Method and apparatus for an information server

Claims

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of managing information in an information resource system having a server, a client, and a database, comprising the acts of: generating metadata using at least one import agent, wherein the import agent generates the metadata from one or more of a group consisting of existing web pages, business objects, content management systems and enterprise applications, and puts the generated metadata into a metadata database; receiving a request to query the metadata database; using a match agent to query the metadata and to pass a result of the query to a delivery agent;, and dispatching the result of the query using the delivery agent, wherein the delivery agent interfaces with one or more of a group of delivery mechanisms comprising web page generators, XML datagrams, email and event messaging systems.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata is RDF metadata.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the match agent determines the at least one match using an RDF Query Language, which is a syntax for writing queries against RDF data.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the match agent can be triggered by a user request to a web or application server, by specific events or on a regularly scheduled basis.

5. A computer implemented method of managing information using a match template in an information resource system having at least a first set of metadata and a second set of metadata, comprising the acts of: providing a match template containing at least one reference to the first set of metadata and containing at least one instruction to specify how a match is to be performed; using the match template to compare the first set of metadata with the second set of metadata; extracting search data from the match template to dynamically generate a query based on the first set of metadata; executing the query against the second set of metadata; and returning a result of the query execution to a user.

6. A method of managing information in an information resource system having an import agent, a match agent, and a metadata repository, comprising: importing information to the metadata repository using the import agent, wherein the import agent generates the metadata from one or more of a group consisting of existing web pages, business objects, content management systems and enterprise applications, and puts the generated metadata into a metadata repository; and dynamically generating a metadata query based on the metadata repository using the match agent to create a match description and to pass the match description to the metadata repository to perform a match.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the match agent can be triggered by a user request to a web or application server, by specific events or on a regularly scheduled basis.

8. An article of manufacture comprising: a computer useable medium including computer readable program code embodied therein for managing information in an information resource system including a server, a client, and a database, the computer readable program code in said article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect generating metadata using at least one import agent, wherein the import agent generates the metadata from one or more of a group consisting of existing web pages, business objects, content management systems and enterprise applications, and puts the generated metadata into a metadata database; computer readable program code means for causing the computer to determine at least one match using a match agent to query the metadata and to pass a result of the query to a delivery agent, wherein the at least one match is associated with at least one result of the query; and computer readable program code means for causing the computer to dispatch the at least one result using a delivery agent, wherein the delivery agent interfaces with one or more of a group of delivery mechanisms comprising web page generators, XML datagrams, email and event messaging systems.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the metadata is RDF metadata.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the match agent determines the at least one match using an RDF Query Language which is a syntax for writing queries against RDF data.

11. The article of manufacture of claim 8 wherein the match agent can be triggered by a user request to a web or application server, by specific events or on a regularly scheduled basis.

12. A computer program product for use with an information resource system including a server, a client, and a database, said computer program product comprising: a computer useable medium including a first computer readable program code mechanism embodied in said medium for causing managing information, said computer program product including: a second computer readable program code mechanism for causing a computer to effect generating metadata using at least one import agent, wherein the import agent generates the metadata from one or more of a group consisting of existing web pages, business objects, content management systems and enterprise applications, and puts the generated metadata into a metadata database; a third computer readable program code mechanism electronically coupled to the second computer readable code mechanism for causing said computer to determine at least one match using a match agent to query the metadata and to pass a result of the query to a delivery agent, wherein the at least one match is associated with at least one result of the query; and a fourth computer readable program code mechanism electronically coupled to the third computer readable code mechanism for causing said computer to dispatch the at least one result using a delivery agent, wherein the delivery agent interfaces with one or more of a group of delivery mechanisms comprising web page generators, XML datagrams, email and event messaging systems.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the metadata is RDF metadata.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the match agent determines the at least one match using an RDF Query Language which is a syntax for writing queries against RDF data.

15. An article of manufacture comprising: a computer useable medium including computer readable program code embodied therein for managing information using a match template in an information resource system having at least a first set of metadata and a second set of metadata, the computer readable program code in said article of manufacture comprising: computer readable program code means for causing a computer to use the match template to compare the first set of metadata with the second set of metadata; computer readable program code means for causing the computer to extract search data from the match template to dynamically generate a query based on the first set of metadata; and computer readable program code means for causing the computer to execute the query against the second set of metadata and return a result of the query execution to a user using a delivery agent, wherein the delivery agent interfaces with one or more of a group of delivery mechanisms comprising web page generators, XML datagrams, email and event messaging systems.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the metadata is RDF metadata.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the match agent determines the at least one match using an RDF Query Language which is a syntax for writing queries against RDF data.

