Method, system and computer-readable medium for E-form information extraction template creation

• US 9,280,752 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2010
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Software AG
• Original Assignee: Software AG
• Inventors: Pandrangi, Phani, Froomin, Loren, Noehren, Mike, Brinkmann, Olaf
• Primary Examiner(s): Zuberi, Mohammed-Ibrahim
• Application Number:
  US12/954,773
• Publication Number:
  US 20120137205A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,929 Days
• Field of Search: 715/223
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Certain example embodiments described herein relate to techniques for enabling a business process model (BPM) to be transparent (in whole or in part) from the source of data that triggers it. More particularly, certain example embodiments relate to techniques enabling transparent composition and decomposition of e-form data from one or more e-form formats into data that is directly usable by a Business Process Model Engine. Information from an e-form may, for example, be used in a business process, e.g., after a template or document type is created that represents the e-form in a format that the BPM Engine understands, and the e-form may be transparently composed into and decomposed out from the business data in certain example embodiments.

Claims

1. A method of transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, the method comprising:

guiding a user, through a series of user-interactive elements, in creating a template or document type having a second source type different from a first source type;

in accordance with input provided via the series of user-interactive elements, selecting an electronic form (e-form);

determining which first source type, among a plurality of different first source types, the selected e-form was created in;

selecting, via at least one processor and based on the determined first source type, a first algorithm among a plurality of stored algorithms that each correspond to at least one of the plurality of different first source types, each of the plurality of stored algorithms including different predefined rules for extracting, information, from an e-form of a corresponding first source type, regarding the structure and/or layout of the e-form of the corresponding first source type, at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would be apparent if the e-form of the corresponding first source type were viewed and at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form of corresponding first source type were viewed;

extracting, via the at least one processor, the information from the selected e-form regarding the structure and/or layout of the e-form based on the predefined rules of the selected first algorithm;

building, via the at least one processor, the template or document type based on both (1) the at least some of the information corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would be apparent if the e-form were viewed, and (2) the at least some of the information corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form were viewed;

storing to a non-transitory storage location the built template or document type; and

subsequently using the built template or document type to extract content data from another e-form that was created in the determined first source type and storing the extracted content data in the second source type,

wherein the second source type is a business process model (BPM) engine understandable format, and

wherein the plurality of different first source types are source types not understandable by the BPM engine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes information pertaining to displayed fields and/or text.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes non-displayed namespace information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes hierarchical information about visible fields.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form of the corresponding first source type were viewed includes at least one of:

a header container, a data group, a namespace, and a data set collection.

6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a system, perform a method according to claim 1.

7. A system for transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, comprising:

an display interface presented on a display device configured to;

guide a user, through a series of user-interactive elements, in creating a template or document type having a second source type different from a first source type; and

receive a selection of an electronic form (e-form);

electronic storage configured to store a plurality of algorithms that each correspond to at least one of the plurality of different first source types, each of the plurality of stored algorithms including different predefined rules indicating how information regarding the structure and/or layout of an e-form of a corresponding first source type is to be extracted, at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would be apparent if the e-form of the corresponding first source type were viewed and at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form of the corresponding first source type were viewed; and

at least one processor that is coupled to the electric storage for access thereto, the at least one processor configured to;

responsive to the selection of the e-form, select, based of a first source type of the selected e-form, a first algorithm among the plurality of stored algorithms,

extract the information regarding the structure and/or layout of the selected e-form based on the predefined rules of the first algorithm,

build the template or document type based on the extracted information, the built template or document type incorporating aspects of (1) the at least some of the information corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would be apparent if the e-form were viewed and (2) the at least some of the information corresponding to structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form were viewed,

store to a non-transitory storage location the template or document type, and

subsequently use the built template or document type to extract content data from another e-form that was created in the determined first source type and store the extracted content data according to the second source type,

wherein the second source type is a business process model (BPM) engine understandable format, and

wherein the first source type is not understandable by the BPM engine.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes information pertaining to displayed fields and/or text.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes non-displayed namespace information.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein at least some of the information to be extracted includes hierarchical information about visible fields.

11. A method comprising:

selecting a first electronic form (e-form) that is of a second format or a second type from among a plurality of different second formats or second types;

extracting structure and format information about the selected first e-form;

automatically building, by using at least one processor, the template or document type based on both (1) structure and format information that is visible to viewers of the e-form and (2) structure and format information that is not apparent to viewers of the e-form;

storing, to electronically accessible storage that is coupled to the at least one processor, the built template or document type as defined structure and format information for the second format or the second type;

receiving a request from a user to edit an e-form in the second format or the second type that is native for the requested e-form, wherein the request is based on selection of the e-form and the corresponding second format or second type though a series of user-interactive elements, where content data to be included in the e-form, is stored on a non-transitory storage medium in a first format or of a first type that is different from the second format or the second type;

