Patent Application
20230421443
The present invention is directed towards a method for automated robot entity based execution of processes across distributed heterogeneous computing environments. The suggested teachings provide means to dynamically assign robots and/or tasks to well performing environments and may even adapt the configuration of an environment towards proper process execution. The invention is furthermore directed towards a respectively arranged system along with a computer program product and a computer-readable medium.
WO-A-2009/053472 shows a method for orchestrating services of a service-oriented automation system and an orchestration machine. System components provide their functionality as services and are capable of interrogating services of other system components, with the automation system's behavior being controlled by orchestrating the services of the system components using an orchestration engine.
WO 2009/101212 refers to a method and system for incorporating service-oriented automation components of a manufacturing facility into a flexible IT enterprise architecture. In order to configure flexible production facilities in the form of an orchestration procedure and to specify elements, it is envisaged that the service-oriented automation components will be coupled via a higher-level orchestration middleware and that the services offered by the service-oriented automation components will be implemented using a vectorial function and one on orchestration of service-oriented automation component based layouts are integrated into the higher level.
US 2019/0266254 A1 shows a system for processing a request associated with an electronic record, comprising an artificial intelligence orchestration platform, including an artificial intelligence orchestration communication device to receive electronic record, an artificial intelligence orchestration processor coupled to the artificial intelligence orchestration communication device, and an artificial intelligence orchestration storage device.
US 2019/0015974 A1 shows a computing apparatus comprising a third computing platform having a third memory and at least one Robotic Process Automation (RPA) bot stored in the third memory, executable by the third processor and configured to receive an input command from the event case processing management module, perform predetermined robotic tasks in response to the input commands, and return outputs to the event case processing management module in response to performing the predetermined robotic tasks.
US 2019/0303779 A1 shows a system for managing robotic process automation (RPA) software robots (bots) implemented on at least one processor.
Computer implemented agents is a growing research topic involving several fields such as software automation, artificial intelligence, underlying hardware infrastructures as well as parallelization of processing steps and their distribution over a heterogeneous computer network. Robotic process automation (RPA) is a form of process automation based on software robots. Software robots complete the technical processes in a way a person would, only faster and typically with fewer mistakes. This is a technical effect that allows more reliable results.
Some technical processes might require a person to complete several manual operations over a multitude of systems. Often these steps can be described and documented comprehensively in a list of actions to take to complete the process from the beginning to the end. Robotic process automation can be applied to automate those documented actions, for instance, in a way that they can be completed automatically by software robots. Robotic process automation (RPA) may use software robots (bots), also referred to as workers or agents, possibly along with artificial intelligence, for computer implemented process automation.
RPA started out as a business user-focused domain, but as applications of RPA become more high-impact and business-critical, we start to see more developer-oriented tools emerging. With these developer tools, RPA implementation is becoming more of a domain for software robot developers, not as much for casual business users. Software robot developers want to embrace all the best practices of developers, so sharing and reusing code becomes a normal way of working.
As open-source RPA tools mature, software robots become a commodity that every organization is eventually able to use. With this change, the role of the software robot developer will be in high demand, as RPA starts coming available for new kinds of use-cases and broader audiences. Cloud orchestration will be a driver in this development as well since only a handful of users will be willing to invest in operating their own orchestration services, when the same solution can be purchased easily from the cloud.
With widely available RPA developer tools and cloud orchestration, one will see the beginning of the next wave of RPA adoption. Small and medium-sized enterprises will look for ways to incorporate business automation tools but without their own dedicated IT employees. A market need will arise for a new service provider: robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) operator. RaaS operators will claim a segment of the research field, with some operators focusing on specific verticals and others being general automation service providers.
However, as such agents, artificial workers or robots handle sensitive data there is a problem that secrets must be respected and moreover fraudulent access must be prohibited in any case. This is of general interest and needs improved solutions for data access and rights management.
The prior art does not in any case consider such privacy issues or at least an alternative contribution is required. In case several contributions are available attacks are still made more difficult and labor intense as respective entities do not know which protocols are underlying a specific RPA platform. Hence, there is a need to provide additional contributions in the research field of secure process automation, especially in a potentially distributed, heterogeneous hardware environment. Typically interfaces are at least detectable and so a sophisticated protocol is required which allows the exchange of technical secrets over the network.
Moreover the prior art lacks possibilities to respond to different hardware and software configurations. One environment may be more appropriate for the accomplishment of a task than another one. The prior art lacks a dynamic distribution of tasks to the best performing environment.
