Active business client

• US 8,726,176 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2012
• Issued: 05/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Beringer, Joerg
• Primary Examiner(s): PHANTANA ANGKOOL, DAVID
• Application Number:
  US13/358,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 838 Days
• Field of Search: 715/762, 719/328, 710/100
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/4027 using bus bridges G06F13/4022 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/38 for implementing user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses enable generation of and consumption of business context data. A server generates business context data that describes a resource, a view, and actionable context data related to a business scenario. The business context data is not specific to any particular UI capability of the client device, and may include tittle or no UI information. The server transmits the business context data to a client device that has an active client. The active client identifies one or more UI capabilities of the client device and generates a UI component based on the business scenario and the UI capabilities. The UI component enables functionality in the client device related to execution of the actionable context data. In one embodiment, the active client enables predictive deployment of services on the client device based on an understanding of the business scenario.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying actionable context data of a business scenario hosted by a server, the actionable context data to be performed on a client device having particular user interface capabilities, the client device capable of operation while disconnected from the server, the business scenario providing an end business purpose for a work action;

identifying a disconnect condition indicating a likelihood that the client device will be disconnected;

automatically identifying a resource and a service associated with the actionable context data based on identifying the business scenario;

automatically accessing the resource and the service from the server while connected to the server in response to detecting the disconnect condition; and

locally storing the accessed resource and service at the client device to enable performing the work action on the actionable context data while the client device is disconnected from the server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the disconnect condition further comprises:

determining from a schedule that the client device is likely to be disconnected.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein locally storing the accessed resource and service further comprises:

activating the locally stored resource and service to enable execution of the actionable context data from local storage.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the disconnect condition further comprises:

detecting a user request to disconnect the client device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the actionable context data comprises identifying business context data not specific to a particular user interface (UI) type, without UI model or UI pattern information in the business context data,

wherein the resource includes a functional resource used to perform the work action,

wherein the view includes a metadata definition of a generic presentation form to be processed to render the business context data in a UI,

wherein the actionable context data includes interactive content to perform the work action and cause an action at the server, and

wherein the UI type includes interface hardware and associated drivers.

6. An article of manufacture comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having content stored thereon to provide instructions, which when executed cause a machine to perform operations including:

identifying actionable context data of a business scenario hosted by a server, the actionable context data to be performed on a client device having particular user interface capabilities, the client device capable of operation while disconnected from the server, the business scenario providing an end business purpose for a work action;

identifying a disconnect condition indicating a likelihood that the client device will be disconnected;

automatically identifying a resource and a service associated with the actionable context data based on identifying the business scenario;

automatically accessing the resource and the service from the server while connected to the server in response to detecting the disconnect condition; and

locally storing the accessed resource and service at the client device to enable performing the work action on the actionable context data while the client device is disconnected from the server.

7. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the content to provide instructions for identifying the disconnect condition further comprises content to provide instructions for

determining from a schedule that the client device is likely to be disconnected.

8. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the content to provide instructions for locally storing the accessed resource and service further comprises content to provide instructions for

activating the locally stored resource and service to enable execution of the actionable context data from local storage.

9. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the content to provide instructions for identifying the disconnect condition further comprises content to provide instructions for

detecting a user request to disconnect the client device.

10. The article of manufacture of claim 6, wherein the content to provide instructions for identifying the actionable context data comprises content to provide instructions for identifying business context data not specific to a particular user interface (UI) type, without UI model or UI pattern information in the business context data,

wherein the resource includes a functional resource used to perform the work action,

wherein the view includes a metadata definition of a generic presentation form to be processed to render the business context data in a UI,

wherein the actionable context data includes interactive content to perform the work action and cause an action at the server, and

wherein the UI type includes interface hardware and associated drivers.

11. A client device comprising:

network interface hardware to connect to a server that provides a business context data stream; and

an active business client to identify actionable context data of a business scenario hosted by a server, the actionable context data to be performed on the client device with user interface capabilities specific to the client device, the client device capable of operation while disconnected from the server, the business scenario providing an end business purpose for a work action, the active business client including

a controller layer at the mobile client device to process the business context data, including to identify a disconnect condition indicating a likelihood that the client device will be disconnected, identify a resource and a service associated with the actionable context data and access the resource and the service from the server while connected to the server in response to detecting the disconnect condition, and store the accessed resource and service locally at the client device to enable performing the work action on the actionable context data while the client device is disconnected from the server; and

a view layer to generate the UI component based on the business scenario and based on the identified UI capabilities available on the client device and a data processing control layer at the client device, the component being specific to the UI type available on the client device, and to render the UI component in a UI to enable functionality related to the actionable context data to perform the work action in the client device.

12. The client device of claim 11, the active business client to identify the disconnect condition by determining from a schedule that the client device is likely to be disconnected.

13. The client device of claim 11, the active business client to further activate the locally stored resource and service to enable execution of the actionable context data from local storage.

14. The client device of claim 11, the active business client to identify the disconnect condition by detecting a user request to disconnect the client device.

15. The client device of claim 11, the active business client to identify the disconnect condition by identifying business context data not specific to a particular user interface (UI) type, without UI model or UI pattern information in the business context data,

wherein the resource includes a functional resource used to perform the work action,

wherein the view includes a metadata definition of a generic presentation form to be processed to render the business context data in a UI,

wherein the actionable context data includes interactive content to perform the work action and cause an action at the server, and

wherein the UI type includes interface hardware and associated drivers.