Patent Application
20190266602
Business processes such as transactions are typically governed by rules that facilitate or guarantee orderly execution of these business processes. Depending on the nature of a transaction, the rules may range from basic to highly complex. Availability of these rules to the parties involved in a transaction is crucial. The execution of a transaction, governed by these rules, is typically documented, to generate a record of the transaction.
In general, in one aspect, one or more embodiments relate to a method for overseeing execution of graph-based contracts using hash chains, comprising obtaining a graph-based contract, wherein the graph-based contract is configured to enforce a contract for performing a transaction between at least two parties, and obtaining event data associated with an execution of the graph-based contract. The method further includes performing, governed by the graph-based contract, a first state transition from a first state to a second state by making a determination that a first state transition criterion is met by the event data, wherein the first state transition connects the second state to the first state, and based on the determination transitioning to the second state. The method also includes appending a first block to a hash chain, wherein the first block comprises a documentation of the first state transition.
In general, in one aspect, one or more embodiments relate to a system for overseeing execution of graph-based contracts using hash chains, the system comprising a computer processor, and a contract processing engine executing on the computer processor configured to obtain a graph-based contract, wherein the graph-based contract is configured to enforce a contract for performing a transaction between at least two parties, and obtain event data associated with an execution of the graph-based contract. The contract processing engine is further configured to perform, governed by the graph-based contract, a first state transition from a first state to a second state by making a determination that a first state transition criterion is met by the event data, wherein the first state transition connects the second state to the first state, and based on the determination transitioning to the second state. The system further includes a hash chain processing engine executing on the computer processor configured to append a first block to a hash chain, wherein the first block comprises a documentation of the first state transition, and a hash chain repository storing the hash chain.
In general, in one aspect, one or more embodiments relate to a non-transitory computer readable medium including computer readable program code for causing a computer system to obtain a graph-based contract, wherein the graph-based contract is configured to enforce a contract for performing a transaction between at least two parties, and obtain event data associated with an execution of the graph-based contract. The computer readable program code further causes the computer system to perform, governed by the graph-based contract, a first state transition from a first state to a second state by: making a determination that a first state transition criterion is met by the event data, wherein the first state transition connects the second state to the first state, and based on the determination transitioning to the second state. The computer readable program code further causes the computer system to append a first block to a hash chain, wherein the first block comprises a documentation of the first state transition.
Other aspects of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency.
In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.
Throughout the application, ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third, etc.) may be used as an adjective for an element (i.e., any noun in the application). The use of ordinal numbers is not to imply or create any particular ordering of the elements nor to limit any element to being only a single element unless expressly disclosed, such as by the use of the terms “before”, “after”, “single”, and other such terminology. Rather, the use of ordinal numbers is to distinguish between the elements. By way of an example, a first element is distinct from a second element, and the first element may encompass more than one element and succeed (or precede) the second element in an ordering of elements.
Further, although the description includes a discussion of various embodiments of the invention, the various disclosed embodiments may be combined in virtually any manner All combinations are contemplated herein.
In general, embodiments of the invention provide a method and a system for overseeing execution of graph-based contracts using hash chains. The method may be used for business processes that involve two or more parties. Such business processes may include, but are not limited to, sales order generation, quoting, invoicing, billing, shipping, lead generation, accounting, item management, asset tracking, or combinations thereof. These business processes are typically governed by rules that facilitate or guarantee orderly execution of these business processes. Rules may be interdependent, e.g., in a causal manner, and the combination of a set of interdependent rules forms a contract, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention. A contract, once established between two or more parties, may be used to guide or enforce transactions between these parties. Contracts may be particularly important if the participating parties are non-trusting organizations.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, contracts are represented by graphs. As further discussed below, a graph represents rules of a business process using conditional connections between states. A state in a graph represents a certain state of a business transaction. Exemplary states include, but are not limited to, “order received”, “articles selected”, “shipment ready”, etc. Conditional connections allow the transition from one state to another. For example, the current state may advance from “articles selected” to “shipment ready” once a confirmation has been received, indicating that the selected articles have been combined to form the shipment to the customer.
Use of a graph in lieu of coding the set of rules may facilitate evaluation of rules or questions by users, in particular in scenarios in which contracts are complex and conditional. As will be demonstrated based on various examples, the use of graphs enables the modeling of complex business processes using a small amount of data, encoded in these charts, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention. While embodiments of the invention are primarily discussed in context of finance and accounting, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the invention are equally applicable to other domains in which transactions are performed between multiple parties.