18. A computer program product for use with a system for managing information using a match template in an information resource system having at least a first set of metadata and a second set of metadata, said computer program product comprising: a computer useable medium including a first computer readable program code mechanism embodied in said medium for managing information, said computer program product including: a second computer readable program code mechanism for causing a computer to use the match template to compare the first set of metadata with the second set of metadata; third computer readable program code mechanism for causing said computer to extract search data from the match template to dynamically generate a query based on the first set of metadata; and a fourth computer readable program code mechanism for causing said computer to execute the query against the second set of metadata and return a result of the query execution to a user using a delivery agent, wherein the delivery agent interfaces with one or more of a group of delivery mechanisms comprising web page generators, XML datagrams, email and event messaging systems.

19. A computer program product for use with an information resource system having an import agent, a match agent, and a metadata repository, said computer program product comprising: a computer useable medium including computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for managing information, said computer program product including: computer readable program code means for causing a computer to import information to the metadata repository using the import agent, wherein the import agent generates the metadata from one or more of a group consisting of existing web pages, business objects, content management systems and enterprise applications, and puts the generated metadata into a metadata repository; and computer readable program code means for causing said computer to dynamically generate a metadata query based on the metadata repository using the match agent to create a match description and to pass the match description to the metadata repository to perform a match.

20. The Computer program product of claim 19 wherein data in the metadata repository is RDF metadata.

21. The Computer program product of claim 19 wherein the match agent determines the at least one match using an RDF Query Language which is a syntax for writing queries against RDF data.

22. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the match agent can be triggered by a user request to a web or application server, by specific events or on a regularly scheduled basis.

23. A method for implementing an efficient Custom Information Delivery Service in a computer using an Import Agent, a Match Agent and a Delivery Agent, the method comprising the acts of: defining RDF metadata mappings for data objects and metadata of interest; creating an import agent to capture the metadata, wherein the import agent generates the metadata from one or more of a group consisting of existing web pages, business objects, content management systems and enterprise applications, and puts the generated metadata into a metadata repository; creating an RDF Query Language document to query the metadata; creating a match agent to perform the query; creating a delivery agent to dispatch query results, wherein the delivery agent interfaces with one or more of a group of delivery mechanisms comprising web page generators, XML datagrams, email and event messaging systems; and integrating the import agent, the match agent and the delivery agent into an executable custom information delivery service.

24. A computer implemented method for use by a match agent, the method comprising the acts of: providing a Match Descriptor specifying a match agent and a delivery agent; extracting an RDF query and target RDF document from the Match Descriptor; parsing the query using an RDF Query Language Parser, wherein the RDF Query Language is a syntax for writing queries against RDF data; executing the query and passing in the target RDF document as an argument, thereby constructing a result set of matches from the query; and dispatching the results from the query to the delivery agent.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

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TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to computers, telecommunications, and computer network systems, and more particularly to an improved method and system for efficiently managing and retrieving information over a network.

BACKGROUND ART

The World-Wide Web ("the Web") is an Internet distributed information retrieval system holding a tremendous amount of information in various locations around the world. Users of the Web perform searches on search engines that have been developed in order to find and retrieve information on topics and areas in which the users are interested. Presently, most of these search engines, such as Yahoo! and Infoseek, perform indexing of every document found on the Web. These search engines then permit a user to type in plain text keywords, which are used by the search engines to scan and match every single document against the keywords entered.

Various search engine technologies of differing levels of sophistication, some having artificial intelligence, have developed to meet the quest for relevant information on the Web. Nevertheless, this technology is still hampered by limitations. For example, a user of a search engine inevitably encounters false hits, in which irrelevant information is retrieved by the search engine. In fact, thousands of results, many irrelevant, can be returned by a search engine if the user types in a very common search phrase. In addition, any present search engine may miss web pages that are actually relevant to what a user of the search engine is seeking, such as when the user fails to enter the proper combination of search keywords.

An alternative approach to finding information on the Web employs structured descriptions of web resources using metadata by organizing this information in a manner that a computer can understand and process. RDF is a specification that is presently being developed by the W3C (the World-Wide Web Consortium) as a format for processing metadata for resources on the Internet, including the World-Wide Web.

What is needed is a method and apparatus for searching for and discovering information, such as web resources, in a more flexible and sophisticated manner. What is further needed is a method and apparatus for finding information associated with RDF on the World-Wide Web.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for managing information in an information resource system containing a server, a client, and a database, by generating metadata using an import agent, determining at least one match using a match agent, and dispatching the at least one match or a result associated with the match using a delivery agent. In an aspect of the invention, the metadata may be RDF metadata. In another aspect of the invention, the match agent may determine the match using an RQL query.

In another aspect of the invention, a method and system is provided for managing information using a match template in an information resource system having a first set of metadata and a second set of metadata, by comparing the first set of metadata with the second set of metadata, dynamically generating a query based on the first set of metadata, and executing the query against the second set of metadata.

