Identifying the most relevant computer system state information

• US 8,655,750 B2
• Filed: 10/14/2010
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Kaiser, Matthias
• Primary Examiner(s): Refai, Ramsey
• Application Number:
  US12/904,884
• Publication Number:
  US 20110029912A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,223 Days
• Field of Search: 705/28, 705/7.11, 705/22
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring

Abstract

Operations to manage statements relating to a computer system state include obtaining, in a computer system and from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system. Each statement comprises several elements. The operations comprise assigning focus values to the elements of each statement, each focus value indicating a relevance of the element to the current state of the computer system. The operations comprise identifying a subset of the statements based on the focus values. The operations comprise making a first output to a user, the first output being selected from several predefined outputs using the subset of the statements. The output may represent the current state to the user or it may present at least one of several predefined goals to the user for selection, the at least one goal being identified as being possible to accomplish based on the current state.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage device the computer-program product comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform operations to manage statements relating to a computer system state, the operations comprising:

obtaining, in a computer system and from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system, each statement comprising elements, the elements being defined by a model that is maintained in the computer system;

assigning focus values to the elements of each statement, each focus value being stored in a variable associated with an element and indicating a relevance of the element to the current state of the computer system;

automatically identifying a subset of the statements based on the focus values, the subset of the statements comprising statements that are most relevant to the current state of the computer system;

analyzing the subset of the statements to identify, from among a plurality of predefined goals, one or more goals as being possible to accomplish based on the current state of the computer system;

providing a first output to a user, the first output comprising one or more recommendations associated with the one or more goals, the plurality of predefined goals being defined by the model and associated with respective actions that result in accomplishment of the plurality of predefined goals;

receiving an input from the user based on the first output provided to the user; and

in response to receiving the input;

performing one or more actions that result in instantiation of one or more predefined goals associated with the first output,

providing an explanation of the one or more actions, and

updating the model based on the one or more actions.

2. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the focus values correspond to which of the elements occur most frequently in the statements.

3. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 2, wherein each focus value indicates total occurrences of a corresponding element in the statements.

4. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the focus values are assigned using a relevancy algorithm.

5. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 4, wherein the elements are of types including concepts, properties associated with the concepts, and relationships existing between the concepts, and wherein the relevancy algorithm attributes different weights to the types of elements.

6. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the focus value for at least one of the elements is assigned based on a semantic of the element.

7. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the several sources comprises an application program and wherein a first statement of the obtained statements corresponds to a state of the application program.

8. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the several sources comprises an input device and wherein a first statement of the obtained statements corresponds to user input.

9. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein at least one of the several sources comprises a data repository and wherein a first statement of the obtained statements corresponds to stored information retrieved from the data repository.

10. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the first output comprises a representation of the current state of the computer system to the user.

11. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the elements are of types including concepts, properties associated with the concepts, and relationships existing between the concepts.

12. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 11, wherein assigning the focus values further comprises determining whether at least one of the concepts is more relevant than an attribute associated therewith.

13. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the focus values are assigned based on determining which of the concepts, properties and relationships occur most frequently in the statements.

14. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 11, wherein the types of elements are defined in the model, and wherein assigning the focus values further comprises determining, from the model, whether two or more elements have a common type.

15. The non-transitory computer-program product of claim 1, wherein the statements comprise logical propositions that have been determined to be true in the current state of the computer system.

16. A non-transitory computer-program product tangibly embodied in a computer-readable storage device, the computer-program product comprising instructions that when executed cause a processor to perform operations to represent a computer system state to a user, the operations comprising:

obtaining, in a computer system and from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of the computer system, each statement including at least one element, the at least one element being defined by a model that is maintained in the computer system, wherein the model uses the statements to associate one or more predefined goals with at least one of several predefined actions that can be performed in the computer system to accomplish the associated predefined goal;

automatically determining a subset of the statements that is most relevant to the current state of the computer system, the subset being determined by analyzing which of the elements occur most frequently in the statements, the determining comprising storing values in respective variables associated with the elements;

analyzing the subset of the statements to identify, from among the one or more predefined goals, a subset of the one or more predefined goals as being possible to accomplish based on the current state of the computer system;

providing an output to a user that includes the subset of the statements and one or more recommendations associated with the subset of the one or more predefined goals associated with the subset of the statements, the one or more predefined goals being defined by the model, the output indicating to the user that the subset of the statements represents the current state of the computer system;

receiving an input from the user based on the output provided to the user; and

in response to receiving the input;

performing one or more actions that result in instantiation of a predefined goal associated with the output,

providing an explanation of the one or more actions, and

updating the model based on the one or more actions.

17. A computer system comprising:

a programmable processor;

a computer-readable storage device coupled to the programmable processor and having instructions stored therein, which when executed by the programmable processor causes the programmable processor to generate;

a statement obtaining module that obtains, from any of several sources, statements that relate to a current state of a computer system, each statement comprising elements, the elements being defined by a model that is maintained in the computer system,

a focus value assigning module that assigns focus values to the elements of each statement, each focus value being stored in a variable associated with an element and indicating a relevance of the element to the current state of the computer system, and

a subset identifying module that automatically identifies a subset of the statements based on the focus values, the subset of the statements comprising statements that are most relevant to the current state of the computer system and that analyzes the subset of the statements to identify, from among a plurality of predefined goals, one or more goals as being possible to accomplish based on the current state of the computer system;

an output device that provides a first output to a user, the first output comprising one or more recommendations associated with the one or more goals, the plurality of predefined goals being defined by the model and associated with respective actions that result in accomplishment of the plurality of predefined goals; and

an input device that receives an input from the user based on the first output provided to the user, wherein, in response to the input device receiving the input, the programmable processer to perform operations comprising;

performing one or more actions that result in instantiation of one or more predefined outputs associated with the first output,

providing an explanation of the one or more actions, and

updating the model based on the one or more actions.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the elements are of types including concepts, properties associated with the concepts, and relationships existing between the concepts.