Object process graph system

• US 7,316,001 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2005
• Issued: 01/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Graphlogic, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Graphlogic, Inc.
• Inventors: Gusev, Vladimir, Liang, Hongping, Baker, David Marvin, Gold, Steven Allen
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhen; Wei
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOW, CHIH CHING
• Application Number:
  US10/908,654
• Publication Number:
  US 20050273773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 717/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/34 Graphical or visual programming
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A software system is provided including an Object Process Graph for defining applications and a Dynamic Graph Interpreter that interprets Object Process Graphs. An Object Process Graph defines all of an application'"'"'s manipulations and processing steps and all of the application'"'"'s data. An Object Process Graph is dynamic, making it possible to change any aspect of an application'"'"'s data entry, processing or information display at any time. When an Object Process Graph is interpreted, it functions to accept data, process the data and produce information output. Modifications made to an Object Process Graph while it is being interpreted take affect immediately and can be saved. Object Process Graphs and Dynamic Graph Interpreters can be deployed on single user workstation computers or on distributed processing environments where central servers store Object Process Graphs and run Dynamic Graph Interpreters, and workstation computers access the servers via the intranet or local intranets.

Claims

1. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure stored in a computer-readable medium for defining an application, said graph structure including process and control elements for control over an order and a timing of data validation, transformation and display, said graph structure being dynamic, directed and cyclical, and said graph structure including at least one data node, at least one process node, and at least one application state node; and

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application, wherein said interpreter acts on said graph structure by changing application state information held in said at least one application state node, said application state information including one or more transient data objects and persistent data objects; and

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed via a user interface, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said graph structure includes at least one relational edge for defining a relationship between at least two nodes in said graph structure.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said graph structure includes at least one transformational edge for defining a transforming relationship between at least two nodes in said graph structure.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said graph structure includes at least one edge for defining a relationship between at least two nodes in said graph structure.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said graph structure is further capable of being changed in response to external input data, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said graph structure includes data for said application.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein said data includes a data structure selected from the following data structures:

relational tables, hierarchical tables, n-dimensional data arrays, spreadsheets, graphical models, and 3-d physical models.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein said graph structure includes validation for said data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said graph structure includes processing logic and data flow for said application.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the user interface for displaying at least a portion of said graph structure;

wherein said graph structure defines display characteristics for said portion.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said user interface is further utilized for creating and editing said graph structure.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a persistent medium for storing said graph structure and said interpreter.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said interpreter operates on a plurality of application states concurrently.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said interpreter operates by merging or splitting application state information between a combination of application state objects.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

audit information defining changes made in a transaction;

wherein the changes are capable of being partly or wholly rolled back.

16. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure for defining an application, said graph structure being a composite layered graph including process and control elements for control over an order and a timing of data validation, transformation and display, and said graph structure including a plurality of nodes and edges, each node having a node type of either composite or primitive;

a display medium for providing a user interface, said user interface being capable of receiving a change to said graph structure;

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application, wherein said interpreter interprets said graph structure to process said application by performing method of;

accessing state nodes, process nodes, and data nodes in said graph structure;

transitioning from a first application state to a second application state in said graph structure;

displaying state information on said display medium;

receiving user input; and

changing an aspect of said graph structure based on said user input; and

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each node belongs to both a directed graph and a tree, said directed graph defining a relationship to other nodes within said graph structure, said tree defining a composition hierarchy.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein said nodes are instances of objects.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein each object has an object type of:

a process type or a data type, said process type being operation, report, or application, said data type being primitive data, composite data, array, graph, or reference.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein each node being an instance of an object having object type of data type has a duration property, said duration property defining a lifetime of said node.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein each node being an instance of an object having object type of process type is capable of controlling a flow of nodes through said application and creating, modifying, and displaying nodes via said display medium.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein each node being an instance of an object having object type of operation represents at least one step in a flow of nodes though said application.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein each node being an instance of an object having object type of application is created, modified, or displayed though operation nodes.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein each node has a template database type of either definition or instance.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein said graph structure includes at least one edge to define relationships between nodes.

