Third-party software isolation using an actor-based model

A system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a data collection engine configured to receive input data comprised of scheduling information from a scheduling application for executing one or more workflow steps in an automated workflow environment, and device-related information from at least one third-party software application governing operation of a third-party instrument in response to the scheduling application to execute the one or more workflow steps, the scheduling application and the at least one third-party software application operating within a common computing platform;
• and
• an actor instantiation engine configured to implement an actor-based model that represents the at least one third-party software application as a recursive exception handling structure independent of the at least one third-party software application to protect scheduling application integrity, within a message-based abstraction layer instantiated between the scheduling application and the at least one third-party software application, the message-based abstraction layer including an actor assigned to each third-party software application, to containerize the at least one third-party software application and isolate the scheduling application from each third-party software application within the common computing platform, wherein each actor is configured to act as a device software supervisor and communications interface by queuing one or more messages received from the scheduling application, monitoring an event state of the third party instrument to which the actor is assigned, communicating event state information where the third-party instrument enters an exception state, the event state information indicative of an instruction that the at least one third-party software application cannot continue by generating a notification to the scheduling application representing the exception state of the third-party instrument, receiving an instruction to either halt the failed actor, or restart the failed actor, from the scheduling application, and generating a subsequent instruction to the third-party instrument entering the exception state,
• wherein the message-based abstraction layer replaces direct interface-based method calls in which messages and event state information are communicated between the scheduling application and each third-party software application, so that the third-party software application is responsive only to messages from the actor when the third-party instrument is in the exception state to prevent the scheduling application from crashing due to exception state.

A method of isolating scheduling software from third-party software in an automated workflow environment, comprising:

• instantiating a message-based abstraction layer between a scheduling application and at least one third-party software application operating within a common computing platform, the at least one third-party software application governing operation of a third-party instrument in response to the scheduling application to execute one or more workflow steps within an automated workflow environment, in an actor-based model that represents the at least one third-party software application as a recursive exception handling structure independent of the scheduling application to protect scheduling application integrity, wherein the actor-based model includes an actor assigned to each third-party software application, and each actor is configured to act as a device software supervisor and communications interface;
• applying the actor-based model to containerize the at least one third-party software application and isolate the scheduling application from each third-party software application within the common computing platform, by
• queueing one or more messages received from the scheduling application, and monitoring an event state of the third-party instrument to which the actor is assigned,
• communicating event state information where the third-party instrument enters an exception state, the event state information indicative of an instruction that the at least one third-party software application cannot continue, by generating a notification to the scheduling application representing the exception state of the third-party instrument;
• and
• either halting the failed actor, or restarting the failed actor, based on one or more messages communicated from the scheduling application, and a generating subsequent instruction to the actor assigned to the third-party instrument entering the exception state,
• wherein the message-based abstraction layer replaces direct interface-based method calls in which messages and event state information are communicated between the scheduling application and each third-party software application, so that the at least one third-party software application is responsive only to messages from the actor when the third-party instrument is in the exception state to prevent the scheduling application from crashing due to exception state.