System and method for a SEF parser and EDI parser generator

• US 20060036522A1
• Filed: 09/23/2004
• Published: 02/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Perham, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,437,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/154 Tree transformation for tree-structured or markup documents, e.g. XSLT, XSL-FO or stylesheets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/06 Notations for structuring of protocol data, e.g. abstract syntax notation one [ASN.1]

Abstract

A SEF grammar is created to be used with the Java CC program to autogenerate a SEF parser. The SEF parser can be run with specially written X12 code on any SEF file to automatically create an EDI object model for that SEF file. A programmer can then write application code to use the EDI object model to parse an EDI document that the SEF file describes and generate in memory an EDI object model instance for that EDI document. The application code is also used to employ the EDI object model instance to efficiently process the EDI document'"'"'s EDI transaction. In addition, the application code is used to employ the EDI object model on the EDI object model instance to emit an EDI document for further use.

Claims

1. An automatic method for processing business transaction data for an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of

creating an EDI object model for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the EDI document by

creating a SEF parser, and

generating, from the SEF-parser, an EDI object model for the SEF file;

creating application code to process the business transaction data for the EDI document;

using the application code and the EDI object model to generate a specific EDI object model instance; and

processing the business transaction data with the EDI object model instance.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the business transaction data further comprises

modifying an EDI object model instance.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the business transaction data further comprises

emitting the object model instance to an EDI document.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the business transaction data further comprises

parsing an EDI document.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein creating parsing tools for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the EDI document further comprises

creating a SEF grammar;

and

creating X12 code to represent various X12 objects within the SEF file.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein generating, from the SEF parser, an EDI object model for the SEF file further comprises

obtaining a specific SEF file;

and

running the SEF parser and the X12 code on the SEF file.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein creating a SEF parser further comprises

creating a SEF grammar,

obtaining JavaCC;

and

autogenerating the SEF parser.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein using the application code and the EDI object model to generate a specific EDI object model instance further comprises

obtaining the EDI document;

and

running the application code to use the EDI object model on the EDI document.

9. An automatic method for processing business transaction data for a first Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document and for a second EDI document, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of

creating an EDI object model for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the first and second EDI documents by

creating a SEF parser, and

generating, from the SEF parser, the EDI object model for the SEF file;

processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the first EDI document; and

processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the second EDI document.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the first EDI document further comprises

creating a first application code to process the business transaction data for the first EDI document;

using the first application code and the EDI object model to generate a first EDI object model instance; and

processing the business transaction data for the first EDI document with the first EDI object model instance.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the first EDI document further comprises

modifying an EDI object model instance.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the first EDI document further comprises

emitting the object model instance to an EDI document.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the first EDI document further comprises

parsing an EDI document.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein creating an EDI object model for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the first and second EDI documents further comprises

creating a SEF grammar;

and

creating X12 code to represent various X12 objects within the SEF file.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein generating, from the SEF parser, an EDI object model for the SEF file further comprises

obtaining a specific SEF file;

and

running the SEF parser and the X12 code on the SEF file.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein processing, with the EDI object model, business transaction data for the second EDI document further comprises

creating a second application code to process the business transaction data for the second EDI document;

using the second application code and the EDI object model to generate a second EDI object model instance; and

processing the business transaction data for the second EDI document with the second EDI object model instance.

17. An automatic method for processing business transaction data for a first Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document and a second EDI document, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of

creating an EDI object model for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the first and second EDI documents by

creating a SEF parser, and

generating, from the SEF parser, an EDI object model for the SEF file;

processing business transaction data for the first EDI document by

creating a first application code to process the business transaction data for the first EDI document;

using the first application code and the EDI object model to generate a first EDI object model instance; and

processing the business transaction data for the first EDI document with the first EDI object model instance; and

processing business transaction data for the second EDI document by

using the first application code and the EDI object model to generate a second EDI object model instance; and

processing the business transaction data for the second EDI document with the second EDI object model instance.

18. A method for generating an EDI object model for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with an EDI document, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of

creating a SEF parser by

creating a SEF grammar,

creating X12 code to represent various X12 objects within the SEF file;

generating the EDI object model for the SEF file by

obtaining a specific SEF file, and

running the SEF parser and the X12 code on the SEF file.

19. A method for generating an EDI object model instance for processing business transaction data for an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

creating parsing tools for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the EDI document by

creating a SEF parser by

creating a SEF grammar,

creating X12 code to represent various X12 objects within the SEF file, and

generating the EDI object model for the SEF file by

obtaining a specific SEF file, and

running the SEF parser and the X12 code on the SEF file;

creating application code to process the business transaction data for the EDI document; and

using the application code and the EDI object model to generate a specific EDI object model instance.

20. An automatic method for processing business transaction data for an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of

creating parsing tools for a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with the EDI document by

creating a SEF parser by

creating a SEF grammar,

obtaining JavaCC, and

autogenerating the SEF parser, and

generating an EDI object model for the SEF file by

obtaining an SEF file,

creating X12 code to represent various X12 objects within the SEF file, and

running the SEF parser and X12 code on the SEF file;

creating application code to process the business transaction data for the EDI document;

using the application code and the EDI object model to generate a specific EDI object model instance by

obtaining the EDI document, and

running the application code to use the EDI object model on the EDI interchange document; and

processing the business transaction data with the EDI object model instance.

21. An EDI object model for representing the data structures described by a Standard Exchange Format (SEF) file associated with an Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) document, the EDI object model comprising

a plurality of objects, the objects having an embedded hierarchy comprising at least one loop object, such that the loop object includes information about how to parse the loop object into a plurality of segments,

a plurality of segment objects, such that each segment object represents one of the plurality of segments, such that each segment object includes information about how to parse the segment object into a plurality of fields;

and

a plurality of field objects, such that each field object represents one of the plurality of fields.

22. The EDI object model of claim 21 wherein

the plurality of objects are JAVA objects.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein

the EDI object model is provided on the first server;

the EDI object model is transferred to a second server; and

the application code is provided on the second server.

23. A system for reading and modifying Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) transactions, the system comprising

a first server,

parsing tools, such that the parsing tools

autogenerate a SEF parser for an SEF file associated with the transactions;

and

generate an EDI object model for the SEF File; and

application code, such that the application code

uses the EDI object model to parse an EDI interchange document into an EDI object model instance,

uses the EDI object model instance to modify an EDI interchange transaction; and

emits the EDI interchange document.