590
• Publication Number:
  US 20030126584A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,846 Days
• Field of Search: 709220-226
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming

Abstract

A method for visually generating a service component can include specifying at least one service building block, wherein the specification includes visually selecting a plurality of event handlers for inclusion in the at least one service building block. The method can also include exporting the at least one service building block. The exporting step can produce a deployment descriptor which describes events for which the at least one service building block has been configured to handle. The at least one service block can be visually arranged, wherein the arrangement can form the service component. Finally, the service component produced by the visual arrangement can be configured for insertion in a SLEE in an advanced intelligent network. Notably, in one aspect of the method, the method can further include the step of encapsulating the service component in a service application container.

Claims

1. A visual tool for creating an extended Java applications programming interface for generating an integrated networks Java Advanced Intelligent Network (JAIN) compliant telecommunication service component for use in a service logic execution environment (SLEE), comprising:

a first visual smartguide for creating JAIN-compliant service building blocks configured to receive and transmit telecommunication events to and from at least one JAIN configured protocol stack through a JAIN-compliant signaling layer, each said JAIN-compliant service building block comprising meta-information for identifying the service building block and a pre-defined list of different event handlers for handling specific telecommunication events received from an event routing bus in said SLEE, wherein said SLEE is configured for compatibility with a JAVA API for Integrated Networks (JAIN) specification for communicating with said JAIN-compliant service building blocks;

a second visual JAIN-compliant smartguide for creating deployment descriptors for said created JAIN-compliant service building blocks, each said deployment descriptor comprising a service description describing parameters for loading an instance of a JAIN-compliant service building block in said SLEE, an encapsulation of the meta-information corresponding to a particular one of the service building blocks, and a list of supported telecommunication events which are handled in the SLEE by an associated JAIN-compliant service budding block; and

,

a visual composition interface comprising a visual display within which visual iconic representations of said JAIN-compliant service building blocks are arranged in combination to form an extended JAIN-compliant telecommunication service component by performing drag-and-drop operations to move the visual iconic representations into a designated work space of the visual display and by connecting the visual iconic representations with visually displayed connectors, wherein in response to the drag-and-drop operations and connecting performed in the designated work space said extended JAIN-compliant telecommunication service component automatically configures itself using a deployment descriptor upon identifying underlying resources that are available when the JAIN-compliant telecommunication service component is unaware of the underlying JAIN protocol resources within the SLEE.

2. The visual tool of claim 1, wherein said JAIN-compliant service building blocks are JAIN-compliant software components for deployment in said SLEE.

3. The visual tool of claim 2, wherein said software components are Java beans.

4. The visual tool of claim 1, wherein said first visual smartguide comprises at least one selectable procedure for generating a plurality of JAIN telecommunication utility classes for inclusion in a JAIN-compliant service building block.

5. The visual tool of claim 1, wherein said first visual smartguide comprises a database of JAIN-compliant telecommunication event handlers from which said at least one JAIN-compliant telecommunication event handler is selected for addition to said JAIN-compliant service building block.

6. The visual tool of claim 1, wherein said second visual smartguide comprises a database of JAIN-compliant telecommunication event handlers from which a list of supported JAIN telecommunication events for inclusion in said deployment descriptor is constructed.

7. The visual tool of claim 1, further comprising a service container which encapsulates the JAIN-compliant service component.

8. The visual tool of claim 7, wherein said service container further comprises meta-information for exposing container characteristics for said service container.

9. The visual tool of claim 8, wherein said meta-information comprises a plurality of Java Native Definition Interface (JNDI) environment entries.