Hence, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a system arrangement for robot entity based execution of processes across distributed heterogeneous computing environments that allows the execution of tasks under appropriate configurations of environments. In case one environment or the configuration thereof is not able to execute a task conditions shall be adapted towards the proper processing. Moreover, it is an object of the present invention to provide a respectively arranged computer program product and a computer-readable medium.
The object is solved by the subject-matter according to claim 1.
Accordingly, a method for automated robot entity based execution of processes across distributed heterogeneous computing environments is suggested, comprising the steps of initiating the process considering provided execution parameters and triggering the execution of the process, wherein the process defines the execution of at least one task by the robot entity operating in a first computing environment; evaluating the execution of the at least one task by a predefined accomplishment metric; storing results of a completed process execution in an output storage and launching an exception handler for an incomplete process execution which adapts the provided execution parameters and initiates and triggers the process execution again.
According to an aspect of the present invention there are two exception handling cases with failed items invoked by the exception handler:
Hence, an incomplete process execution results either in a completely new iteration of the process, maybe with a reconfigured environment, or at least a sub-process is performed. The process can be evaluated on a step by step basis and only those tasks that previously failed are retried. The sub steps may be executed in a chained manner meaning that a complete sub-process is accomplished or at least a selection of sub steps is performed. The method for automated robot entity based execution of processes across distributed heterogeneous computing environments assigns process tasks to robots and provides them with a computing environment, such as a server or any IT infrastructure. The computing devices are typically connected by a communication network which might involve any kind of communication such as wireless are wired communication. The method makes use of the different configurations, also referred to as heterogeneous environments, as each environment has its advantages. In this way in case one computing device is environment fails a further environment might solve the problem. The environment also includes software components and hence parameters are changed such that software is installed or the robot takes the tasks to an environment already providing such software components.
Initiating the process considering provided execution parameters and triggering the execution of the process involves that the configuration parameters are provided to the robot and accordingly a specific environment is assigned. The parameters might also include input parameters required for computation.
As the process defines the execution of at least one task by the robot entity operating in a first computing environment an order of steps as tasks is given, wherein each robot takes over at least one object, task, subtask or work item. The process holds several tasks which can be taken over by robots which may also work jointly on a single task.
After processing of at least one task evaluating the execution of the at least one task by a predefined accomplishment metric is accomplished. Hence, the method identifies whether the task is accomplished properly. The rules might indicate what data type or level of accuracy is required. Even if some tables in a database have to be filled the method may check if the data is indeed available.
In case of a positive evaluation storing results of a completed process execution in an output storage is performed. Hence, the work results are stored and may likewise serve as input for new computations in a new process.
In the case of a negative evaluation launching an exception handler for an incomplete process execution which adapts the provided execution parameters and initiates and triggers the process execution again is performed. Hence, the exception handler might provide instructions which adapt the task so it can be performed or reconfigures the environment. It might likewise be necessary to assign a further or an alternative robot to the task or have the task computed in a different environment.
This is performed until an ending condition is reached or the required result is delivered.
The secure management of authorization data involves a very specific sequence of method steps and consequently message flow. While single steps may be known and be arranged according to known scenarios the very specific arrangement of the steps and message flow as currently suggested contributes towards a safe management of secrets such as credentials for the robots.
Typically several robot entities, also referred to as robots, are involved and consequently each robot receives its task, performs the step receiving a certificate, of linking with the orchestration server, receiving a link token data, linking with a vault server and receiving credential data from the vault server upon its request and using the sent credential data to authenticate and authorize itself at a number of legacy systems to perform tasks assigned to the robot. Hence, according to an aspect of the present invention each out of a number of robots performs at least one task assigned by the orchestration server. In preliminary steps each robot entity performs the steps for receiving respective rights from the certificate providing server and the vault server. In case a robot performs several tasks such preliminary steps may be performed once or for each of the tasks to access the required legacy system.
The automated processing of instructions in a robotic process automation environment refers to the segregation of processes into single tasks and assigning them to robot entities according to an aspect of the present invention. The robots receive their task from the orchestration server and access legacy systems if required for accomplishing the tasks. It may be the case that the robots act jointly for accomplishing their tasks in case dependencies are present. Hence, the robots do not only perform their own specific tasks but rather communicate with each other over the network. Hence, they accomplish a process and each robot performs its task or tasks and shares results of one accomplished task with other robots which may rely on such a previously computed result. In this way instructions are processed and the process divided by the orchestration server is performed by the robots. In this way each robot may accomplish at least one task and interact with further robots.