26. The system of claim 16, further comprising at least one user object for controlling access to functionality and data of said application.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said user object includes a plurality of objects, each object having an associated access right.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein said access right includes rollback, read, and write.

29. The system of claim 16, wherein said interpreter is capable of dynamically displaying visual aspects of said application.

30. The system of claim 16, wherein transitioning from said first application state to said second application state is performed by:

determining an active operation node in said first application state;

finding any first edges leading out from said active operation node and executing first transformations associated with said first edges;

determining data definition nodes corresponding to data instances in said first application state;

finding any second edges leading out from said data definition nodes; and

executing second transformations associated with said second edges.

31. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure stored in a computer-readable medium for defining an application, said graph structure being dynamic, directed and cyclical, said graph structure including;

at least one data node;

at least one process node;

at least one application state node;

at least one relational edge for defining a relationship between at least two nodes in said graph structure;

at least one transformational edge for defining a transforming relationship between at least two nodes in said graph structure;

data for said application;

validation for said data;

process and control elements for control over an order and a timing of data validation, transformation, and display; and

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application, wherein said interpreter acts on said graph structure by changing application state information held in said graph structure, said application state information including one or more transient data objects and persistent data objects; and

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed via a user interface while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein said graph structure is further cap able of being changed in response to external input data, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein said data includes a data structure selected from the following data structures:

relational tables, hierarchical tables, n-dimensional data arrays, spreadsheets, graphical models, and 3-d physical models.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein said graph structure includes processing logic and data flow for said application.

35. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

the user interface for displaying at least a portion of said graph structure;

wherein said graph structure defines display characteristics for said portion.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein said user interface is further utilized for creating and editing said graph structure.

37. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

a persistent medium for storing said graph structure and said interpreter.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein said interpreter operates on a plurality of application states concurrently.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein said interpreter operates by merging or splitting application state information between a combination of application state objects.

40. The system of claim 31, further comprising:

audit information defining changes made in a transaction;

wherein the changes are capable of being partly or wholly rolled back.

41. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure stored in a computer-readable medium for defining an application, said graph structure being dynamic, directed and cyclical, and said graph structure including;

at least one data node;

at least one process node;

at least one application state node;

data for said application; and

validation for said data, including timing of said validation; and

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application;

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed via a user interface, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

42. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure stored in a computer-readable medium for defining an application including process and control elements for control over an order and a timing of data validation, transformation and display, said graph structure being dynamic, directed and cyclical, and said graph structure including at least one data node, at least one process node, and at least one application state node; and

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application, said interpreter operating by merging or splitting application state information between a combination of application state objects;

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed via a user interface, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.

43. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure for defining an application, said graph structure being a composite layered graph, and said graph structure including a plurality of nodes and edges, each node having a node type of either composite or primitive;

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application; and

a display medium for providing a user interface, said user interface being capable of receiving a change to said graph structure;

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter, said graph structure includes at least one edge to define relationships between nodes, and each edge has an edge type of;

processToProcess, processToData, or dataToData.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein each said edge type of process-to-process has a subtype of display, queue, or batch.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein each said edge type of data-to-data has a subtype of copy, compute, split, merge, or join.

46. The system of claim 43, wherein each said edge type of process-to-data has a subtype of create, retrieve, or execute.

47. A computer implemented object process graph system for creating and executing application programs, the object process graph system comprising:

a graph structure for defining an application, said graph structure being a composite layered graph including process and control elements for control over an order and a timing of data validation, transformation and display, and said graph structure including a plurality of nodes and edges, each node having a node type of either composite or primitive;

an interpreter for interpreting said graph structure to process and execute said application;

at least one user object for controlling access to functionality and data of said application, wherein one of said objects is of type audit; and

a display medium for providing a user interface, said user interface being capable of receiving a change to said graph structure;

wherein said graph structure is capable of being changed, while said graph structure is being interpreted by said interpreter.