As a business process is executed, it may be desirable to document the states reached during the execution of the business process. This may include documentation of the reaching of states, timestamps of events (such as when a state is reached), parties involved, and any other information considered relevant. In one or more embodiments of the invention, executions of business processes are documented in hash chains. A hash chain may include a series of blocks. Each block may document one or more events or transactions (such as when a state is reached). In one or more embodiments of the invention, each block further includes a fingerprint of the previous block in the hash chain. This fingerprint uniquely identifies the previous block and, thus, enforces an order of the blocks in the hash chain. The hash chains used for documenting business processes may be stored in the form of a public ledger, or they may be kept confidential. Further, the hash chains may be stored in a distributed manner, thereby establishing a distributed consensus system, making it difficult or even impossible to alter or falsify transactions stored in the hash chains. A detailed description of hash chains is provided below with reference to
Turning to
In one or more embodiments of the invention, multiple parties conduct a transaction that is governed by certain rules associated with the transaction. The system (100) is configured to enforce these rules based on a contract, thereby enabling proper completion of the transaction, even in case of distrustful parties. While
The graph repository (110), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, stores graph-based contracts (112). Each graph-based contract may specify rules that are to be applied when a particular transaction or group of transactions is executed. A detailed description of the implementation of rules using graph-based contracts is provided below with reference to
The contract processing engine (120), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, includes a set of machine-readable instructions (stored on a computer-readable medium) which, when executed by the system (100) oversee the execution of the contract, as specified by the rules of the graph-based contract. Accordingly, the contract processing engine (120), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, controls the progress toward fulfilling the contract. A detailed description of the operations performed by the contract processing engine (120) is provided in the flowchart of
The hash chain processing engine (130), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, includes a set of machine-readable instructions (stored on a computer-readable medium) which, when executed by the system (100) document the progression of the contract execution, based on input provided by the contract processing engine (120). For, example, whenever a new state, as specified in the graph-based contract, is reached, the hash chain processing engine may update a hash chain to document the newly reached state. A detailed description of the operations performed by the hash chain processing engine (130) is provided in the flowcharts of
The hash chain repository (140), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, stores hash chains (142). Each hash chain may document the progression of the execution of a particular graph-based contract. A single hash chain may be used to document the execution of multiple graph-based contracts, e.g., if multiple contracts are related. Further, the execution of unrelated graph-based contracts may also be documented in a single hash chain. A detailed description of the structure of hash chains is provided below with reference to
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the hash chain repository is distributed and includes multiple copies of the same hash chains. While these copies may be synchronized, they may be separately maintained, thereby establishing a distributed consensus system in which a bad actor would have to simultaneously alter the majority of the copies in order to make an unauthorized change to an earlier block of the hash chain. This distributed implementation may make it nearly impossible to make an unauthorized modification to a previously written block of a hash chain.
The conflict resolution engine (150), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, includes a set of machine-readable instructions (stored on a computer-readable medium) which, when executed by the system (100) addresses conflicts as the may occur, for example, when conflicting information that would result in a different execution of the graph-based contract, is detected. A typical conflict is, for example, the reporting of completion of one step of a transaction by one party, while another party disagrees. The detection and resolution of conflicts is discussed below with reference to
The external input interface (160), in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, enables the system (100) to access external resources to obtain information from sources different from the transaction parties (190A, 190B). Any type of resource that provides information relevant to the execution of a graph-based contract may be accessed. Such resources may be, for example, accounting databases, government records, etc. Input obtained by the external input interface may further be used by the conflict resolution engine (150).
Embodiments of the invention may be implemented on one or more computing systems that may be similar to the computing system introduced in
While
Turning to
While the exemplary graph-based contract only includes a limited number and variety of states (202), state transitions (204) and state transition criteria (206), those skilled in the art will appreciate that graph-based contracts may include any number of states, state transitions and state transition criteria. Rules of an underlying contract are, thus, graphically implemented as conditional statements. These rules may cover, but are not limited to, for example, late fees, general terms and conditions, fees, fines and may apply to subscriptions, services, major purchases, damages, late fees, extensions, etc.
