Systems and methods for collaborative business plug-ins

• US 7,627,631 B2
• Filed: 04/01/2003
• Issued: 12/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Blevins, Mike
• Primary Examiner(s): SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
• Application Number:
  US10/404,296
• Publication Number:
  US 20040068728A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,436 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/204, 717/109, 717/315, 717/328
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/547 Messaging middleware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues

Abstract

Business logic plug-ins can be implemented as Java classes that perform specialized processing of business messages as those messages pass through an integration engine, such as a “B2B” engine for business-to-business messaging. Logic plug-ins can insert rules and business logic along the path traveled by business messages as they make their way through the B2B engine. Logic plug-ins can be defined and stored in an integration repository and executed in the B2B engine, and can be transparent to users. The plug-ins can utilize a plug-in framework, composed of a plug-in manager, as well as interfaces and mechanisms for plug-ins to implement. A plug-in manager can manage all plug-ins in the framework, can be a concrete implementation of the plug-in framework on the server, and can be a central hub through which all plug-in related client requests are routed.

This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more processors;

a plug-in framework, wherein the plug-in framework includes a plug-in manager and a set of interfaces for plug-ins to implement;

a process engine to execute and manage workflows, and wherein the process engine executes one or more business logic plug-ins which process business messages, wherein the one or more business logic plug-ins include a home interface that allows the plug-in manager to detect deployed business logic plug-ins by traversing a naming and directory tree, and wherein the plug-manager manages all of the plug-ins in the framework and the plug-in manager is the central hub through which all plug-in related client requests are routed;

an integration studio, wherein an integration studio can be used at design time to define workflows and at run time to monitor running workflows;

an integration framework, wherein the integration framework provides router logic plug-ins and filter logic plug-ins for at least one protocol used for the business messages; and

an integration repository, wherein the integration repository is a database that can store workflow templates and workflow instances,

wherein at least one of the workflow instances is a collaborative workflow that implements a role of a conversation definition configured in a collaborate repository, and the integration framework also provides a collaborative plug-in to allow a user to create the collaborative workflow.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the integration engine is a messaging engine.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the messaging engine is for business-to-business (B2B) messaging.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more business logic plug-ins can respond to workflow instances, lifecycle notifications, template, and template definition lifecycle notifications.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the plug-in manager traverses the naming and directory tree at startup to obtain a list of deployed plug-ins and initializes each plug-in.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein a plug-in has a remote interface, comprising the following groups of methods:

lifecycle control methods, event methods, metadata and other plug-in information methods, and object manufacturing methods.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein plug-in data adheres to an XML DTD.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein a business message is a basic unit of communication that can be exchanged between trading partners in a conversation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the router logic plug-in is on the “

send”

side of message processing and determines the intended recipients for the message.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the integration engine can specify a message XML Path Language (XPath) expression that defines intended recipients of a business message from a sender.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plug-in framework has administrative capacity that detects and configures plug-ins loaded simultaneously.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the plug-in framework allows plug-ins to extend properties for template and template definition nodes, allows plug-ins to add new actions and functions, and allows plug-ins to define new types of start, event, and done nodes.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the plug-in framework has administrative capacity that detects and configures plug-ins loaded simultaneously.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the plug-in framework allows plug-ins to extend properties for template and template definition nodes, allows plug-ins to add new actions and functions, and allows plug-ins to define new types of start, event, and done nodes.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing a plug-in framework, wherein the plug-in framework includes a plug-in manager and a set of interfaces for plug-ins to implement;

executing and managing workflows through a process engine on one or more processors;

monitoring running workflows with an integration studio, wherein the integration studio can be used at design time to define workflows;

associating one or more business logic plug-ins with a home interface that allows the plug-in manager to detect deployed business logic plug-ins by traversing a naming and directory tree, and wherein the plug-manager manages all of the plug-ins in the framework and the plug-in manager is the central hub through which all plug-in related client requests are routed;

executing one or more business logic plug-ins;

processing business messages passing through an integration engine by inserting rules and business logic;

providing router logic plug-ins and filter logic plug-ins for at least one protocol used for the business messages;

defining and storing workflow templates and workflow instances in an integration repository; and

providing a collaborative plug-in to allow a user to create a collaborative workflow, wherein the collaborative workflow implements a role of a conversation definition configured in a collaborate repository.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the integration engine is a messaging engine.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the messaging engine is for business-to-business (B2B) messaging.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the one or more business logic plug-ins can respond to workflow instances, lifecycle notifications, template, and template definition lifecycle notifications.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the plug-in manager traverses the naming and directory tree at startup to obtain a list of deployed plug-ins and initializes each plug-in.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein a plug-in has a remote interface, comprising the following groups of methods:

lifecycle control methods, event methods, metadata and other plug-in information methods, and object manufacturing methods.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein plug-in data adheres to an XML DTD.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein a business message is a basic unit of communication that can be exchanged between trading partners in a conversation.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the router logic plug-in is on the “

send”

side of message processing and determines the intended recipients for the message.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the integration engine can specify a message XML Path Language (XPath) expression that defines intended recipients of a business message from a sender.