The certificate data may contain information for identification of a single robot or a group of robots. The certificate data may for instance comprise a public key which is uniquely assigned to a robot. By transmitting the certificate data the orchestrator server becomes aware of available robots and the robots themselves can present the certificate data to the vault server. Upon receiving the certificate data the orchestration server can link itself with the robot, or respectively several robots. The robots themselves can transmit this certificate data, for instance the public key, to the vault server for triggering further message flow such as the transmission of the link token.
The certificate providing server according to an aspect of the present invention may be used to initialize the process of the suggested method. It is used for establishing certificates and distribution of the certificate data to the orchestration server and to each of the robots. In this way the certificate providing server introduces robot entities into the system or at least initializes robots to be introduced into the system as they are provided with the certificate data. The certificate data may be required for entering the system meaning to receive tasks from the orchestration server and to take part in the communication with the vault server according to further method steps.
Any communication in the suggested method and arrangement can be performed using further security mechanisms such as encryption or the like. Moreover, secured channels and additional hardware components may be applied for securing the data and its communication across the overall environment.
The orchestration server stores process models or generally instructions for accomplishing a specific process. The process as a whole can be treated as a task to be accomplished by a robot or the process can be broken down into single tasks which can then be performed by a number of robots. In this way the process or issue to be performed can be assigned to several robots which jointly perform required steps. The orchestration server is aware of available robots as they are linked with the orchestration server. Hence, it is known how many robots are available and especially which capacities and resources they offer. The orchestration may assign each robot the task that is most appropriate in terms of efficient handling.
At least one robot entity may be one single entity or a group of robots which work independently from each other. This does not mean that they do not share information but rather the act together for solving the overall process or issue. Hence dependencies are considered and once a first task is finished resulting knowledge may be shared amongst the robots for accomplishing a second task. The robots are able to separately perform the suggested method steps such that each robot acquires the respective information such as credentials and access information for accomplishing the task. The method steps may likewise be performed for the whole group such that the group obtains the required certificates and credential data.
One of a possible feature in the cloud platform is that it can create temporary running environments (cloud container or virtual machine) on need. The orchestrator can also:
The linking of at least one robot entity with the orchestration server may involve steps such as setting up a communication session over a communication channel. Linking means that the robot or the robots are made known to the orchestration server and vice versa. Hence, the orchestration server is aware of the robots and knows how to communicate with them. The orchestration server may hold a database including processes or receive such processes using an interface.
The link token data from the certificate providing server enables at least one robot to use the secrets from the vault server. Then a link token may contain an address of the vault server so the worker or robot is able to link and connect with the vault server. Upon reception of the link token data the vault server knows according to an aspect of the present invention that the robot is allowed to access secrets and under which circumstances. For instance the link token data may contain specific rights so the vault server can provide respective secrets.
After these steps the robot or robots perform tasks assigned to each of them by the orchestration server after linking. These steps may be performed using any number of legacy systems. A first legacy system may be an e-mail program while a second system may be a customer database. Consequently, the robots may act together and automatically reply to any email sent by a customer. In case the sender is not in the database the mail may be forwarded to a further robot. Hence, the overall process can be named answering mails, while tasks include the handling and operating of the mail program and a further task may be the look-up in a database, for example.
According to an aspect of the present invention the task is split into at least two subtasks and the step of storing or initiating again and triggering again is performed for each subtask. This provides the advantage that each subtask is handled appropriately and either finished or tried to be executed in a different or at least differently configured environment.
According to an aspect of the present invention the execution parameters define at least one of a second computing environment, an alternative task implementation, an update of input data required for process execution, a timestamp, a repeat frequency and/or a computer environment configuration. This provides the advantage that the process and the robot get instructions how and where to execute the process. For instance a specific environment is selected and indicated that the robot shall perform the task three times. If no successful execution is reached a different configuration or environment is provided.
According to an aspect of the present invention the predefined accomplishment metric measures execution parameters and defines the required output by a set of rules. This provides the advantage that the system and the method are able to decide whether execution was successful or not. The parameters might describe the result for instance by naming an expected data type as a range of values.
According to an aspect of the present invention the exception handler is triggered in case a predefined time out is reached. This provides the advantage that in case the task is not performed in a given time frame execution is changed or stopped and retriggered.
According to an aspect of the present invention a message flow is secured by at least one of link tokens, a public key, a private key, a certificate, credential data and/or a timestamp. This provides the advantage that entities and/or environments can be linked using tokens and the data flow and message flow is secured.
According to an aspect of the present invention the number of involved environments is limited by the number of subtasks the robot entities process. This provides the advantage that as many environments can be used as tasks or subtasks are available. Hence each robot or task can have their own environment or several robot entities may be created on a single environment. This allows parallelization and distribution of tasks, computing effort and robots.