States, state transitions and state transition criteria may be tagged with human-readable expressions, e.g. English language descriptions, e.g., phrases or sentences, as shown in
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the graphical implementation of contracts supports complex processes and enables laymen to graphically compose contracts, without requiring a software programming background. A graph-based contract may be established or edited using graphical programming, e.g., by sequentially combining states that may be obtained from a library, and by interconnecting these states using state transitions configured to include the desired state transition criteria. Additionally or alternatively, a graph-based contract may be generated from a customizable template. This template may be tailored to meet specific contractual requirements prior to instantiation.
As previously noted, the execution of graph-based contracts, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention is documented using hash chains. The resulting data changes and progression may thus be captured by hash chains, thereby establishing a history, as subsequently discussed.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, blocks (e.g., 310B, 310C, 310N) include block payloads (e.g., 314B, 314C, 314N). The payload may include documentation resulting from the execution of a graph-based contract (200). The payload may include, for example, a documentation of the reached state, how a state transaction criterion was met in order to reach the state, timestamps, a documentation of the transaction party that was involved in reaching the state, data entered in conjunction with reaching a state, etc. The payload may further include comments submitted by the transaction parties, conflict resolution information if a conflict was initially detected, etc. Consider, for example, that in the graph-based contract of
In one or more embodiments of the invention, blocks (e.g., 310B, 310C, 310N) further include fingerprints (e.g., 312B, 312C, 310N). A fingerprint that is stored as part of a particular block, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, is a unique identifier for the block immediately prior to the block that includes the fingerprint. For example, block 2 (310C) includes a fingerprint of block 1 (310B), and block 1 (310B) includes a fingerprint of the genesis block (310A).
A hash chain may be dedicated to documenting a single execution of a graph-based contract, or it may document multiple transactions, e.g., related transactions. In one or more embodiments of the invention, multiple copies of the same hash chain may coexist. For example, each party, but also other entities may have a copy of the hash chain. Under normal circumstances, these multiple hash chains are identical, even though they are separately maintained. Conflicts may arise if different parties add conflicting blocks to the chain. Consider, for example, a scenario, in which a shipment is indicated as having been received, based on the carrier's confirmation. However, the recipient claims that the no shipment has been received. If blocks are separately generated based on these conflicting pieces of information, a conflict is necessarily detected once the separately maintained hash chains are checked for consistency. A conflict resolution may be performed in order to determine the correct block to be added to the hash chain.
Maintaining multiple/many copies of a hash chain, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, makes the hash chain resilient to damage or attacks such as the unauthorized editing of earlier blocks, due to the fingerprints that are propagated from block to subsequent block through the hash chain. Any such change would necessarily result in a detectable change in the most recent block and would thus be detectable. An attacker would thus have to consistently alter the majority or all copies of the hash chain in order to credibly demonstrate that the change is legitimate. Depending on the number of existing copies, and assuming that the majority of participants that hold copies is honest, this may be considered impossible.
In view of the above, the use of hash chains to document the execution of a graph-based contract, or broadly speaking, a business process, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, provides a method to reliably document any type of transaction, even when the participants are non-trusting parties, in a shared manner.
Turning to
In Step 400, a graph-based contract is obtained for execution. The graph-based contract may be obtained from a graph repository, or alternatively it may be composed by a user or administrator immediately prior to the instantiation of the graph-based contract. The graph-based contract that is obtained in Step 400 is selected to be suitable for the purpose required by the participating transaction parties. For example, a graph-based contract for the processing of purchase orders may be obtained in Step 400 if one of the transaction parties is a buyer submitting a purchase order, and another transaction party is the seller receiving the purchase order. In contrast, a graph-based rental agreement may be obtained in Step 400 if one of the transaction parties is a prospective tenant and another one of the transaction parties is a landlord.
In Step 402, the obtained graph-based contract is instantiated. Instantiation may include, for example, setting the graph-based contract to an initial state, and/or obtaining the state transition criteria. For example, the graph-based contract obtained in Step 400 may only provide a framework that still needs to be populated with information specific to the applicable scenario. Consider, for example, a graph-based contract that includes state transitions that are based on dates and S-amounts, without specifying these dates and S-amounts. During the instantiation, these dates and S-amounts are obtained, to enable execution of the graph-based contract. Subsequently, the execution of the graph-based contract may begin.
