Registry driven interoperability and exchange of documents

Abstract

The present invention relates to systems and methods for registry driven transformation of a document exchanged between businesses or applications. More particularly, it relates to systems and protocols for using one or more commonly accessible registries to transform electronic commerce documents among dissimilar interfaces, preferably XML documents. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings.

We claim as follows: 
     
         1 . A method including:
 maintaining a document family registry data structure for a particular document family including document family members, the document family registry data structure including:
 document family versions, 
 transforms including program instructions that transform data between document family versions, and 
 associations of the transforms with source document family members and target document family members; and 
   responding to requests for transforms to convert a document from a source version to a target version by:
 traversing the document family registry data structure as a directed graph, and 
 providing one or more sequences of transforms determined by the traversing. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the document family versions in the document family registry data structure are identified by library, document identifier, release version and schema type. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more sequences of transforms includes one or more of Contivo maps, XSLT maps, XST maps, XSD-SOX classes, and Java maps. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more sequences of transforms is stored in a local repository and is checked against a non-local repository for currency before application. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the maintaining of the document family registry data structure further includes maintaining transform success scores; and   the traversing of the document family registry data structure further includes calculating composite transform success scores for the one or more sequences of transforms.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the transform success scores correspond to a fraction of fields translated verbatim from a field of the source document to a field of the target document. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the transform success scores correspond to a fraction of text in fields of the source document found verbatim in fields of the target document. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the maintaining of the document family registry data structure further includes maintaining special rules for transforms to be applied corresponding to one or more participants in a document exchange; and   the providing further includes referring to privately maintained transforms, maintained separately from the document family registry data structure.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the providing further includes referring to privately maintained transforms, maintained separately from the document family registry data structure. 
     
     
         10 . A method including:
 maintaining a document family registry data structure for a particular document family including document family members, the document family registry data structure including:
 document family versions; and 
 transforms including program instructions that transform data between document family versions; and 
   responding to requests, which identify a first document family version and a second document family version, by providing a transform to be executed remotely and that transforms the data from the first document family version to the second document family version.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the document family versions in the document family registry data structure are identified by library, document identifier, release version and schema type. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more sequences of transforms includes one or more of Contivo maps, XSLT maps, XST maps, XSD-SOX classes, and Java maps. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more sequences of transforms is stored in a local repository and is checked against a non-local repository for currency before application. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , further including traversing the document family registry data structure and identifying one or more sequences of multiple transforms that collectively transform from the first document family version of a source document into the second document family version of a target document. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein:
 the maintaining of the transforms further includes maintaining transform success scores; and   the responding to requests further includes calculating composite transform success scores for the one or more sequences of multiple transforms.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the transform success scores correspond to a fraction of fields translated verbatim from a field of the source document to a field of the target document. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the transform success scores correspond to a fraction of text in fields of the source document found verbatim in fields of the target document. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the maintaining of the document family registry data structure further includes maintaining special rules for transforms to be applied corresponding to one or more participants in a document exchange. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the transform to be executed remotely is a privately maintained transform that is maintained separately from the document family registry data structure. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein:
 the maintaining of the document family registry data structure further includes maintaining special rules for transforms to be applied corresponding to one or more participants in a document exchange; and   the responding further includes referring to a private transform that is maintained securely within the document family registry data structure.   
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium impressed with computer program instructions that, when executed on a processor, implement a method comprising:
 maintaining a document family registry data structure for a particular document family including document family members, the document family registry data structure including:
 document family versions, 
 transforms including program instructions that transform data between document family versions, and 
 associations of the transforms with source document family members and target document family members; and 
   responding to requests for transforms to convert a document from a source version to a target version by:
 traversing the document family registry data structure as a directed graph, and 
 providing one or more sequences of transforms determined by the traversing. 
   
     
     
         22 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium impressed with computer program instructions that, when executed on a processor, implement a method comprising:
 maintaining a document family registry data structure for a particular document family including document family members, the document family registry data structure including:
 document family versions, and 
 transforms including program instructions that transform data between document family versions; and 
   responding to requests, which identify a first document family version and a second document family version, by providing a transform to be executed remotely and that transforms the data from the first document family version to the second document family version.   
     
     
         23 . A system including one or more processors coupled to memory, the memory loaded with computer instructions that, when executed on the processors, implement actions comprising:
 maintaining a document family registry data structure for a particular document family including document family members, the document family registry data structure including:
 document family versions, 
 transforms including program instructions that transform data between document family versions, and 
 associations of the transforms with source document family members and target document family members; and 
   responding to requests for transforms to convert a document from a source version to a target version by:
 traversing the document family registry data structure as a directed graph, and 
 providing one or more sequences of transforms determined by the traversing. 
   
     
     
         24 . A system including one or more processors coupled to memory, the memory loaded with computer instructions that, when executed on the processors, implement actions comprising:
 maintaining a document family registry data structure for a particular document family including document family members, the document family registry data structure including:
 document family versions, and 
 transforms including program instructions that transform data between document family versions; and 
   responding to requests, which identify a first document family version and a second document family version, by providing a transform to be executed remotely and that transforms the data from the first document family version to the second document family version.