According to an aspect of the present invention a history of process executions is recorded and the task is assigned to the robot entity and/or environment that performed best according to the predefined accomplishment metric. This provides the advantage that a learning mechanism is created that identifies patterns in already executed process traces and matches the results with the configuration of the best performing environment or environment configuration. Hence, the metric defines what goals are to be achieved. A goal might be fast processing or rather accurate processing. For each data item (e.g. customer number) a full processing history can be preserved and stored. This can also be used in audit log purposes to answer legal and compliance needs (e.g. this customer was processed with this environment by these user credentials at this time).
According to a further aspect of the present invention the orchestration server divides a process to be accomplished into single tasks and assigns them to at least one robot entity for its accomplishment. This provides the advantage that the orchestration can perform technical process management apart from authentication and authorization data. Hence, the logic is divided and changes regarding one server may not affect the other one.
According to a further aspect of the present invention the legacy systems are accessed by at least one robot entity using predefined interfaces. This provides the advantage that any legacy system can be integrated without further ado and hence the robots can accomplish a huge variety of tasks.
According to a further aspect of the present invention the at least one robot entity comprises a software agent, a set of control instructions, a physical robot, a software robot and/or an autonomous artificial intelligence agent. This provides the advantage that a heterogeneous environment of robots can be integrated and can be operated seamlessly. They all can jointly act together towards accomplishing the overall process.
According to a further aspect of the present invention the method is implemented as a software protocol in a distributed environment. This provides the advantage that the method and the arrangement can be deployed in an easy way and can moreover be integrated in an existing environment.
The object is also solved by a system for automated robot entity based execution of processes across distributed heterogeneous computing environments, comprising a process manager unit arranged to initiate the process considering provided execution parameters and an orchestrator unit arranged to trigger the execution of the process, wherein the process defines the execution of at least one task by the robot entity operating in a first computing environment; an exception handler unit arranged to evaluate the execution of the at least one task by a predefined accomplishment metric; an output data storage unit arranged to store results of a completed process execution in an output storage, the orchestrator unit being arranged to launch an exception handler for an incomplete process execution which is arranged to adapt the provided execution parameters and initiates and triggers the process execution again.
The object is also solved by a computer program product comprising instructions to cause the arrangement to execute the steps of the method as well by a computer-readable medium having stored thereon the computer program.
It is of special advantage that the method as suggested above can be executed using structural features of the suggested system arrangement. Accordingly the method teaches steps which are arranged to operate the suggested arrangement. Furthermore, the arrangement comprises structural features allowing the accomplishment of the suggested method. In addition a computer program and a computer program product respectively is suggested comprising instructions which perform the suggested method when executed on a computer or the arrangement according to the present invention. Furthermore, the instructions provide means for implementing the structural features of the claimed arrangement. Accordingly an operable image of the structural features of the device can be created. Likewise an arrangement comprising the structural device features is provided.
The invention will now be described merely by way of illustration with reference to the accompanying drawings:
Throughout the application the terminology robot and worker refer to the same concept and can be used interchangeably. Hence, a worker describes a robot or a software agent in general.
The solution according to an aspect of the present invention may consist of at least the following features:
The underlying message flow can be implemented as a computer implemented software protocol in a distributed RPA (robotic process automation) environment. The suggested method and the arrangement can be implemented as a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) system.
Use cases may include some legacy systems. Software robots can be used to automate more demanding tasks, including machine learning and artificial intelligence, and it still needs some secrets and credentials to use other systems, although it is not always login name and password type sequences, but something similar that is needed e.g. to use API and get data.
The terms “legacy system” and “system used” can, according to an aspect of the present invention, be used interchangeably. The same holds true for the terms “Robot Entity” and “Worker” which can likewise be used interchangeably. Consequently a robot and worker may be represented by the same entity. The Link Token can likewise be referred to as a (Vault) Access Token.
According to an aspect of the present invention the solution comprises the following actors and items:
According to an aspect of the present invention the solution based on the innovation comprises the following steps:
An object or task may be defined in pseudo code as provided by the following example:
The status may be assigned the value “failed”, “incomplete”, “completed” or the like to indicate whether the result is to be processed, stored or reprocessed. There is also a possibility to add custom statuses, which can have custom logic not defined by the default system. Hence, the user can define their own status and launch the exception handler accordingly. In this context the status of the process being failed, incomplete or completed is just exemplary and not to be understood to be restrictive. These types of status are merely introduced for demonstration purposes. The status can be manually handled to describe which items are assigned according to certain logic in the process which is used by the exception handler.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20208230.1 | Nov 2020 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2021/060402 | 11/10/2021 | WO |