In Step 404, event data is obtained. Event data, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, is any data that may affect the execution of the graph-based contract. Event data, thus, may include an input provided by one of the transaction parties, but also externally obtained data, e.g., data obtained from a database, from a hash chain, or from elsewhere. Event data is not necessarily always received. Accordingly, if no new event data is available, Step 404 may be skipped.
In Step 406, a determination is made about whether a state transition criterion is met, based on the event data. Only if a state transition criterion is met, the next state, accessible via the state transition that is allowed by the state transition criterion may be reached. Branching may be possible, if multiple state transitions to different states are implemented. Consider, for example, the calculation of a discount and assume that no discount is provided if the purchasing total is below $1,000, a 5% discount is provided for $1,000<purchasing total<$5,000, and a 10% discount is provided for purchasing totals beyond $5,000. Depending on the purchasing total, the next state may, thus, be a state that applies no discount, a 5% discount, or a 10% discount. In this example, the determination may be made based on data available from a previously received purchase order, from where the purchasing total may be obtained. Further, consider another scenario that requires a minimum purchasing total prior to allowing the checkout of purchased goods. In this scenario, there may only be a single next state, which may only be reached if the minimum purchasing total is met. A state transition may alternatively not be controlled by a state transition criterion. In such a case, the next state may be reached without the need to satisfy a state transition criterion.
If a determination is made that the state transition criterion is met, the method may proceed to Step 408, where the state transition to the state that is allowed by the state transition criterion is performed.
In Step 410, a determination is made about whether a final state has been reached. If the final state has not yet been reached, the execution of the method may return to Step 404 to evaluate the next state transition criterion, based on the available event data. However, if the final state has been reached, the execution of the method may terminate.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, at any time during the execution of the method of
While the method of
In Step 500, a hash chain is generated. The execution of Step 500 is optional. For example, Step 500 may not be executed if the subsequently described steps are performed on an existing hash chain. Generation of the hash chain may include generating a genesis block of the hash chain. The genesis block may form the initial block from which a fingerprint may be generated when appending a block, as described in
In Step 502, a determination is made about whether a state transition has been detected. A state transition may be detected whenever Step 406 of
In Step 504, a block is appended to the hash chain in order to document the state transition. A detailed description of Step 504 is provided in
In Step 506, a determination is made about whether the execution of the graph-based contract, as described in
Turning to
In Step 600, a fingerprint of the current last block of the hash chain is obtained. The fingerprint may be obtained by performing a hash operation, as previously described with reference to
In Step 602, the payload to be included in the block that is being added to the hash chain is obtained. The payload, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention, includes a documentation of the state transition that triggered the execution of the methods of
In Step 604, a new block is written to the hash chain. The new block is formed by the payload obtained in Step 602 and the fingerprint obtained in Step 600. The newly appended block establishes the new end of the hash chain, where an additional block may be appended at a later time. Due to the embedded fingerprint of the previous block, the order of blocks, added by repeated execution of the method of
Various embodiments of the invention have one or more of the following advantages. Embodiments of the invention enable collaborative models of conducting business in which objects (e.g., transaction records, accounting histories, etc.) are exposed via a shared platform that enables a history or documentation to be maintained. This distinguishes embodiments of the invention from the traditional approach in which businesses operate in a defensive manner to not trust each other to ensure the books are maintained correctly. Traditionally, their systems, processes, and employees are honed to operate independently because technology has not enabled a model allowing for the sharing of common entities in a manner that can enable trust.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, a business process is guided by a graph-based contract and may progress as specified by the rules of the graph-based contract, without requiring human intervention. The graph-based representation of a business process enables automation of the business process in a transparent yet machine-enforceable manner The terms of the contract can be seen, reviewed, explained and agreed upon by visual inspection of the graph-based contract, rather than forcing a user to analyze code.
A graph-based contract may be shared across the nodes that participate in a transaction, and transactions performed as specified by the graph-based contract may be recorded in a shared ledger that is represented by one or more hash chains.
