Methods and systems for managing successful completion of a network of processes

• US 7,421,696 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2004
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Bowie-Britton, Simon
• Primary Examiner(s): An; Meng-Ai
• Assistant Examiner(s): To; Jennifer N
• Application Number:
  US10/779,934
• Publication Number:
  US 20050137902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,659 Days
• Field of Search: 718100-108, 709/100, 709/223, 719/318, 707/100
• US Class Current: 718/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

The present invention involves methods and systems for managing successful completion of a network of processes. The network of processes can be represented as a graph. In this representation, the nodes of the graph represent the processes, and the edges of the graph represent events associated with the processes. Processing starts at the root node, and is based on the result of an initially unknown graph. When an event is to be produced or consumed, a message to that effect is transmitted to a component called a Q-Manager. Using the messages, which are received in event order, the Q-Manager keeps track of the state of the graph, and determines when successful completion of the processing has occurred. Once this occurs, the Q-Manager sends a notification indicating completion of the network.

Claims

1. A method for managing successful completion of a network of processes, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a message indicative of the creation of an initiating process of the network of processes by an automated persistent software process (Q-Manager);

(b) creating a list of active processes in the network in response to step (a) by the Q-Manager, the list having the structure of a directed acyclic graph, wherein the plurality of processes are represented as nodes of the graph and wherein events associated with the plurality of processes are represented as edges of the graph;

(c) inserting a node representing the initiating process as the root of the graph (list);

(d) receiving at least one message indicative of either creation or deletion of at least one of the processes;

(e) updating the list of active processes in the network based on the received at least one message list;

(f) sending a notification message indicating completion of the network of processes if the list becomes empty.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification message is sent to the initiating process.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein result information is written to persistent storage after the notification message is received.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of updating the list includes adding to the list information identifying a process to be created.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of updating the list includes deleting from the list information identifying a process to be deleted.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the processes is executed in a thread different from a thread used to execute another of the processes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the received messages are received in event order.

8. A system for managing successful completion of a network of processes, comprising:

a processor configured to process a list of active processes, the list having the structure of a directed acyclic graph, wherein the plurality of processes are represented as nodes of the graph and wherein events associated with the plurality of processes are represented as edges of the graph, the processor being configured to create an automated persistent software process called a Q-Manager for receiving a message indicative of the creation of an initiating process of the network of processes inserting, for inserting a node representing the initiating process as the root of the graph (list), for keeping track of the state of the network of processes, wherein the Q-Manager updates the list of active processes to reflect the state of the network of processes, and sends a notification message when processing is determined to have completed.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein processing is determined to have completed when the list of active processes is empty.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the notification message is sent to the initiating process.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the Q-Manager receives messages indicating whether events are created or consumed.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the received messages are received in event order.

13. A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable on the machine to perform method steps for managing successful completion of a network of processes, the method steps comprising:

(a) receiving a message indicative of the creation of an initiating process of the network of processes by an automated persistent software process (Q-Manager);

(b) creating a list of active processes in the network in response to step (a) by the Q-Manager, the list having the structure of a directed acyclic graph, wherein the plurality of processes are represented as nodes of the graph and wherein events associated with the plurality of processes are represented as edges of the graph;

(c) inserting a node representing the initiating process as the root of the graph (list);

(d) receiving at least one message indicative of either creation or deletion of at least one of the processes;

(e) updating the list of active processes in the network based on the received at least one message list;

(f) sending a notification message indicating completion of the network of processes if the list becomes empty.