System and method for analyzing and tuning a marketing program

• US 10,755,218 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 08/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Responsys Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Responsys Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Dudyala, Dayanand
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Hafiz A
• Application Number:
  US15/250,487
• Publication Number:
  US 20160364662A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,457 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method for permitting a program to be analyzed and tuned includes the steps of receiving a program which itself includes a plurality of stages, where execution of the program follows a plurality of distinct paths, each of the distinct paths including one or more of the stages. The method further includes determining unique paths of the program and determining execution boundaries of the program. In addition, the method includes persisting the unique paths and the execution boundaries in a database, and changing an execution of the program based on the persisted unique paths and execution boundaries.

Claims

1. A method for tuning and executing a plurality of connected processes, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of stages of processing that are performed and consume computing resources including memory and processing cycles to transmit a plurality of electronic communications; and

reducing consumption of the computing resources to transmit the plurality of electronic communications at least by;

identifying a plurality of distinct paths between a first stage and a second stage within the plurality of stages of processing;

determining thread boundaries that corresponds to at least the first stage and the second stage based in part or in whole upon a directed graph, at least one of the thread boundaries identifying the first stage and the second stage as being executable by a common thread using the same computing resources, the directed graph comprising a node for each of the plurality of stages, thread boundary creator nodes that correspond to stages that start a new thread and thread follower nodes that correspond to stages that do not start a new thread;

persisting unique paths for the plurality of stages of processing and thread boundaries in a database and normalizing the unique paths;

determining whether the first stage and the second stage are connected by two or more paths within the at least one of the thread boundaries;

in response to determining that the first stage and the second stage are connected by the two or more paths within the one of the thread boundaries;

launching the second stage in a single launch using first computing resources for a merged group that is generated by merging groups of work items that are output by the two or more paths, each of the two or more paths using separate computing resources and each work item representing a different user to which electronic communications may be targeted, wherein the merged group comprises a campaign stage that transmits electronic communications; and

executing the single launch to transmit the plurality of electronic communications for the merged group.

2. The method of claim 1, the act of determining the thread boundaries comprising:

identifying a set of stages of processing from the plurality of stages of processing, the set of stages of processing starting one or more new execution flows;

representing the set of stages of processing with the plurality of nodes; and

generating the directed graph with the plurality of nodes.

3. The method of claim 1, the act of determining the thread boundaries comprising:

identifying the directed graph;

identifying a plurality of nodes in the directed graph, the plurality of nodes start new execution flows; and

determining at least a part of the thread boundaries using the plurality of nodes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of nodes includes multiple thread boundary creator nodes.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the multiple thread boundary creator nodes include at least one of a start event node, a timer node, or an activity node.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the start event node is characterized by representing activation or deactivation by a user, a scheduled filter, or a user event;

and the timer node includes an elapsed timer, a target timer, or an end timer.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying one or more thread follower nodes in the directed graph, wherein the one or more thread follower nodes do not start new threads of execution and are initiated by at least one stage in the plurality of stages.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

setting a data switch, an allocation switch, or a performance switch with at least one thread follower node.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the plurality of distinct paths between the first stage and the second stage correspond to the at least one of the thread boundaries, the first stage being a filter stage that filters input data to the groups, and the second stage being a campaign stage.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

changing an execution of the plurality of stages at least by accessing at least some of the unique paths and the thread boundaries from a cache that is remote from the database, instead of accessing the at least some of the unique paths and the thread boundaries from the database; and

processing the groups of work items in the two or more paths output by the two or more paths.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computer system, cause a processor to perform a set of acts for tuning and executing a plurality of stages of processing, the set of acts comprising:

identifying a plurality of stages of processing that are performed and consume computing resources including memory and processing cycles to transmit a plurality of electronic communications; and

reducing consumption of the computing resources to transmit the plurality of electronic communications at least by;

identifying a plurality of distinct paths between a first stage and a second stage within the plurality of stages of processing;

determining thread boundaries that corresponds to at least the first stage and the second stage based in part or in whole upon a directed graph, at least one of the thread boundaries identifying the first stage and the second stage as being executable by a common thread using the same computing resources, the directed graph comprising a node for each of the plurality of stages, thread boundary creator nodes that correspond to stages that start a new thread and thread follower nodes that correspond to stages that do not start a new thread;

persisting unique paths for the plurality of stages of processing and thread boundaries in a database and normalizing the unique paths;

determining whether the first stage and the second stage are connected by two or more paths within the at least one of the thread boundaries;