building the e-form, in the second format or the second type, based on the defined structure and format information about the second format or the second type, and the content data to be included in the built e-form, the previously defined structure and/or format information including structure and/or layout information that would not be apparent if the e-form were viewed;

outputting the built e-form to a display screen for editing by the user;

receiving content data edits from the user for the displayed e-form, the e-form being editable for content changes while in a second format or of a second type; and

saving, based on defined structure and/or format information, the received content data edits that was inputted into the e-form of the second format or the second type, back to the non-transitory storage medium where the content data is stored in the first format or first type,

wherein the second format or second type is not directly understandable by a business process model (BPM) engine,

wherein the first format or first type is directly understandable by the BPM engine.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising executing one or more business processes via the BPM engine as a result of the editing of the e-form.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

listening to a plurality of locations on a server; and

executing said one or more business processes in response to a document being placed in one of said locations on the server.

14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium tangibly storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a system, perform a method according to claim 11.

15. A system for transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, comprising:

an interface configured to receive a request from a user to edit an e-form in a first format or of a first type; and

at least one processor configured to;

select a first electronic form (e-form) that is in a first format or of a first type from among a plurality of different first formats or first types;

in accordance with the selected first e-form, extract structure and format information about the selected first e-form;

automatically build, by using at least one processor, the template or document type based on both (1) extracted structure and format information that is visible to viewers of the e-form and (2) extracted structure and format information that is not apparent to viewers of the e-form;

store, to electronically accessible storage that is coupled to the at least one processor, the built template or document type as defined structure and format information for the first format or the first type;

retrieve, from a non-transitory storage medium system, data related to the requested e-form, the data including the stored defined structure and/or format information about the first format or the first type of the requested e-form, and content data to be included in the e-form, the data being stored on the non-transitory storage medium system in a second format or a second type, where the second format or second type is based on information provided using a series of user-interactive elements that includes selection of the first format or of a first type,

build the e-form based on the defined structure and/or format information about the first format or the first type, and content data to be included in the e-form, the built e-form being in the first format or of the first type,

present, via a display screen, the built e-form to a user to enable the user to edit the e-form so as to provide content data to the e-form, the e-form being editable for content changes while displayed to the user in the first format or the first type,

save the previously defined structure and/or format information about the e-form, and the user'"'"'s edits to content data of the e-form back to the non-transitory storage medium system to be stored in the second format or the second type, and

trigger execution of one or more business processes via the BPM engine as a result of the editing and/or saving the e-form back to the non-transitory storage medium system,

wherein the first format or first type is not directly understandable by a business process model (BPM) engine, and

wherein the second format or second type is directly understandable by the BPM engine.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a plurality of listened to locations on a server,

wherein said one or more business processes are executable in response to the e-form being placed in one of said listened to locations on the server.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the structure and/or format information is previously defined using a further method that comprises:

guiding a user, through a series of user-interactive elements, in creating the template or document type,

wherein the structure and format information about the selected first e-form is extracted by using an algorithm with predefined rules for extracting information regarding the structure and/or format of the e-form, at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or format information that would be apparent if the e-form were viewed and at least some of the information to be extracted corresponding to structure and/or format information that would not be apparent if the e-form were viewed.

18. A method of transparently decomposing, composing, and/or recomposing documents, comprising:

selecting a first electronic form (e-form) that is of a third format or a third type from among a plurality of different third formats or third types;

extracting structure and format information about the selected first e-form;

automatically building, by using at least one processor, the template or document type based on both (1) extracted structure and format information that is visible to viewers of the e-form and (2) extracted structure and format information that is not apparent to viewers of the e-form;

storing, to electronically accessible storage that is coupled to the at least one processor, the build template or document type as defined structure and format information for the third format or the third type;

decomposing and saving, to a non-transitory storage medium system, data from a second e-form that includes structure and/or format information with content data of the second e-form, the decomposed and saved data being in a second format or of a second type that is different from a first format or a first type of the second e-form;

building, using at least one processor, a third e-form based on the previously defined structure and format information that is in the third format or of the third type, and the content data from the second e-form;

displaying the built third e-form to a display screen;

receiving user edits to content data of the displayed third e-form, the third e-form being editable while in the third format or of the third type; and

decomposing and saving, using the at least one processor, the third e-form back to the non-transitory storage medium system by saving data from the displayed built third e-form that includes structure and/or format information along with the received user edits to the content data of the built third e-form, the decomposed and saved data being saved in a second format or of a second type that is different from the first format or the first type,

wherein the first and third formats or first and third types are not directly understandable by a business process model (BPM) engine, and

wherein the second format or second type is directly understandable by the BPM engine.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein all said structure and/or format information is previously defined using a further method that comprises:

guiding a user, through a series of user-interactive elements, to create the built template or document type.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the first format or of a first type, the second format or of a second type, and the third format or of a third type are all different formats or types.