Method and system for transferring information

• US 8,484,379 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Issued: 07/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: E C Enabler Limited
• Original Assignee: E C Enabler Limited
• Inventors: Hughes, Marvin E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Donabed, Ninos
• Application Number:
  US11/112,070
• Publication Number:
  US 20060253540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,000 Days
• Field of Search: 709/207, 707/2, 717/107
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

A method and system for application-to-application data exchange which provides data conversion from the format of a source application to the format of a target application upon receipt of data by the target application. To achieve compatibility among applications exchanging data, the preferred system uses a standard set of terms and process names for building metadata packets that inform both applications as to their respective data representation. A metadata packet includes a standard name and application specific data format, as well as an optional associated process name. Source metadata provided in connection with source application-specific data enables the conversion of the source format to the format compatible with the target. This method eliminates data conversion at the source application.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

building a metadata packet, consisting exclusively of metadata, for transmitting source data having a representation consistent with a source application having an application-specific unconverted file data format to a target system, the representation defined by the metadata packet, the building step comprising the steps of;

storing application definition for the source data comprising application-specific names and application-specific data formats;

matching the application-specific names in the definition to standard names, wherein the matching includes using a graphical user interface;

creating said metadata packet from the matched standard names;

storing the created metadata packet entries each of which comprises a name selected from the standard names and one of the application-specific data formats;

and storing at least one standard process name as part of the metadata packet entries;

wherein the steps of building, storing application definition, matching, creating, and storing at least one standard process name are performed by a central processing unit and using memory storage; and

wherein the representation of the source data is unconverted during transfer and does not require conversion or assembly at the target to retrieve the file data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of matching comprises the step of:

selecting a standard term correlated to a corresponding term in the stored application definition.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of matching comprises the step of:

selecting a process name from a repository for entry in said metadata packet.

4. A system, comprising:

a processing unit and a memory storage unit, the processing and storage units for

building a metadata packet, consisting exclusively of metadata, for transmitting source data having a representation consistent with a source application having an application-specific unconverted file data format to a target system, the representation defined by the metadata packet comprising;

storing application definition of said source data comprising application-specific names and application-specific data formats;

matching the application-specific names in the definition to standard names wherein the matching includes using a graphical user interface;

creating said metadata packet from the matched standard names; and

storing the created metadata packet, which comprises a name selected from the standard names and one of the application-specific data formats;

storing at least one standard process name as part of the metadata packet entries;

displaying suggested names that may correspond to one of the standard names;

and wherein the representation of the source data is unconverted during transfer and does not require conversion or assembly at the target to retrieve the file data.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising a standard term correlated to a corresponding term in the stored application definition, the standard term selected using the graphical user interface.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a repository having stored therein at least one standard process name adapted to be invoked by a application;

and wherein the graphical user interface further includes;

means for selecting a process name from said repository for entry in said metadata packet using the graphical user interface.

7. A method comprising the steps of:

communicating source data from a source system to a target system wherein the source system and the target system have incompatible application-specific data formats,

establishing a repository of standard names and processes correlated to application-specific names, processes and application-specific data format of the source data;

retrieving the source data having a representation consistent with a source application having an application-specific unconverted file data format, the representation defined by a source metadata packet;

creating the source metadata packet, consisting exclusively of metadata, corresponding to the source data from information in the repository, wherein the source metadata packet includes at least one entry comprising a standard name corresponding to at least one name used by the source application and a definition of a related data representation used by the source application, wherein the creating step comprises the step of;

storing at least one standard process name as part of the metadata packet;

transmitting the source data having the application-specific unconverted file data format and the source metadata packet to the target system;

wherein the representation of the source data is unconverted during transfer and does not require conversion or assembly at the target to retrieve the file data; and

wherein all steps are performed using a central processing unit.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the creating step includes the step of:

selecting a standard term correlated to a corresponding term in the repository for entry in said metadata packet.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the creating step further includes the step of selecting a process name from said repository for entry in said metadata packet.