IP Library Granted Patent US 8,326,911
Granted Patent B2
US 8,326,911 · App. 11/771,640 · Granted Dec 4, 2012

Request processing with mapping and repeatable processes

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,326,911
App. No.
11/771,640
Granted
Dec 4, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

The embodiments described herein generally relate to a method and system of injecting repeatable processes, or workflows, into the processing of data-oriented or procedural requests in an entity management system. A request in such a system is subject to authentication, authorization, and action phases of processing, and workflows may be associated with each phase for automatic processing upon the triggering of a certain request under particular circumstances. A declarative mapping associates workflows with the request type, phase, requester, and target. The mapping may be created at the system administrator level, or by any person with the necessary capabilities, through the application of the processing concept in API or UI and may be consulted and invoked upon receipt of a request matching the mapping's criteria. Mappings may also be created and retrieved to manage state changes resulting from processing in other phases of the request processing model.

Claims (57)

1. A method of processing data-oriented or procedural requests, comprising:

receiving a request by a requesting agent;

consulting a mapping to determine workflows associated with phases of a processing model, including an authentication workflow;

executing the authentication workflow;

if the authentication workflow is successful, consulting a mapping to determine a workflow associated with an authorization phase;

executing the authorization workflow;

if the authorization workflow is successful, consulting a mapping to determine a workflow associated with an action phase; and

executing the action workflow.

2. The method as defined in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

parsing the request to determine if there are any request details constituting conditions for a certain mapping.

3. The method as defined in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

determining if there is an entity data change;

if there is an entity data change, consulting a mapping for a set transition; and

executing the process specified in the consulted mapping.

4. The method as defined in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

executing one or more activities within one or more workflows associated with each phase if specified by the mapping.

5. The method as defined in claim 4 , wherein the activities comprise one or more of the following: authentication, notification, and logging.

6. The method as defined in claim 1 , the method further comprising:

organizing principal entities into sets based on matching criteria; and

organizing target entities into sets based on matching criteria.

7. The method as defined in claim 6 , the method further comprising:

creating mappings by associating workflows to processing phases dependent on the sets the principal belongs to and the sets the target belongs to.

8. The method as defined in claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises one or more of the following steps: executing a system authentication, executing a system authorization, and executing a system action.

9. A system for processing data-oriented or procedural requests, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor perform a method of processing data-oriented or procedural requests comprising:

receiving a request by a requesting agent;

executing a system authentication of the requesting agent;

determining one or more workflows associated with one or more phases of a processing model; and

executing an authentication workflow.

10. The system as defined in claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises executing a system authorization for the request if the authentication workflow is successful.

11. The system as defined in claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises:

consulting a mapping to determine a workflow associated with an authorization phase; and

executing executes the authorization workflow.

12. The system as defined in claim 11 ,

wherein the computing system executes a system action for the request if the authorization workflow is successful.

13. The system as defined in claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises, consulting a mapping to determine a workflow associated with the action phase.

14. The system as defined in claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises, executing the action workflow.

15. The system as defined in claim 14 ,

wherein the method further comprises determining if there is a set transition.

16. The system as defined in claim 15 ,

wherein the method further comprises:

consulting a mapping for the set transition; and

processing the set transition.

17. A computer-readable medium not consisting of a propagated data signal, the computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer perform a method of processing a request with mapping and repeatable processes comprising:

receiving a request;

executing a system authentication of the requesting agent;

executing any authentication workflows associated with the system authentication based on mapping;

if the authentication workflow is successful, executing a system authorization for the request;

executing any authorization workflows associated with the system authorization for the request based on mapping;

if the authorization workflow is successful, executing a system action for the request; and

executing the action workflow based on mapping.

18. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 17 wherein the request is parsed to determine if there are any request details constituting conditions for a certain mapping.

19. The computer-readable medium as defined in claim 18 , further comprising:

determining if there is an entity data change;

if there is an entity data change, consulting a mapping for a set transition; and

executing the process specified in the consulted mapping.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2014
From: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 034542/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 29, 2007
From: WEINERT, ALEXANDER T; ZHANG, KAN; WANG, DARREN; MCMURTRY, CRAIG; GILL, JASJEET; KASHI, ASAF; BEQUETTE, BRUCE P.
To: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 019762/0825 →