Operational system for operating on client defined rules

• US 6,532,465 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2001
• Issued: 03/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bruce Hartley, Frank Ricotta, Jim Vanderwall, Rodney Brown, Tony Locke, Tony Perkins
• Original Assignee: Bruce Hartley, Frank Ricotta, Jim Vanderwall, Rodney Brown, Tony Locke, Tony Perkins
• Inventors: Brown, Rodney, Hartley, Bruce, Perkins, Tony, Vanderwall, Jim, Locke, Tony, Ricotta, Frank
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOULES, JACK M
• Application Number:
  US09/827,991
• Publication Number:
  US 20010032207A1
• Time in Patent Office: 705 Days
• Field of Search: 705/40, 707/10, 709/1
• US Class Current: 707/610
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/954 Relational
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/959 Network

Abstract

The disclosure includes a computational system implemented with respect to a novel computational architecture for operating an externally-defined data based on client-defined rules. In one of the implementations, the architecture is utilized in a billing and customer service program. The architecture includes a engine unit which includes a number of processing modules which internally operate on generic data units that are independent of the particular application. A metadata engine receives externally-defined data and relates the externally-defined data and the relates the externally-defined data to the generic data units for use for the engine unit. A rules-based engine provides to the engine unit information related to the client defined rules. In this manner, the engine unit can be reused in a large part in a variety of different environments.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a central server located at a base tier to provide services for the system;

a database located at the base tier connected to the central server,

at least one application server to perform functions relevant to the location it is serving, the application server being located at an intermediate tier connected to the central server;

client nodes through that system users may enter application specific data, such as rules data and definitions, and receive outputs related to the processes performed therein, the client nodes being located at an uppermost tier and connected to the at least one application server;

a data synchronization scheme that includes functionality to store subsets of information that have a high probability for use by a client node; and

rules that identify the subsets of information for a particular user encounter, the rules adaptive in nature such that the operation of the system is continually monitored and, based on past performance, updated probabilities are generated relating to the type of data that will be used to backfill during a particular encounter.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the subsets of information are stored at the intermediate tier.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the rules are predetermined.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data synchronization scheme caches data from the base tier to the intermediate tier to populate initial screens required at the client nodes during a user encounter.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the data synchronization scheme back-fills from the base tier data required at a client node during a user encounter that was not cached within the intermodiate tiers.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the back-filled data is ordered to anticipate a user'"'"'s requirements for non-cached data at the time of the user encounter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data synchronization scheme back-fills the subsets of information from the base tier to the intermediate tier during a user encounter.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the backfilled data is ordered by the current state of the apparatus relationship with that particular user at the particular client node at the time of the user encounter.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data synchronization scheme stores subsets of information within the intermediate tier by the time that the subsets of information is called for at a particular client node.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein if an encounter is initiated with a user for whom an open commitment exists, the data synchronization scheme stores appropriate detailed commitment status data from the base tier to the intermediate tier based on a likelihood that this data will soon be requested at the client node.

11. A system comprising:

a central server that includes a data storage device, and a business object generator that generates business objects that contain abstracted business logic;

a computational platform in connection with the central server that performs computation-based functions under the direction of rules and metadata used by the business objects;

at least one intermediate server in connection with the base server via a message bus where the intermediate server includes a presentation object generator to generate presentation objects based on the business objects, the presentation objects being specific to a particular user of the system;

at least one user interface that receives and displays presentation objects, and provides requests to the intermediate server to retrieve information and to have processes performed at the base server; and

a data cache associated with the intermediate server to store presentation objects to be sent to the at least one user interface in advance of a request from the user interface, the data cache to populate initial screens requested by the user interface.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the data in the data cache is inferentially back-filled to anticipate requests from the user interface by the time that the data is requested from the user interface.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the operation of the system is continually monitored and based on past performance, updated probabilities are generated relating to the type of data which will be stored in the data cache during a particular user encounter.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the data storage device includes a relational database.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the intermediate server provides object-to-relational mapping for the presentation objects to the business objects in the base server.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediate server and the user interface are connected via a data network.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the data network is the world wide web.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the data network is a local area network.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the intermediate server is located remote from the base server and the message bus is provided via a communications network.

20. An apparatus for processing information according to a particular application, comprising:

a computational platform for performing computation-based functions on generic data units independent of the particular application;

an interface that provides for receipt and transmission of data related to the particular application, and provides rules and metadata to the computational platform to convert the generic data units to units associated with the particular application;

an output device for providing an application specific output based on the data units, the application specific output including one of a data content and a data format that is specific to the particular application;

a messaging service that provides for transport of information between the computational platform, the memory, and the output device; and

a data staging service that caches high interest data for the output device, the data staging service to use cached data to populate initial screens requested by a client node.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the computational platform includes at least one processing engine that performs computation based functions free from elements specific to the particular data processing application, the at least one processing engine comprising at least one of:

a customer summary engine that accesses and provides customer summary information through the output device;

a translation engine that provides for conversion of data formats received and transmitted from the computational platform;

a rating engine that provides for computation of charges related to a service event;

a billing engine that rates services provided at an aggregate level;

a user interface engine that controls information movement to and from the interface; and

an output engine that provides for outputting of reports.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, further comprising a central server associated with the computational platform and at least one intermediate server located between the central server and the output device, wherein the data staging service, based on information received from the output device, retrieves information from the central server and stores the information in a local memory.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein a connection is established between the local memory and the output device over a local area network.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein a connection is established between the local memory and the output device over the world wide web.

25. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the data staging service provides the capability to intelligently back-fill data requested at a client node from the computational platform.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the intelligent back-fill capability is driven by the current state of a service provider'"'"'s relationship with a particular customer at the time of an encounter.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the intelligent back-fill capability is used to anticipate client node requests for non-cached data.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the intelligent back-fill capability is adaptive in nature so that the operation of the system is monitored and based on past performance, updated probabilities are generated relating to the type of data which will be used to backfill.

29. A method comprising;

containing data which will be retrieved for an encounter with a user in a master database;

providing relevant information for the user to an intermediate tier from the master database;

storing the relevant information in a data cache;

making the relevant information accessible to the user at a client node; and

backfilling further relevant information in the data cache to anticipate user requests for non-cached data, the backfilling adaptive in nature so that the operation at the client node is monitored and, based on past performance, updated probabilities are generated relating to the type of data which will be used to backfill.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising back-filling to transition appropriate detailed commitment status data from the master database to the data cache, if an encounter is initiated with a user for whom an open commitment exist.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising populating initial screens required by the client nodes during an encounter with the user.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising if an open commitment exists for the user, storing appropriate detailed commitment status data from the base tier to the intermediate tier.

33. An apparatus comprising:

a central server located at a base tier to provide services for the system;

a database located at the base tier connected to the central server;

at least one application server to perform functions relevant to the location it is serving, the application server being located at an intermediate tier connected to the central server;

client nodes through that system users may enter application specific data, such as rules data and definitions, and receive outputs related to the processes performed therein, the client nodes being located at an uppermost tier and connected to the at least one application server; and

a data synchronization scheme that includes functionality to store subsets of information that have a high probability for use by a client node, the data synchronization scheme to cache data from the base tier to the intermediate tier to populate initial screens required at the client nodes during a user encounter.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the data synchronization scheme back-fills from the base tier data required at a client node during a user encounter that was not cached within the intermediate tiers.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the back-filled data is ordered to anticipate a user'"'"'s requirements for non-cached data at the time of the user encounter.