Workflow engine tool

US11327726B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC · US

Inventors

• Yu Wang · Redmond, US
• Yu HU · Sammamish, US
• Haiyuan Cao · Redmond, US
• Hui Su · Beijing, CN
• Jinchao Li · Redmond, US
• Xinying Song · Bellevue, US
• Jianfeng Gao · Woodinville, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jul 31, 2020
• Grant date: May 10, 2022
• Expiry date: Jul 31, 2040

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F9/544
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A workflow engine tool is disclosed that enables scientists and engineers to programmatically author workflows (e.g., a directed acyclic graph, “DAG”) with nearly no overhead, using a simpler script that needs almost no modifications for portability among multiple different workflow engines. This permits users to focus on the business logic of the project, avoiding the distracting tedious overhead related to workflow management (such as uploading modules, drawing edges, setting parameters, and other tasks). The workflow engine tool provides an abstraction layer on top of workflow engines, introducing a binding function that converts a programming language function (e.g., a normal python function) into a workflow module definition. The workflow engine tool infers module instances and induces edge dependencies automatically by inferring from a programming language script to build a DAG.