Synchronous validation and acknowledgment of electronic data interchange (EDI)

• US 7,647,500 B2
• Filed: 12/16/2005
• Issued: 01/12/2010
• 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): Moazzami; Nasser G
• Assistant Examiner(s): YALEW, FIKREMARIAM A
• Application Number:
  US11/303,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20070143610A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 713/169
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/367 involving electronic purses or money safes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

Synchronous validation and acknowledgment of electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions. A connection session on a communication network is established for handling EDI transactions from a source. A collection of EDI transactions is received via the communication network. A receipt acknowledgement is returned to the source indicating the EDI transactions have been received. The EDI transactions are validated as the EDI transactions are received. A validation acknowledgement is transmitted via the communication network to the source before the connection session is terminated. The validation acknowledgement indicates the EDI transactions have been validated.

Claims

1. A method implemented at least in part by a computing device for acknowledging receipt and validating electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions, said method comprising:

establishing an active connection session on a communication network for handling EDI transactions from a source;

receiving the EDI transactions via the communication network;

returning a receipt acknowledgement to the source indicating the EDI transactions have been received;

identifying one or more schemas associated with each of the received EDI transactions;

during the established active connection session, synchronously validating each of the EDI transactions as the EDI transactions are received, said synchronously validating comprising determining whether each received EDI transaction conforms to formatting rules specified in the identified schemas associated with the received EDI transaction; and

for each received EDI transaction, when said determining indicates that the received EDI transaction does not conform to the formatting rules specified in the identified schemas associated with the received EDI transaction, suspending the synchronously validating of the received EDI transaction, generating a functional failure acknowledgement, and transmitting via the communication network the functional failure acknowledgement to the source;

or

for each received EDI transaction, when said determining indicates that the received EDI transaction conforms to the formatting rules specified in the identified schemas associated with the received EDI transaction, transmitting via the communication network a formatting validation acknowledgement to the source before the established connection session is terminated, said validation acknowledgement indicating the received EDI transaction has been validated.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein validating comprises substantially simultaneously validating the EDI transactions as the EDI transactions are received via the communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving rules associated with the EDI transactions, and wherein validating comprises validating the EDI transactions by determining whether the EDI transactions comply with the rules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting further comprising selectively transmitting a second validation acknowledgement based on the EDI transactions in at least one of the following connection sessions:

the established active connection session or a second connection session.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving comprises receiving the EDI transactions in an EDI document, said EDI document including an uber-schema referenced by the EDI transactions.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising scanning a header portion of the EDI document to determine a destination information defining a destination where at least one of the following is to be delivered:

a receipt acknowledgement and a validation acknowledgement.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating another receipt acknowledgement or another validation acknowledgement to be routed to the destination based on information included in the header portion of the EDI document.

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

9. A system for validating electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions, said system comprising:

an interface for receiving a message from a source, said message including a plurality of EDI transactions, said interface beginning an active connection session with the source for the receiving;

a processor for executing computer-executable instructions for;

generating a transport receipt acknowledgement to the source indicating the plurality of EDI transactions has been received;

evaluating the received plurality of EDI transactions according to a schema associated with the plurality of EDI transactions;

during the established active connection session, validating the plurality of EDI transactions while the processor is evaluating the plurality of received EDI transactions, said validating comprising determining whether the received plurality of EDI transactions conform to formatting rules specified in the schema associated with the received plurality of EDI transactions;

when said determining indicates that the received plurality of EDI transactions do not conform to the formatting rules specified in the schema, suspending the validating of the EDI transactions, generating a functional failure acknowledgement, and transmitting via the communication network the functional failure acknowledgement to the source; and

when said determining indicates that the received plurality of EDI transactions conform to the formatting rules specified in the schema, generating a payload validation acknowledgement indicating the plurality of EDI transactions has been validated; and

wherein the interface transmits the receipt acknowledgement and the validation acknowledgement to the source via the active connection session.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to determine a new location for routing the receipt acknowledgement and/or the validation acknowledgement by identifying information in a header portion of the message.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to generate another receipt acknowledgement or another validation acknowledgement for routing the another receipt acknowledgement and/or the another validation acknowledgement to the new location according to the information in the header portion of the message.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the interface establishes a first connection session for receiving the message and for transmitting the receipt acknowledgement and the validation acknowledgement, and wherein the processor substantially simultaneously validates the EDI transactions as the EDI transactions are received before the interface terminates the first connection session.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor generates a second validation acknowledgement based on the EDI transactions in at least one of the following connection sessions:

the first connection session or a second connection session to be established by the interface.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the interface transmits the validation acknowledgement before the interface terminates the first connection session.

15. One or more computer-storage media having computer-executable components for validating electronic data interchange (EDI) transactions, said computer-executable components comprising:

an interface component for receiving a message from a source by establishing an active connection session, said message including EDI transactions;

an acknowledgement component for generating a receipt acknowledgement to the source indicating the EDI transactions has been received;

a validation component for validating the EDI transactions when the EDI transactions are received by the interface component during the established active connection session, said validation component determines whether the received EDI transactions conform to formatting rules specified in a schema associated with the received EDI transactions, said validation component suspending the validating of the received EDI transactions, generating a functional failure acknowledgement with the interface component and transmitting via the communication network the functional failure acknowledgement to the source in response to determining that the received EDI transactions do not conform to the formatting rules specified in the schema,

said acknowledgement component generating a validation acknowledgement indicating the received EDI transactions has been validated in response to the validation component determining that the received EDI transactions conform to the formatting rules specified in the schema; and

wherein the interface component transmits the receipt acknowledgement and the validation acknowledgement to the source before the interface component terminates the established active connection session.

16. The computer-storage media of claim 15, wherein the validation component substantially simultaneously validates the EDI transactions as the EDI transactions are received before the interface component terminates the established active connection session.

17. The computer-storage media of claim 15, further comprising a message translation engine for identifying location information from a header portion of the message, and wherein the interface component transmits the receipt acknowledgement and the validation acknowledgement to a location according to the identified location information said location being different from the source.

18. The computer-storage media of claim 17, wherein the acknowledgement component further generates another receipt acknowledgement or another validation acknowledgement for routing the another receipt acknowledgement and/or the another validation acknowledgement to the location according to the identified location information.

19. The computer-storage media of claim 15, wherein the message includes a set of rules associated with the EDI transactions.

20. The computer-storage media of claim 19, wherein the validation component validates the EDI transactions by determining whether the EDI transactions comply with the included set of rules.