Using embodiments of the invention, business process can be automated (or executed programmatically) by virtue of the shared graph-based contract and the shared hash chain(s). The transaction history that is maintained using the hash chain(s) may ensure that each step, changes and progress are fully documented and explainable at any point. A complete history of activities associated with the execution of the graph-based contract is, thus, available. Embodiments of the invention therefore have the potential to eliminate gaps that in traditional approaches may cause misunderstandings, disputes or even fraud. Disputes may be resolved based on the comprehensive documentation provided by the hash chains and the framework or rules established by the graph-based contract. By maintaining multiple copies of a hash chain, unauthorized modifications to previously written blocks become difficult or near impossible, because any deviation in one copy of the hash chain would be recognizable when comparing the modified copy against other copies of the hash chain. Accordingly, transactions documented in accordance with one or more embodiments of the invention are safeguarded against error and fraud, and the system itself may detect anomalies or exceptions.
One or more embodiments of the invention are suitable for the automation of a broad range of interactions between parties. These interactions include, but are not limited to business transaction such as sales order generation, quoting, invoicing, billing, shipping, accounting, asset tracking, etc. The automation and security provided by embodiments of the invention enables employees to focus on other tasks where human interaction remains desirable, such as customer service.
Embodiments of the invention may be implemented on a computing system. Any combination of mobile, desktop, server, router, switch, embedded device, or other types of hardware may be used. For example, as shown in
The computer processor(s) (702) may be an integrated circuit for processing instructions. For example, the computer processor(s) may be one or more cores or micro-cores of a processor. The computing system (700) may also include one or more input devices (710), such as a touchscreen, keyboard, mouse, microphone, touchpad, electronic pen, or any other type of input device.
The communication interface (712) may include an integrated circuit for connecting the computing system (700) to a network (not shown) (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) such as the Internet, mobile network, or any other type of network) and/or to another device, such as another computing device.
Further, the computing system (700) may include one or more output devices (708), such as a screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, touchscreen, cathode ray tube (CRT) monitor, projector, or other display device), a printer, external storage, or any other output device. One or more of the output devices may be the same or different from the input device(s). The input and output device(s) may be locally or remotely connected to the computer processor(s) (702), non-persistent storage (704), and persistent storage (706). Many different types of computing systems exist, and the aforementioned input and output device(s) may take other forms.
Software instructions in the form of computer readable program code to perform embodiments of the invention may be stored, in whole or in part, temporarily or permanently, on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a CD, DVD, storage device, a diskette, a tape, flash memory, physical memory, or any other computer readable storage medium. Specifically, the software instructions may correspond to computer readable program code that, when executed by a processor(s), is configured to perform one or more embodiments of the invention.
The computing system (700) in
Although not shown in
The nodes (e.g., node X (722), node Y (724)) in the network (720) may be configured to provide services for a client device (726). For example, the nodes may be part of a cloud computing system. The nodes may include functionality to receive requests from the client device (726) and transmit responses to the client device (726). The client device (726) may be a computing system, such as the computing system shown in
The computing system or group of computing systems described in
Based on the client-server networking model, sockets may serve as interfaces or communication channel end-points enabling bidirectional data transfer between processes on the same device. Foremost, following the client-server networking model, a server process (e.g., a process that provides data) may create a first socket object. Next, the server process binds the first socket object, thereby associating the first socket object with a unique name and/or address. After creating and binding the first socket object, the server process then waits and listens for incoming connection requests from one or more client processes (e.g., processes that seek data). At this point, when a client process wishes to obtain data from a server process, the client process starts by creating a second socket object. The client process then proceeds to generate a connection request that includes at least the second socket object and the unique name and/or address associated with the first socket object. The client process then transmits the connection request to the server process. Depending on availability, the server process may accept the connection request, establishing a communication channel with the client process, or the server process, busy in handling other operations, may queue the connection request in a buffer until server process is ready. An established connection informs the client process that communications may commence. In response, the client process may generate a data request specifying the data that the client process wishes to obtain. The data request is subsequently transmitted to the server process. Upon receiving the data request, the server process analyzes the request and gathers the requested data. Finally, the server process then generates a reply including at least the requested data and transmits the reply to the client process. The data may be transferred, more commonly, as datagrams or a stream of characters (e.g., bytes).