in response to determining that the first stage and the second stage are connected by the two or more paths within the one of the thread boundaries;

launching the second stage in a single launch using first computing resources for a merged group that is generated by merging groups of work items that are output by the two or more paths, each of the two or more paths using separate computing resources and each work item representing a different user to which electronic communications may be targeted, wherein the merged group comprises a campaign stage that transmits electronic communications; and

executing the single launch to transmit the plurality of electronic communications for the merged group.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the set of acts further comprising:

identifying a set of stages of processing from the plurality of stages of processing, the set of stages of processing starting one or more new execution flows;

representing the set of stages of processing with the plurality of nodes; and

generating the directed graph with the plurality of nodes.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, the set of acts further comprising:

identifying the directed graph;

identifying a plurality of nodes in the directed graph, the plurality of nodes start new execution flows; and

determining at least a part of the thread boundaries using the plurality of nodes.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the set of acts further comprises:

identifying one or more thread follower nodes in the directed graph, wherein the one or more thread follower nodes do not start new threads of execution and are initiated by at least one stage in the plurality of stages; and

setting a data switch, an allocation switch, or a performance switch with at least one thread follower node.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the set of acts further comprises:

determining whether the plurality of distinct paths between the first stage and the second stage correspond to the at least one of the thread boundaries, the first stage being a filter stage that filters input data to the groups, and the second stage being a campaign stage;

changing an execution of the plurality of stages at least by accessing at least some of the unique paths and the thread boundaries from a cache that is remote from the database, instead of accessing the at least some of the unique paths and the thread boundaries from the database; and

processing the groups of work items in the two or more paths output by the two or more paths.

16. A computer system, comprising:

a non-transitory computer accessible storage medium storing thereupon a plurality of instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute at least some of the plurality of instructions to;

identify a plurality of stages of processing that are performed and consume computing resources including memory and processing cycles to transmit a plurality of electronic communications; and

reduce consumption of the computing resources to transmit the plurality of electronic communications at least by;

identifying a plurality of distinct paths between a first stage and a second stage within the plurality of stages of processing;

determining thread boundaries that corresponds to at least the first stage and the second stage based in part or in whole upon a directed graph, at least one of the thread boundaries identifying the first stage and the second stage as being executable by a common thread using the same computing resources, the directed graph comprising a node for each of the plurality of stages, thread boundary creator nodes that correspond to stages that start a new thread and thread follower nodes that correspond to stages that do not start a new thread;

persisting unique paths for the plurality of stages of processing and thread boundaries in a database and normalizing the unique paths;

determining whether the first stage and the second stage are connected by two or more paths within the at least one of the thread boundaries;

in response to determining that the first stage and the second stage are connected by the two or more paths within the one of the thread boundaries;

launching the second stage in a single launch using first computing resources for a merged group that is generated by merging groups of work items that are output by the two or more paths, each of the two or more paths using separate computing resources and each work item representing a different user to which electronic communications may be targeted, wherein the merged group comprises a campaign stage that transmits electronic communications; and

executing the single launch to transmit the plurality of electronic communications for the merged group.

17. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the processor that is configured to execute the plurality of instructions to reduce the consumption of the computing resources is further configured to execute the plurality of instructions to:

identify a set of stages of processing from the plurality of stages of processing, the set of stages of processing starting one or more new execution flows;

represent the set of stages of processing with the plurality of nodes; and

generate the directed graph with the plurality of nodes.

18. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the processor that is configured to execute the plurality of instructions to reduce the consumption of the computing resources is further configured to execute the plurality of instructions to:

identify the directed graph;

identify a plurality of nodes in the directed graph, the plurality of nodes start new execution flows; and

determine at least a part of the thread boundaries using the plurality of nodes.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the processor that is configured to execute the plurality of instructions to reduce the consumption of the computing resources is further configured to execute the plurality of instructions to:

identify one or more thread follower nodes in the directed graph, wherein the one or more thread follower nodes do not start new threads of execution and are initiated by at least one stage in the plurality of stages; and

set a data switch, an allocation switch, or a performance switch with at least one thread follower node.

20. The computer system of claim 16, wherein the processor that is configured to execute the plurality of instructions to reduce the consumption of the computing resources is further configured to execute the plurality of instructions to:

determine whether the plurality of distinct paths between the first stage and the second stage correspond to the at least one of the thread boundaries, the first stage being a filter stage that filters input data to the groups, and the second stage being a campaign stage;

change an execution of the plurality of stages at least by accessing at least some of the unique paths and the thread boundaries from a cache that is remote from the database.