Automatic schema discovery for electronic data interchange (EDI) at runtime

• US 7,447,707 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2005
• Issued: 11/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gaurav, Suraj, Machiraju, Surendra
• Primary Examiner(s): Mofiz; Apu
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, CAM LINH T
• Application Number:
  US11/303,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20070143320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,054 Days
• Field of Search: 707100-1041
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems

Abstract

Automatic schema discovery for electronic data interchange (EDI) in EDI documents. The EDI documents are received in a batch from a source. Each of said EDI documents has at least one EDI transaction corresponding to a transaction type. Rules are applied according to EDI standards to decode the EDI transactions according to the corresponding transaction types. One or more configuration items are identified in the decoded EDI transactions. One or more schema types are determined based on the configuration items.

Claims

1. A method implemented at least in part by a computing device for automatically identifying schemas in electronic data interchange (EDT) documents, said method comprising:

receiving EDI documents in a batch from a source, each of said EDI documents having at least one EDI transaction corresponding to a transaction type, said EDI documents being defined according to at least one of the following format;

ANSI X12 or EDIFACT format, wherein no schemas are received with the received EDI documents;

applying rules according to EDI standards to decode the EDI transactions according to the corresponding transaction types;

identifying configuration items in the decoded EDI transactions, wherein the identified configuration items are determined at runtime and not part of the EDI documents when they were received, wherein identifying comprises identifying the configuration items from one or more of the following configuration levels, partner level and sending application level, global level, pipeline level, or a default level;

dynamically determining at transaction runtime one or more schema types for each EDI transaction based on the identified configuration items, said dynamically determining being a function of one or more configuration levels established by the trading partner; and

processing each EDI transaction based on the dynamically determined one or more schema types.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining further comprises determining the one or more schema types based on the configuration items and a plurality of input data from a user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising applying values in the configurations items in the pipeline level during runtime when the values in the same configuration items in the global level are missing.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising dynamically updating the configuration items to reflect changes to the one or more transaction types during runtime, and wherein determining comprises determining the one or more schema types based on the updated configuration items.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more computer storage media have computer-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

6. A system for automatically identifying schemas in electronic data interchange (EDI) documents at runtime, said system comprising:

a communication channel for receiving EDI documents in a batch from a source, each of said EDI documents having at least one EDI transaction corresponding to a transaction type, said EDI documents being defined according to at least one of the following format;

ANSI X12 or EDIFACT format, wherein no schemas are received with the received EDI documents;

a processor for executing computer-executable instructions for;

decoding the EDI transactions according to the corresponding transaction types by applying rules according to EDI standards;

identifying values in one or more configuration items for each EDI transaction in the decoded EDI transactions, wherein the identified values of the one or more configuration items are determined at runtime and not part of the EDI documents when they were received, wherein identifying comprises identifying the values of the one or more configuration items from one or more of the following configuration levels, partner level and sending application level, global level, pipeline level, or a default level;

dynamically determining at transaction runtime one or more schema types for each EDI transaction based on the identified values of configuration items, said dynamically determining being a function of one or more configuration levels established by the trading partner, said one or more configuration levels specifying specific values for the configuration items; and

processing each EDI transaction based on the dynamically determined one or more schema types.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to applying values in a portion of configurations items in the pipeline level during runtime when the values in the portion of configuration items in the global level are missing.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the values of the one or more configuration items for each EDI transaction include values for a target namespace, said target namespace specifying a particular schema type associated with each of the EDI transaction.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to determine the particular schema type associated with the EDI transaction based on the values of the one or more configuration items at runtime.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to dynamically determine the one or more schema types based on the values of the one or more configuration items as the EDI documents are received by the communication channel.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the communication channel further receives a plurality of input data from a user, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the one or more schema types based on the values of the one or more configuration items and the received plurality of input data.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to dynamically update the values of the one or more configuration items to reflect changes to the one or more transaction types during runtime, and wherein the processor is configured to determine the one or more schema types based on the updated values of the one or more configuration items.

13. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable components for automatically identifying schemas in electronic data interchange (EDI) documents, said computer-executable components comprising:

an interface component for receiving EDI documents in a batch from a source, each of said EDI documents having at least one EDI transaction corresponding to a transaction type, said EDI documents being defined according to at least one of the following format;

ANSI X12 or EDIFACT format, wherein no schemas are received with the received EDI documents;

a transaction component for decoding the EDI transactions according to the corresponding transaction types by applying rules according to EDI standards;

a configuration component for identifying values in one or more configuration items for each EDI transaction in the decoded EDI transactions, wherein the identified values are determined at runtime and not part of the EDI documents when they were received, wherein identifying comprises identifying the values from one or more of the following configuration levels, partner level and sending application level, global level, pipeline level, or a default level;

a schema component for dynamically determining at transaction runtime one or more schema types for each EDI transaction based on the identified values of configuration items, said dynamically determining being a function of one or more configuration levels established by the trading partner, said one or more configuration levels specifying specific values for the configuration items; and

processing each EDI transaction based on the dynamically determined one or more schema types.

14. The computer storage media of claim 13, wherein the values of the one or more configuration items for each EDI transaction include values for a target namespace, said target namespace specifying a particular schema type associated with each of the EDI transaction.

15. The computer storage media of claim 13, wherein the schema component dynamically determines the one or more schema types based on the values of the one or more configuration items as the EDI documents are received by the interface component.

16. The computer storage media of claim 13, further comprising an update component for dynamically updating the values of the one or more configuration items to reflect changes to the one or more transaction types during runtime, and wherein the schema component determines the one or more schema types based on the updated values of the one or more configuration items.