Declarative workflow system supporting side-effects
US6424948B1 · kind B1 · utility
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 19, 1999 |
| Grant date | Jul 23, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 19, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06Q10/06311
- WIPO fieldIT methods for management
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
An object-focused workflow system for processing a received object in accordance with a declarative workflow specification. The specification includes modules and attributes, where module execution results in the evaluation of attributes, and may include the initiation of a side-effect action performed by an external component. Whether modules are to be executed for a particular received object is determined by associated enabling conditions. Attributes may be evaluated in accordance with computation rules and a combining policy, where the computation rules specify how values are to be contributed to an attribute, and the combining policy indicates how those contributed values are combined in order to assign a value to the attribute. Tasks in the workflow system may be executed eagerly in order to improve the performance of the workflow system. The eager evaluation of tasks includes the determination of whether such tasks are eligible for eager evaluation, and whether the tasks are unneeded or necessary for the processing of the received event. Workflows which satisfy described design properties allow for improved algorithms for the determination of the whether tasks are eligible, …
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.