USING ONTOLOGY TO DISCOVER API REQUIREMENTS

• US 20160026710A1
• Filed: 07/25/2014
• Published: 01/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: LAREDO, Jim A., RAJAGOPAL, Sriram K., VUKOVIC, Maja
• Granted Patent: US 9,836,534 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3328 using graphical result space presentation or visualisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3334 Selection or weighting of terms from queries, including natural language queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/367 Ontology
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention is provided for use in discovering a specified API service capability. The embodiment includes generating a search statement related to the specified API service capability. The embodiment further includes constructing a data structure, wherein the data structure includes one or more characteristic nodes that are each associated with data describing a particular API characteristic, and the associated data for respective characteristic nodes is ordered in accordance with one or more API service ontologies. The search statement is used to selectively search the data structure. The embodiment determines whether the search finds a match between data included in the search statement, and particular ontological data associated with one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for use in discovering a specified application programming interface (API) service capability, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

generating a search statement related to the specified API service capability;

constructing a data structure, wherein the data structure includes characteristic nodes that are each associated with data describing a particular API characteristic, and the associated data for respective characteristic nodes is arranged in accordance with one or more API service ontologies;

using the search statement to selectively search the data structure; and

determining whether the search finds a match between data included in the search statement, and particular ontological data associated with one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

searching the data structure comprises comparing data included in the search statement with ontological data associated with each of one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the search statement is derived from one or more query terms that respectively pertain to the specified API service capability.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the search statement comprises a discovery statement that is formulated using a specified language, and also using one or more of the query terms.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data structure comprises an API graph structure having nodes and edges, wherein at least some of the nodes comprise characteristic nodes that have associated data arranged in accordance with one or more API service ontologies.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a particular characteristic node of the data structure is associated with a given class of one of the API service ontologies, wherein a given attribute of the given class comprises a particular class feature or requirement, selectively, and the given attribute is represented by an edge of the data structure which is connected to the particular characteristic node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

data included in the search statement comprises textual data, and responsive to determining that no match has been found between data included in the search statement and data associated with any characteristic node of the data structure, the search statement is modified to include one or more terms related to the specified API service capability, which were not previously included in the search statement.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of:

using the modified search statement to selectively search the data structure, in order to determine whether a match is found between data included in the modified search statement, and particular ontological data associated with one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

responsive to finding a match between data included in the modified search statement and data associated with a particular characteristic node, selectively updating the search weight of the particular characteristic node.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

responsive to finding no match between any data included in the modified search statement and data associated with any of the characteristic nodes, creating a new characteristic node in the data structure to be associated with selected data included in the modified search statement.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

one or more API providers are notified of the created new characteristic node, and of the selected data included in the modified search statement.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the search statement comprises multiple data elements, wherein different data elements respectively provide different element search results, and two or more element search results are selectively combined, to provide a composite search result.

13. A computer program product executable in a computer readable storage medium for use in discovering a specified application programming interface (API) service capability, wherein the computer program product comprises:

instructions for generating a search statement related to the specified API service capability;

instructions for constructing a data structure, wherein the data structure includes characteristic nodes that are each associated with data describing a particular API characteristic, and the associated data for respective characteristic nodes is arranged in accordance with one or more API service ontologies; and

instructions for using the search statement to selectively search the data structure; and

instructions for determining whether the search finds a match between data included in the search statement, and particular ontological data associated with one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein:

the data structure comprises an API graph structure having nodes and edges, wherein at least some of the nodes comprise characteristic nodes that have associated data in accordance with one or more API service ontologies.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein:

a particular characteristic node of the data structure is associated with a given class of one of the API service ontologies, wherein a given attribute of the given class comprises a particular class feature or requirement, selectively, and the given attribute is represented by an edge of the data structure which is connected to the particular characteristic node.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein:

data included in the search statement comprises textual data, and responsive to determining that no match has been found between data included in the search statement and data associated with any characteristic node of the data structure, the search statement is modified to include one or more terms related to the specified API service capability, which were not previously included in the search statement.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

instructions for using the modified search statement to selectively search the data structure, in order to determine whether a match is found between data included in the modified search statement, and particular ontological data associated with one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein:

responsive to finding a match between data included in the modified search statement and data associated with a particular characteristic node, selectively updating the search weight of the particular characteristic node.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein:

responsive to finding no match between any data included in the modified search statement and data associated with any of the characteristic nodes, creating a new characteristic node in the data structure to be associated with selected data included in the modified search statement.

20. A computer system for use in discovering a specified application programming interface (API) service capability, wherein the computer system comprises:

a bus;

a memory connected to the bus, wherein program code is stored on the memory; and

a processor unit connected to the bus, wherein the processor unit executes the program code;

to generate a search statement related to the specified API service capability;

to construct a data structure, wherein the data structure includes characteristic nodes that are each associated with data describing a particular API characteristic, and the associated data for respective characteristic nodes is arranged in accordance with one or more API service ontologies;

to use the search statement to selectively search the data structure; and

to determine whether the search finds a match between data included in the search statement, and particular ontological data associated with one or more of the characteristic nodes of the data structure.