Method and System for Retrieving Legal Data for User Interface Form Generation by Merging Syntactic and Semantic Contraints

• US 20130086462A1
• Filed: 09/29/2011
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Herrmann, Ricardo Guimaraes, Loewenstern, David Matthew, Shwartz, Larisa, De Cerqueira Gatti, Maira Athanazio
• Granted Patent: US 9,971,849 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/222
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/88 Mark-up to mark-up conversion conversion for visualization in web browsing G06F16/9577
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/221 Parsing markup language streams streaming G06F40/149
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/226 Validation

Abstract

An aspect of this invention is a method that includes receiving input data from an application. The input data includes information descriptive of at least one field. The method further includes processing the input data to form an array composed of legal data for the at least one field. The array is formed by merging a result of processing syntactic constraints and a result of processing semantic constraints. The method further includes outputting the array to the application. A system for performing the method is also described, as is a computer program product that can be used to execute the method.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving input data from an application comprising information descriptive of at least one field;

processing the input data to form an array comprised of legal data for the at least one field, the array being formed by merging a result of processing syntactic constraints and a result of processing semantic constraints; and

outputting the array to the application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising parsing the input data using an XML parser to derive a data XML instance.

3. The method of claim 2, where the input data that is parsed is comprised of desired fields and partial data related to the desired fields.

4. The method of claim 3, where the partial data is comprised of one or more values that constrain one or more of the desired fields.

5. The method of claim 2, where the data XML instance is used, when processing semantic constraints, in conjunction with a facts XML instance obtained from a facts database.

6. The method of claim 1, where the array is formed so that the application can locate both the legal values and field type information in a same field object.

7. The method of claim 1, where the array is formed so as to complement the legal values for the at least one field with results of constraints on at least one of data values, (inter-)dependencies, co-constraints and data state transitions.

8. The method of claim 1, where the input data is descriptive of a data assemblage representing a form containing the at least field.

9. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, where execution of the computer program product results in performance of the method as claimed in claim 1.

10. A computer-readable medium that contains computer program instructions, the execution of the computer program instructions by at least one data processor results in performance of operations that comprise:

receiving input data from an application comprising information descriptive of at least one field;

processing the input data to form an array comprised of legal data for the at least one field, the array being formed by merging a result of processing syntactic constraints and a result of processing semantic constraints; and

outputting the array to the application.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, further comprising an operation of parsing the input data using an XML parser to derive a data XML instance.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where the input data that is parsed is comprised of desired fields and partial data related to the desired fields.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, where the partial data is comprised of one or more values that constrain one or more of the desired fields.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, where the data XML instance is used, when processing semantic constraints, in conjunction with a facts XML instance obtained from a facts database.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, where the array is formed so that the application can locate both the legal values and field type information in a same field object.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, where the array is formed so as to complement the legal values for the at least one field with results of constraints on at least one of data values, (inter-)dependencies, co-constraints and data state transitions.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, where the input data is descriptive of a data assemblage representing a form containing the at least field.

18. A data processing system, comprising:

at least one data processor connected with at least one memory that stores computer program instructions;

at least one interface connected with the at least one data processor and configured for conducting bidirectional communications via at least one network;

said at least one data processor operating under control of the computer program instructions to receive input data from an application via the at least one interface, the input data comprising information descriptive of at least one field;

said at least one data processor operating under control of the computer program instructions to process the input data to form an array comprised of legal data for the at least one field, the array being formed by merging a result of processing syntactic constraints and a result of processing semantic constraints; and

said at least one data processor further operating under control of the computer program instructions to output the array to the application via the at least one interface.

19. The data processing system of claim 18, said at least one data processor further operating under control of the computer program instructions to parse the input data using an XML parser to derive a data XML instance.

20. The data processing system of claim 19, where the input data that is parsed is comprised of desired fields and partial data related to the desired fields.

21. The data processing system of claim 20, where the partial data is comprised of one or more values that constrain one or more of the desired fields.

22. The data processing system of claim 19, where the data XML instance is used, when processing semantic constraints, in conjunction with a facts XML instance obtained from a facts database.

23. The data processing system of claim 18, where the array is formed so that the application can locate both the legal values and field type information in a same field object.

24. The data processing system of claim 18, where the array is formed so as to complement the legal values for the at least one field with results of constraints on at least one of data values, (inter-)dependencies, co-constraints and data state transitions.

25. The data processing system of claim 18, where the input data is descriptive of a data assemblage representing a form containing the at least field.