Asset locator

• US 7,181,454 B1
• Filed: 12/29/1999
• Issued: 02/20/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yaeli, Avi, McClamroch, Kenneth, Zodik, Gobi
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic; Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen; Cindy
• Application Number:
  US09/473,554
• Time in Patent Office: 2,610 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/3, 707/5, 717/8, 717/168
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/71 Version control security arrangements therefor G06F21/57; Configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and system for locating assets is disclosed that provides the capability for the gathering of information about assets contained in data repositories and the capturing of the gathered information in a database which can be used for the conducting of subsequent searches. By integrating into the system a series of data analyzers that are specific to each type of data contained in the repositories (e.g., a Java analyzer, a C/C++ analyzer, a COBOL analyzer, an HTML analyzer, and/or an XML analyzer) the system can be used to search the repositories using conventional keyword-searching techniques, as well as by searching for particular attributes specific to a particular language, or by combining keyword-searching with attribute-specific searching.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for locating code assets of diverse types stored on a storage device for indexing, comprising the steps of:

performing a crawl process on said storage device to identify stored assets;

identifying the asset type of, and asset-specific parameters related to, said stored assets, said asset-specific parameters comprising languages in which each code asset is written;

analyzing said stored assets based on said identified asset-specific parameters;

extracting textual and semantic information from said stored assets, said semantic information including semantic information specific to the asset type of each stored asset; and

storing and indexing said extracted textual and semantic information for retrieval.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein said analysis step is performed using language-specific analyzers corresponding to the languages of said code assets.

3. The method as described in claim 2, wherein said language-specific analyzers analyze said stored assets based on predetermined parameters specific to the language to which they correspond.

4. A locating system for locating assets stored on a storage device for indexing, comprising:

crawling means for reading the contents of said storage device to identify stored assets;

analyzing means for identifying asset-specific parameters related to said stored assets, analyzing said stored assets based on said identified asset-specific parameters, and extracting textual and semantic information from said stored assets based on said analysis; and

storing and indexing means for storing and indexing said extracted textual and semantic information for retrieval, wherein said stored assets comprise assets of diverse types and wherein said analyzing means comprises an analysis server connected between said crawling means and said storing and indexing means, said analysis server including one or more asset-type specific servers, with at least one of said asset types having a corresponding asset-type specific analyzer and wherein said stored assets comprise code assets and wherein said asset-specific parameters comprise languages in which each code asset is written.

5. The system as set forth in claim 4, further comprising:

locating means for locating stored assets by applying a search query to said semantic information stored in said storing and indexing means.

6. The system as set forth in claim 5, wherein said locating means includes means for applying a search query to said textual information stored in said storing and indexing means.

7. The system as set forth in claim 6, wherein said locating means includes means for applying a search query to both said semantic information and said textual information simultaneously.

8. The system as set forth in claim 4, wherein a plurality of said asset types have a corresponding asset-type specific analyzer.

9. The system as set forth in claim 8, wherein each of said asset types has a corresponding asset-type specific analyzer.

10. The system as set forth in claim 4, wherein said asset-type specific analyzer extracts predefined semantic information specific to the asset type to which it corresponds.

11. The system as described in claim 4, wherein said analysis step is performed using language-specific analyzers corresponding to the languages of said code assets.

12. The system as described in claim 11, wherein said language-specific analyzers analyze said stored assets based on predetermined parameters specific to the language to which they correspond.