Extensible framework for designing workflows

US8170901B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Microsoft Corporation · US

Inventors

• Dharma Shukla · Bellevue, US
• Aditya Bhandarkar · Bellevue, US
• Akash J. Sagar · Redmond, US
• Sergey Chub · Redmond, US
• Mayank Mehta · Keyano, CA
• Dennis Pilarinos · Vancouver, CA
• Eli Hisdai · Bellevue, US
• Abhay Parasnis · Sammamish, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jan 31, 2005
• Grant date: May 1, 2012
• Expiry date: Oct 25, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06Q10/06316
• WIPO field: IT methods for management
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A user interface for building a componentized workflow model. Each step of the workflow is modeled as an activity that has metadata to describe design time aspects, compile time aspects, and runtime aspects of the workflow step. A user selects and arranges the activities to create the workflow via the user interface. The metadata associated with each of the activities in the workflow is collected to create a persistent representation of the workflow. Users extend the workflow model by authoring custom activities.