In a further aspect of the invention, a method and system is provided for managing information in an information resource system having an import agent, a match agent, and a metadata repository by importing information to the metadata repository using the import agent and dynamically generating a metadata query based on the metadata repository using the match agent.

Still other embodiments of the present invention are and will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, wherein is shown and described only the embodiments of the invention by way of illustration of the best modes contemplated for carrying out the invention. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modification in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features and advantages of the system and method of the present invention will be apparent from the following description in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical configuration of Internet connected systems representative of the preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical general purpose computer system of the type representative of the preferred embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates the general three tier relationship between user, web-servers and their related applications-server, and the database management system.

FIG. 4 illustrates a more detailed depiction of the applications-server portion of such a system as shown in FIG. 3 illustrating the business applications platform system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternative configuration of the system which contains the invention.

FIG. 6 is an alternative depiction of the platform of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a more detailed configuration of an exemplary business server portion of the current invention.

FIG. 8A illustrates a more detailed configuration of an exemplary Web Content Server portion of the current invention.

FIG. 8B shows a process flow diagram illustrating how to produce dynamic web content.

FIG. 8C shows a process flow diagram illustrating the page development process.

FIG. 9 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the Interconnect Backbone.

FIG. 10 shows a process flow diagram illustrating a purchase order delivered from a Source site to a target system through Interconnect.

FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of the structural overview of an IDK.

FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of a functional overview of an Information Distributor.

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary view of APIs associated with the Information Distributor.

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary view of using Information Distributor or IDK.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary overview of Query Objects.

FIG. 16 illustrates an exemplary overview of the Implement Custom Delivery Service.

FIG. 17 illustrates a preferred embodiment of the Business Applications Management System Platform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention provides a solution to the needs described above through a system and method for integrating the disparate applications, and managing the applications processes in a hardware resource and user effort efficient manner. The automated system of the present invention uses a business systems platform architecture comprised of several unique servers in a base platform (the "Platform") to efficiently manage multiple applications which may themselves generally be distributed across a network. The platform makes use of a collection of Core Services which provide additional security, internationalization services, and reporting services which are applicable to all applications. The Core Services are made available to a multitude of common business objects, which themselves are made available to various applications.

The present invention is a Business Applications Management System Platform Architecture (the "Platform" or alternatively the "SABA architecture") which is designed to maintain and use a set of unique servers and common objects to generate the set of tasks required to be performed to complete a designated business transaction in a concrete, and useful way. In the preferred embodiment, the platform permits application developers to work on the business aspects of the application without having to focus on transaction management, security, persistence of data or life cycle management of the object itself. The servers and other aspects of the Platform are described in more detail below. However, a general overview of a preferred embodiment of the invention is first described.

(1) General Overview

The technology used as part of the system currently is, and will be, able to interface with many other industry standard software programs to make the exchange and flow of data easy and accurate.

The system is predominantly web-enabled, which extends its use to all industry professionals connected to the Internet. The Platform provides a unified set of interfaces, an application Framework, that encompass Business Object development, Web-application development, external connectivity development, and information distribution development.

The system is predominantly based on object-oriented programming principles as described in "Object-Oriented Software Construction" by Bertrand Meyer, Prentiss-Hall, 1988, ISBN 0-13-629049-3 and the Sun Microsystems.TM. developed JAVA.TM. systems described in the following publications: Enterprise JavaBeans Specification, v1.1 (can be found at //java.sun.com/products/ejb/docs.html) Enterprise JavaBeans, Richard Monson-Haefel, O'Reilly. Enterprise JavaBeans: Developing Component-Based Distributed Applications, Tom Valesky, Addison-Wesley. Enterprise JavaBeans Developer's Guide (Beta Version) at //developer.java.sun.com/developer/earlyAccess/j2sdkee/doc-beta/guides/ejb/ html/TOC.html J2EE Application Programming Model (Beta Release), at //developerjava.sun.com/ developer/earlyAccess/j2sdkee/download-docs.html

all of which are incorporated fully herein by reference. The system makes use of some third party modules which are described in more detail below also. The terminology as used and described in these references for object, class, inheritance, component, container, bean, JavaBean, EJB, etc., are well known in these arts and are used herein generally without definition except where a specific meaning is assigned to a term herein.

Overview of the Platform Architecture

The following describes an overview of the preferred embodiment of the SABA architecture, and includes:

A discussion of the system-level architecture and the modules that comprise the SABA system. This includes a high-level overview of each module, and lists the principle interfaces and functionality defined by each module.

A discussion of the application-level architecture, covering both the application-level architecture as exposed to different categories of users and some of the core business objects an