Shared memory refers to the allocation of virtual memory space in order to substantiate a mechanism for which data may be communicated and/or accessed by multiple processes. In implementing shared memory, an initializing process first creates a shareable segment in persistent or non-persistent storage. Post creation, the initializing process then mounts the shareable segment, subsequently mapping the shareable segment into the address space associated with the initializing process. Following the mounting, the initializing process proceeds to identify and grant access permission to one or more authorized processes that may also write and read data to and from the shareable segment. Changes made to the data in the shareable segment by one process may immediately affect other processes, which are also linked to the shareable segment. Further, when one of the authorized processes accesses the shareable segment, the shareable segment maps to the address space of that authorized process. Often, only one authorized process may mount the shareable segment, other than the initializing process, at any given time.
Other techniques may be used to share data, such as the various data described in the present application, between processes without departing from the scope of the invention. The processes may be part of the same or different application and may execute on the same or different computing system.
Rather than or in addition to sharing data between processes, the computing system performing one or more embodiments of the invention may include functionality to receive data from a user. For example, in one or more embodiments, a user may submit data via a graphical user interface (GUI) on the user device. Data may be submitted via the graphical user interface by a user selecting one or more graphical user interface widgets or inserting text and other data into graphical user interface widgets using a touchpad, a keyboard, a mouse, or any other input device. In response to selecting a particular item, information regarding the particular item may be obtained from persistent or non-persistent storage by the computer processor. Upon selection of the item by the user, the contents of the obtained data regarding the particular item may be displayed on the user device in response to the user's selection.
By way of another example, a request to obtain data regarding the particular item may be sent to a server operatively connected to the user device through a network. For example, the user may select a uniform resource locator (URL) link within a web client of the user device, thereby initiating a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or other protocol request being sent to the network host associated with the URL. In response to the request, the server may extract the data regarding the particular selected item and send the data to the device that initiated the request. Once the user device has received the data regarding the particular item, the contents of the received data regarding the particular item may be displayed on the user device in response to the user's selection. Further to the above example, the data received from the server after selecting the URL link may provide a web page in Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) that may be rendered by the web client and displayed on the user device.
Once data is obtained, such as by using techniques described above or from storage, the computing system, in performing one or more embodiments of the invention, may extract one or more data items from the obtained data. For example, the extraction may be performed as follows by the computing system in
Next, extraction criteria are used to extract one or more data items from the token stream or structure, where the extraction criteria are processed according to the organizing pattern to extract one or more tokens (or nodes from a layered structure). For position-based data, the token(s) at the position(s) identified by the extraction criteria are extracted. For attribute/value-based data, the token(s) and/or node(s) associated with the attribute(s) satisfying the extraction criteria are extracted. For hierarchical/layered data, the token(s) associated with the node(s) matching the extraction criteria are extracted. The extraction criteria may be as simple as an identifier string or may be a query provided to a structured data repository (where the data repository may be organized according to a database schema or data format, such as XML).
The extracted data may be used for further processing by the computing system. For example, the computing system of
The computing system in
The user, or software application, may submit a statement or query into the DBMS. Then the DBMS interprets the statement. The statement may be a select statement to request information, update statement, create statement, delete statement, etc. Moreover, the statement may include parameters that specify data, or data container (database, table, record, column, view, etc.), identifier(s), conditions (comparison operators), functions (e.g. join, full join, count, average, etc.), sort (e.g. ascending, descending), or others. The DBMS may execute the statement. For example, the DBMS may access a memory buffer, a reference or index a file for read, write, deletion, or any combination thereof, for responding to the statement. The DBMS may load the data from persistent or non-persistent storage and perform computations to respond to the query. The DBMS may return the result(s) to the user or software application.
The computing system of
For example, a GUI may first obtain a notification from a software application requesting that a particular data object be provided within the GUI. Next, the GUI may determine a data object type associated with the particular data object, e.g., by obtaining data from a data attribute within the data object that identifies the data object type. Then, the GUI may determine any rules designated for displaying that data object type, e.g., rules specified by a software framework for a data object class or according to any local parameters defined by the GUI for presenting that data object type. Finally, the GUI may obtain data values from the particular data object and render a visual representation of the data values within a display device according to the designated rules for that data object type.
Data may also be provided through various audio methods. In particular, data may be rendered into an audio format and provided as sound through one or more speakers operably connected to a computing device.
Data may also be provided to a user through haptic methods. For example, haptic methods may include vibrations or other physical signals generated by the computing system. For example, data may be provided to a user using a vibration generated by a handheld computer device with a predefined duration and intensity of the vibration to communicate the data.
The above description of functions presents only a few examples of functions performed by the computing system of
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
