Metadata-configurable systems and methods for network services

• US 9,299,047 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2014
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Versaic, Inc. (Benevity, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Versaic, Inc. (Benevity, Inc.)
• Inventors: Soloway, Mark Grant
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAYA, TEJIS A
• Application Number:
  US14/573,999
• Publication Number:
  US 20150186811A1
• Time in Patent Office: 468 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

In some embodiments, the presentation manager is configured to provide an interface requesting information regarding a proposal from a digital device over a network and receive the information from the digital device. The business object manager is configured to instantiate a business object based on the received information and store the instantiated business object within a data structure residing in a computer readable medium. The business rule manager is configured to generate a business rule associated with the business object, the business rule comprising instructions to perform an operation, the instructions being conditional based on the instantiated business object. The metadata manager is configured to generate metadata associated with the instantiated business object, store the generated metadata in the computer readable medium, perform the operation based on the business rule and the generated metadata, and instruct the presentation manager to provide a second interface indicating a status of the proposal.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a presentation manager configured to provide an interface to a digital device over a network, the interface requesting first information regarding a pending agreement, the presentation manager further configured to receive the first information from the digital device;

a business object manager configured to instantiate a first business object based on the received first information and to store the first business object within a data structure residing in a computer readable medium;

a metadata manager configured to generate metadata associated with the received first information and to store the metadata in the computer readable medium; and

a business rule manager configured to identify and retrieve a particular business rule from a plurality of business rules based on the metadata, the particular business rule comprising instructions to perform an operation that is conditional on the first business object, the business rule manager further configured to;

determine if a first condition is satisfied by the first business object,

if the first condition is satisfied, determine whether additional information is required based on the particular business rule, and

determine a status of the pending agreement based on the determination if the first condition is satisfied and based on the determination whether the additional information is required, and

instruct the presentation manager to provide a second interface to the digital device indicating the status of the pending agreement.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation manager is further configured to provide, in the interface, a request for second information based on the determination by the business rule manager that additional information is required based on the first business rule.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the business object manager is further configured to instantiate a second business object based on received second information associated with the second request for the second information, the metadata manager is further configured to generate other metadata associated with the second business object, and the business rule manager is further configured to determine if a second condition is satisfied by the second business object based on a second business rule of the plurality of business rules.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein if the second condition is satisfied, the business rule manager is further configured to determine whether third information is required based on the second business rule.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the business rule manager is further configured to determine a status of the pending agreement based on the determination whether the first and second conditions are satisfied.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the business rule manager is further configured to redetermine the status of the pending agreement based on the determination whether the second condition is satisfied.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the presentation manager is further configured to provide an updated status of the pending agreement based on the redetermination.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the metadata manager is further configured to contact a second digital device to request approval of the pending agreement.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the business rule manager configured to instruct the presentation manager to provide the second interface to the digital device indicating the status of the pending agreement comprises the second interface displaying a message that the pending agreement is denied, accepted, or pending.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the presentation manager is further configured to generate a third interface requesting first pending agreement information to create a report regarding the pending agreement and to receive the first pending agreement information to create the report.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the business object manager is further configured to query the data structure based on the received first pending agreement information and retrieve pending agreement information to create the report.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the business rule manager is further configured to direct the presentation manager to generate a fourth interface and display the report.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the report depicts a summary of the status of the pending agreement as well as at least some of other reports that may have been retrieved by the query of the business object manager.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the business object manager further configured to query the data structure comprises the business object manager configured to find a particular business object using a conditional query and to query contents of the particular business object found.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the data structure is a relational database.

16. A method comprising:

providing an interface to a digital device over a network, the interface requesting first information regarding a pending agreement;

receiving the first information from the digital device;

instantiating a first business object based on the received first information;

storing the first business object within a data structure residing in a computer readable medium;

generating metadata associated with the received first information;

storing the metadata in the computer readable medium;

identifying and retrieving a first business rule from a plurality of business rules based on the metadata, the first business rule comprising instructions to perform an operation that is conditional based on the first business object;

determining whether a first condition is satisfied by the first business object;

if the first condition is satisfied, determining whether additional information is required based on the first business rule;

providing a second interface to request the additional information;

receiving second information associated with the request for the additional information;

instantiating a second business object based on the received second information;

generating other metadata associated with the second business object;

identifying and retrieving a second business rule from the plurality of business rules based on the other metadata;

determining whether a second condition is satisfied by the second business object based on the second business rule;

determining a status of the pending agreement based on the determination whether the first and second conditions are satisfied; and

providing a third interface to the digital device indicating the status of the pending agreement.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing a fourth interface indicating a status of the pending agreement based on the determination whether the first condition is satisfied.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the status of the pending agreement based on the determination whether the first and second conditions are satisfied comprises redetermining the status of the pending agreement.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein providing the third interface to the digital device indicating the status of the pending agreement comprises the third interface displaying a message that the pending agreement is denied, accepted, or pending.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising executable instructions, the executable instructions being executable by a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

providing an interface to a digital device over a network, the interface requesting first information regarding a pending agreement;

receiving the first information from the digital device;

instantiating a first business object based on the received first information;

storing the first business object within a data structure residing in a computer readable medium;

generating metadata associated with the received first information;

storing the metadata in the computer readable medium;

identifying and retrieving a first business rule from a plurality of business rules based on the metadata, the first business rule comprising instructions to perform an operation that is conditional based on the first business object;

determining whether a first condition is satisfied by the first business object;

if the first condition is satisfied, determining whether additional information is required based on the first business rule;

providing a second interface to request the additional information;

receiving second information associated with the request for the additional information;

instantiating a second business object based on the received second information;

generating other metadata associated with the second business object;

identifying and retrieving a second business rule from the plurality of business rules based on the other metadata;

determining whether a second condition is satisfied by the second business object based on the second business rule;

determining a status of the pending agreement based on the determination whether the first and second conditions are satisfied; and

providing a third interface to the digital device indicating the status of the pending agreement.