Portable data management using rule definitions

• US 8,478,705 B2
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Meeks, David T, Saillet, Yannick
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, ALAN S
• Application Number:
  US12/688,570
• Publication Number:
  US 20110178971A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

Embodiments for methods, systems, and computer program products for creating and managing a portable data rule using an electronic computing device are presented including: causing the electronic computing device to create a rule definition including, defining an expression by a user, where the expression defines a logic of a rule, causing the electronic computing device to parse the expression into a logical variable associated with the expression, causing the electronic computing device to identify the logical variable, and causing the electronic computing device to store the rule definition, where the rule definition includes the expression and the logical variable. In some embodiments, the causing the electronic computing device to identify the logical variable includes: causing the electronic computing device to return a name of the logical variable; and causing the electronic computing device to return an expected type of the logical variable.

Claims

1. A system for defining and managing a plurality of portable data rules comprising:

a user interface for managing I/O functions of the system, the user interface including a rule editor, wherein the rule editor is configured for defining a plurality of rule definitions each including at least one logical variable;

a rule repository for storing the plurality of rule definitions;

a data processing engine in electronic communication with the user interface and the rule repository for generating and executing a rule executable, wherein the rule executable is one of the plurality of portable data rules and includes a binding target for the at least one logical variable of a corresponding rule definition, and wherein at least two rule executables provide different bindings for the same rule definition; and

a data store in electronic communication with the data processing engine for storing data upon which the rule executable operates.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of rule definitions comprises:

an expression for each of the plurality of rule definitions, wherein the expression defines a logic of a rule, wherein the logic of the rule includes the at least one logical variable; and

a logical variable list, wherein the logical variable list includes,

a name of the at least one logical variable, and

an expected type of the at least one logical variable.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the logical variable list further comprises a default binding target of the at least one logical variable.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the rule executable comprises:

a reference to at least one of the plurality of rule definitions;

a binding list, wherein the binding list includes,

the name of the at least one logical variable,

a type of the at least one logical variable, and

the binding target for the at least one logical variable.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the rule executable further comprises:

an output specification for determining how an output is presented;

a join condition for presenting how the binding target is utilized to join a plurality of tables during an executing of the rule executable;

runtime settings for determining how the rule executable will access the data store; and

an execution history for logging statistics of the executing of the rule executable.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the statistics are selected from the group consisting of:

a run number, a run start date, a run start time, a run row information, a run row pass percentage, a run ID, a user name, a run duration, a total number of analyzed rows, a variance to a predefined benchmark, a rule set record pass percentage, a rule set row pass percentage, a rule set standard deviation, a rule set row per rule pass percentage, a rule set row rule fail rate, and a rule set row detail result.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the binding target is selected from the group consisting of:

a physical column, a physical table, a constant, a project variable, and a system variable.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the expression is selected from the group consisting of:

a logical expression, a model, and a matrix.

9. The system of claim 2, further comprising a rule set, the rule set including:

at least two of the plurality of rule definitions;

a public logical variable list, wherein the public logical variable list includes,

a public logical variable name of the at least one logical variable corresponding with the at least two of the plurality of rule definitions, wherein the public logical variable name corresponds with a public logical variable, and wherein the public logical variable is internally bound with the at least one logical variable, and

an expected public type of the at least one logical variable corresponding with the at least two of the plurality of rule definitions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the public logical variable list further comprises a public default binding target for each of the at least one logical variable.

11. A computing device program product for creating and managing a portable data rule using a computing device, the computing device program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

first programmatic instructions for creating a rule definition including,

second programmatic instructions for defining an expression by a user, wherein the expression defines a logic of a rule and includes at least one logical variable,

third programmatic instructions for storing the rule definition, wherein the rule definition includes at least the expression and the at least one logical variable, and

fourth programmatic instructions for generating and executing a rule executable, wherein the rule executable is a portable data rule and includes a binding target for the at least one logical variable, and wherein at least two rule executables provide different bindings for the same rule definition;

wherein the programmatic instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium.

12. The computing device program product of claim 11, wherein the fourth programmatic instructions further comprise:

fifth programmatic instructions for selecting a stored rule definition;

sixth programmatic instructions for extracting the at least one logical variable associated with the expression;

seventh programmatic instructions for binding the at least one logical variable with the binding target;

eighth programmatic instructions for generating the rule executable, wherein the rule executable is a physical implementation of the rule definition; and

ninth programmatic instructions for executing the rule executable.

13. The computing device program product of claim 11, wherein the fourth programmatic instructions comprise:

tenth programmatic instructions for returning a name of the at least one logical variable;

eleventh programmatic instructions for returning an expected type of the at least one logical variable; and

twelfth programmatic instructions for returning a default binding target.

14. The computing device program product of claim 11, wherein the rule executable comprises:

a reference to at least one rule definition;

a binding list, wherein the binding list includes,

a name of the at least one logical variable,

a type of the at least one logical variable, and

the binding target for the at least one logical variable.

15. The computing device program product of claim 14, wherein the rule executable further comprises:

an output specification for determining how an output is presented;

a join condition for presenting how the binding target is utilized to join a table during the executing of the rule executable;

runtime settings for determining how the rule executable will access a data store; and

an execution history for logging statistics of the executing of the rule executable.

16. The computing device program product of claim 15, wherein the statistics are selected from the group consisting of a run number, a run start date, a run start time, a run row information, a run row pass percentage, a run ID, a user name, a run duration, a total number of analyzed rows, a variance to a predefined benchmark, a rule set record pass percentage, a rule set row pass percentage, a rule set standard deviation, a rule set row per rule pass percentage, a rule set row rule fail rate, and a rule set row detail result.

17. The computing device program product of claim 11, wherein the binding target is selected from the group consisting of a physical column, a physical table, a constant, a project variable, and a system variable.

18. The computing device program product of claim 11, wherein the expression is selected from the group consisting of:

a logical expression, a model, and a matrix.

19. The computing device program product of claim 11, further comprising:

fifth programmatic instructions for creating a rule set, the rule set including;

at least two rule definitions;

a public logical variable list, wherein the public logical variable list includes,

a public logical variable name of the at least one logical variable corresponding with the at least two rule definitions, wherein the public logical variable name corresponds with a public logical variable, and wherein the public logical variable is internally bound with the at least one logical variable, and

an expected public type of the at least one logical variable corresponding with the at least two rule definitions.

20. The computing device program product of claim 19, wherein the public logical variable list further comprises a public default binding target for each of the at least one logical variable.