Method and system for simplified service composition in web environment

• US 8,312,426 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2008
• Issued: 11/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bouillet, Eric, Liu, Zhen, Riabov, Anton V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US11/970,262
• Publication Number:
  US 20090177957A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,772 Days
• Field of Search: 717109-115, 717143-144, 717156-157, 707713-715, 707/718
• US Class Current: 717/109
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/30 Creation or generation of source code
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A method for service composition whereby a tag query is received and a processing graph is composed in accordance with the tag query. The processing graph is composed by using annotated primal data and services. The processing graph includes at least one of the services. The service included in the processing graph is deployed in an execution environment.

Claims

1. A method for service composition, comprising:

receiving a tag query;

composing, using a processor of a computer, a processing graph in accordance with the tag query, wherein the processing graph is composed by using machine code executable by the computer to process annotated primal data and services, a service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network, and the processing graph includes first and second services connected to each other to produce an output identified by the tag query; and

deploying the first and second services in an execution environment and conveying a result of deploying the first and second services to a user;

wherein composing the processing graph comprises;

generating a description of the tag query, wherein the tag query is represented using predicates;

invoking a planner to generate a plan for the actions that satisfy the tag query; and

translating the plan into the processing graph.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the processing graph.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein descriptions of the annotated primal data and services are represented as actions, with preconditions and effects of the actions corresponding to annotations on inputs and outputs of the annotated primal data and services.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a service call; and

displaying output data produced by the first and second services as a preview of results.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein after receiving the service call and prior to displaying the preview of results, the method further comprises:

determining if an error resulted from deploying the first and second services;

wherein if there is an error,

identifying at least one of the first and second services as a failing component;

recomposing the processing graph without using the failing component, the recomposed processing graph including another service; and

deploying the another service in the execution environment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein after receiving the tag query, the method further comprises:

generating a tag cloud that includes tags that are only relevant to tags that were included in the tag query.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein if a plurality of processing graphs are generated in response to the tag query, the method further comprises:

ranking the plurality of processing graphs in order of quality; and

displaying the ranked processing graphs.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the service is a web service.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the web service is a Representational State Transfer (REST) web service.

10. A method for service composition, comprising:

receiving a set of tags selected from a tag cloud, the set of tags corresponding to a goal;

wherein after the set of tags is received;

displaying the set of tags corresponding to the goal;

generating a processing graph in accordance with the goal, the processing graph including first and second services connected to each other to produce an output corresponding to the goal, a service being a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network; and

generating a new tag cloud;

wherein after the processing graph is generated;

generating a preview of results of the output produced by the first and second services and conveying these results to a user;

displaying implied and guessed tags;

displaying a text description of the processing graph; and

displaying the processing graph;

wherein after the new tag cloud is generated;

displaying the new tag cloud;

displaying the preview of results;

wherein prior to displaying the preview of results;

determining if an exception exists in the preview of results and generating a constraint to be applied to a newly generated processing graph; and

generating a new processing graph in accordance with the constraint and repeating the steps performed after the processing graph is generated;

the steps of determining if an exception exists and generating a new processing graph if there is an exception are executed automatically or a predetermined number of times.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein after the processing graph is generated, the method further comprises:

displaying a list of alternate processing graphs if more than one processing graph is generated.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a new processing graph selected from the list of alternative processing graphs and repeating the steps performed after the processing graph is generated.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a new set of tags selected from the new tag cloud, the new set of tags representing a new goal; and

repeating the steps performed after the set of tags is received.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the preview of results is generated by:

deploying the first and second services in an execution environment; and

invoking the first and second services to retrieve a response, wherein the retrieved response is the output produced by the first and second services.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the first and second services is a web service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the web service is a Representational State Transfer (REST) web service.

17. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by a processor to perform method steps for service composition, the method steps comprising:

receiving a tag query;

composing, using a processor of a computer, a processing graph in accordance with the tag query, wherein the processing graph is composed by using machine code executable by the computer to process annotated primal data and services, a service is a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network, and the processing graph includes first and second services connected to each other to produce an output identified by the tag query; and

deploying the first and second services in an execution environment and conveying a result of deploying the first and second services to a user;

wherein composing the processing graph comprises;

generating a description of the tag query, wherein the tag query is represented using predicates;

invoking a planner to generate a plan for the actions that satisfy the tag query;

and translating the plan into the processing graph.