Multi-dimensional tuple support in rule engines

• US 8,712,949 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2010
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Proctor, Mark, Tirelli, Edson
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chubb, Mikayla
• Application Number:
  US12/959,186
• Publication Number:
  US 20120143811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,244 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 706/48
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

A method to support multi-dimensional tuples in rule engines having rule engine executed by a processing device can evaluate facts in a working memory stored on a data storage device against a rule with repetitions. The rule engine may create a multi-dimensional tuple to hold a set of the facts that matches the rule. The multi-dimensional tuple has a set of elements and an index for each of the elements. Each element of the multi-dimensional tuple is a single fact or a tree structure for holding a set of facts of a repetition group that matches the rule with repetitions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

evaluating, by a rule engine executed by a processing device, facts in a working memory stored on a data storage device against a rule with repetitions; and

creating, by the rule engine, a multi-dimensional tuple to hold a set of the facts that matches the rule, the multi-dimensional tuple comprising a plurality of elements, wherein each of the plurality of elements comprises a complex index, and wherein each of the plurality of elements is a single fact or a tree structure for holding a plurality of facts of a repetition group that matches the rule with repetitions.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the multi-dimensional tuple to propagate the set of the facts that matches the rule through a Rete network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the tree structure comprises a plurality of leaf nodes, each of the plurality of leaf nodes containing a distinct one of the plurality of facts of the repetition group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tree structure comprises a plurality of non-leaf nodes, each of the plurality of non-leaf nodes containing a repetition placeholder.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying, by the rule engine, the plurality of facts of the repetition group using a plurality of properties, comprising a length, a first, a last, and an iterator.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

building, by the rule engine, a Rete network for evaluating a rule set, wherein the rule set comprises the rule with repetitions; and

inserting, by the rule engine, a repeat node in the Rete network to collect the plurality of facts of the repetition group.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the rule with repetitions is a business rule.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using, by the rule engine, an accumulate node as a repeat node; and

inserting, by the rule engine, the repeat node into a Rete network to evaluate the rule with repetitions.

9. An apparatus comprising:

a storage device to store a working memory comprising facts; and

a processing device coupled to the storage device, to evaluate the facts against a plurality of rules, which comprises a rule with repetitions, and to create a multi-dimensional tuple to hold a set of facts that matches the rule, the multi-dimensional tuple comprising a plurality of elements, wherein each of the plurality of elements comprises a complex index, and

wherein each of the plurality of elements is a single fact or a tree structure to hold a plurality of facts of a repetition group that matches the rule with repetitions.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the tree structure comprises a plurality of leaf nodes, each of the plurality of leaf nodes containing a distinct one of the plurality of facts of the repetition group.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the tree structure comprises a plurality of non-leaf nodes, each of the plurality of non-leaf nodes containing a repetition placeholder.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, the processing device to query the plurality of facts of the repetition group using a plurality of properties, comprising a length, a first, a last, and an iterator.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, the processing device to build a Rete network for evaluating the plurality of rules, and to insert a repeat node in the Rete network to collect the plurality of facts of the repetition group of the rule with repetitions.

14. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the rule with repetitions is a business rule.

15. The apparatus of claim 9, the processing device to use an accumulate node as a repeat node and to insert the repeat node into a Rete network to evaluate the rule with repetitions.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium embodying instructions that, when executed by a processing device, will cause the processing device to execute operations comprising:

evaluating, by a rule engine executed by the processing device, facts in a working memory stored on a data storage device against a rule with repetitions; and

creating, by the rule engine, a multi-dimensional tuple to hold a set of the facts that matches the rule, the multi-dimensional tuple comprising a plurality of elements, wherein each of the plurality of elements comprises a complex index, and wherein each of the plurality of elements is a single fact or a tree structure for holding a plurality of facts of a repetition group that matches the rule with repetitions.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the tree structure comprises a plurality of leaf nodes and a plurality of non-leaf nodes, each of the plurality of leaf nodes containing a distinct one of the plurality of facts of the repetition group and each of the plurality of non-leaf nodes containing a repetition placeholder.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprises:

querying, by the rule engine, the plurality of facts of the repetition group using a plurality of properties, comprising a length, a first, a last, and an iterator.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprises:

building, by the rule engine, a Rete network for evaluating a rule set, wherein the rule set comprises the rule with repetitions; and

inserting, by the rule engine, a repeat node in the Rete network to collect the plurality of facts of the repetition group.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprises:

using, by the rule engine, an accumulate node as a repeat node; and

inserting, by the rule engine, the repeat node into a Rete network to evaluate the rule with repetitions.