The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 22, 2002
Filed:
Dec. 03, 1998
Louis Ralph Degenaro, White Plains, NY (US);
David Lars Ehnebuske, Georgetown, TX (US);
Barbara Jane Alspach McKee, Austin, TX (US);
Kevin Paul Rasmus, Bloomington, IL (US);
Isabelle Marie Catherine Rouvellou, New York City, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus for specifying, applying and managing rules used by an application in a data processing system are provided. A set of classification categories are specified, each classification category representing a different purpose of classification. A set of classifications are specified, each classification representing a possible outcome of an act of classifying. A set of control point names are specified, each name being associated with one or more control points in the application. A set of classification rules are specified, each such rule being associated with a classification category and said rule being adapted to analyze the state of the application and classify it by returning one or more classifications. A set of decision rules are specified, each such rule being associated with a classification and a control point name, said rule being adapted to affect the behavior of the application by calculating a value or making a decision. A set of control points is specified and built into the application at those points in the application flow at which variability of behavior controlled by rules is desired, each such control point being associated with a control point name and one or more classification categories. During the running of the application, when a control point as described above is encountered, the control point's associated classification categories are used to select that set of classification rules associated with any of the classification categories and the selected classification rules are then run.