Describing expected entity relationships in a model

• US 7,765,241 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2007
• Issued: 07/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cain, Nigel Graham, Westerinen, Andrea Rose
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Khanh B
• Assistant Examiner(s): OBERLY, VAN HONG
• Application Number:
  US11/738,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20080263085A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 707/803, 707/E17.048
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/221 Parsing markup language streams streaming G06F40/149

Abstract

Defining target data types within an instance of a target data type definition for inclusion in a reference data type definition to declare expected entity relationships in a model. The model corresponds to, for example, software, a business process, or an organizational structure. The target data type defines one or more elements with target data. The target data describes entities that are expected to be related to the reference entity according to a predefined entity relationship. The existing reference data type definition is used to declare the expected entity relationships. In an embodiment, the defined target data type includes a tag in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

Claims

1. A method of explicitly declaring expected relationships between expected entities and a reference entity in a model, said reference entity have a reference data type definition associated therewith, said method comprising:

creating an expected targets tag in a markup language schema type declaration in the model;

defining one or more elements describing one or more expected entities according to the created expected targets tag in the model;

identifying a predefined entity relationship, said described one or more expected entities being expected entities based on the predefined entity relationship and are not required entities based on the predefined entity relationship;

associating the expected targets tag with the defined one or more elements and the identified, predefined entity relationship;

locating the expected entities in the reference data type definition having the expected targets tag and associated elements and predefined entity relationship; and

declaring a relationship between the located expected entities and the reference entity in response to the locating.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein defining the one or more elements comprises defining an element representing an expected quantity of one of the expected entities.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the expected targets tag in the markup language schema type declaration comprises creating the expected targets tag in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein locating the expected entities in the reference data type definition comprises embedding the defined elements and the predefined entity relationship within an annotation data type element in the reference data type definition.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein locating the expected entities in the reference data type definition comprises embedding the defined elements and the predefined entity relationship within an appinfo data type element in the reference data type definition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more expected entities in the model represent objects in a system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the expected targets tag comprises creating an <

ExpectedTargets>

tag.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the model in graphical or textual form.

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

10. A system for referencing a pre-defined data type definition associated with an entity to define target data types describing relationships of the entity, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing a markup language schema corresponding to a model representing objects in a system; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions for;

identifying a data type definition from the markup language schema, said data type definition corresponding to a reference entity in the model;

defining one or more elements describing one or more entities expected to be associated with the reference entity in the model;

identifying predefined entity relationships for use in associating the expected entities with the reference entity, said expected entities having a target data type definition associated therewith, said reference entity having a reference data type definition associated therewith, said expected entities not being required entities for the target data type definition;

associating the defined elements and the defined relationships with a tag;

inserting the tag with the associated elements and relationships into an instance of the target data type definition in the markup language schema corresponding to the model; and

locating the instance of the target data type definition in the reference data type definition to relate the expected entities with the reference entity in the model.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for re-using a pre-defined data type definition associated with an entity to define target data types describing relationships of the entity.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising means for defining the one or more elements describing the one or more entities expected to be associated with the reference entity.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for displaying the reference data type definition in the model.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the memory area stores a markup language schema in a format conforming to the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for interpreting the reference data type definition by referring to the markup language schema stored in the memory area.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to execute computer-executable instructions for associating target data with the defined one or more elements, wherein the associated target data describes the one or more entities expected to be associated with the reference entity.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the markup language schema describes a hardware configuration, the reference entity comprises a computing device, and the one or more entities comprise a keyboard and a monitor.

18. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure representing a system model, said data structure comprising:

a first field for storing a reference data type definition, said reference data type definition corresponding to a reference entity in the system model; and

a second field, within the reference data type definition in the first field, for storing an instance of a target data type definition, said instance comprising instances of one or more target data type elements each describing one or more target entities expected to be associated with the reference entity according to predefined entity relationships, said one or more expected target entities not being required according to the predefined entity relations, wherein a computing device executes computer-executable instructions to;

instantiate the reference data type definition stored in the first field;

associate the instantiated reference data type definition with the instance of the target data type definition stored in the second field to relate the reference entity to the expected target entities according to the predefined relationships; and

store the instantiated reference data type definition in a markup language document, said markup language document representing the system model.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the second field is stored within an annotation element of the reference data type definition in the first field.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 wherein the second field is stored within an appinfo element of the reference data type definition in the first field.