# US 2002/0165872 A1 · Tool for building documents for commerce in trading partner networks and interface definitions based on the documents

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- Number: US 2002/0165872 A1
- Document ID: US20020165872A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 10/044,450
- Filed: 2002-01-10
- Published: 2002-11-07
- Earliest claimed: 1998-10-16
- Assignees: Commerce One Operations, Inc.
- Inventors: Bart Alan Meltzer; Terry Allen; Matthew Daniel Fuchs; Robert John Glushko; Murray Maloney
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20020165872A1

## CPC

- G06Q 99/00: Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
- G06Q 10/06: Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
- G06Q 20/10: specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
- G06Q 20/209: {Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output}
- G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR

## Abstract

Machine readable documents connect businesses with customers, suppliers and trading partners. The self defining electronic documents, such as XML based documents, can be easily understood amongst the partners. Definitions of these electronics business documents, called business interface definitions, are posted on the Internet, or otherwise communicated to members of the network. The business interface definitions tell potential trading partners the services the company offers and the documents to use when communicating with such services. Thus, a typical business interface definition allows a customer to place an order by submitting a purchase order or a supplier checks availability by downloading an inventory status report. Also, composition of the input and output documents, coupled with interpretation information in a common business library, programs the transaction in a way which closely parallels the way in which paper based businesses operate.

## Claims

### Claim 1

Apparatus for establishing participant interfaces for transactions executed on a system including a network interface and a data processing resources which execute a transaction processes of the transactions according to a transaction processing architecture; comprising:
programs of instructions executable by the system, stored on a medium accessible by the system, providing tools to build a definition of a participant interface for a participant in a particular transaction, the definition of a participant interface including a definition of an input document for the participant and a definition of an output document for the participant, the definitions of the input and output documents comprising respective machine-readable descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units; and
programs of instructions executable by the system, stored on a medium accessible by the system and responsive to the definitions of the input and output documents, to compile data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents compliant with the transaction processing architecture, to compile instructions executable by the system to translate the input document to the corresponding data structures, and to compile instructions executable by the system to translate output of the transaction processes into the sets of storage units and logical structures of the output document.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to access elements of the definition from a repository, the repository storing a library of logical structures, and interpretation information for logic structures used to build interface descriptions.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the repository stores definitions of documents comprising logic structures.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system
to access a definition of another participant interface for a complementary transaction, the accessed definition including a definition of an input document for the complementary transaction, and a definition of an output document for the complementary transaction; and
to establish the definition of the participant interface by including the definition of the output document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the input document of the interface being built.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system
to include the definition of the input document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the output document of interface being built.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of a particular transaction, and at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of the participant interface, and for storing at least one of specifications and references to specifications of a set of one or more transactions supported by the participant interface.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document includes a reference to a machine-readable specification of a particular transaction, and the specification of the particular transaction includes a document including logical structures for storing at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the storage units comprise parsed data.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the parsed data in at least one of the input and output documents comprises:
character data encoding text characters in the one of the input and output documents, and
markup data identifying sets of storage units according to the logical structure of the one of the input and output documents.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The apparatus of claim 10, wherein at least one of the sets of storage units encodes a plurality of text characters providing a natural language word.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the specification includes interpretation information for at least one of the sets of storage units identified by the logical structure of at least one of the input and output documents, encoding respective definitions for sets of parsed characters.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the storage units comprise unparsed data.

### Claim 14 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents include programming objects including variables and methods according to the variant transaction processing architecture.

### Claim 15 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the variant transaction processing architectures of the transaction process includes comprises a process compliant with an interface description language.

### Claim 16 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the definitions of the input and output documents comprise document type definitions compliant with a standard Extensible Markup Language XML.

### Claim 17 (depends on 3)

The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the definition of one of the input and output documents includes a reference to a document type in the repository.

### Claim 18 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying measurements of products subject of transactions.

### Claim 19 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying costs of products subject of transactions.

### Claim 20 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying features of products subject of transactions.

### Claim 21 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying financial terms of transactions.

### Claim 22 (depends on 2)

The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying terms of shipment for products subject of transactions.

### Claim 23

Apparatus for establishing participant interfaces for transactions executed on a system; comprising:
memory storing data and programs of instructions;
a data processor coupled to the memory which executes the programs of instructions; wherein the programs of instructions include
tools to build a definition of a participant interface for a participant in a particular transaction, the definition of a participant interface including a definition of an input document for the participant and a definition of an output document for the participant, the definitions of the input and output documents comprising respective machine-readable descriptions of sets of storage units and logical structures for the sets of storage units; and
a compiler, responsive to the definitions of the input and output documents, to compile data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents compliant with the transaction processing architecture, to compile instructions executable by the system to translate the input document to the corresponding data structures, and to compile instructions executable by the system to translate output of the transaction processes into the sets of storage units and logical structures of the output document.

### Claim 24 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, including a repository stored in memory accessible by the data processor, and wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to access elements of the definition from the repository, the repository storing a library of logical structures, and interpretation information for logic structures used to build interface descriptions.

### Claim 25 (depends on 24)

The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the repository stores definitions of documents comprising logic structures.

### Claim 26 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system
to access a definition of another participant interface for a complementary transaction, the accessed definition including a definition of an input document for the complementary transaction, and a definition of an output document for the complementary transaction; and
to establish the definition of the participant interface by including the definition of the output document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the input document of the interface being built.

### Claim 27 (depends on 26)

The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to include the definition of the input document of the complementary transaction as the definition of the output document of interface being built.

### Claim 28 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of a particular transaction, and at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.

### Claim 29 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the tools to build a definition of a participant interface include instructions executable by the system to build a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document including logical structures for storing an identifier of the participant interface, and for storing at least one of specifications and references to specifications of a set of one or more transactions supported by the participant interface.

### Claim 30 (depends on 29)

The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the a document compliant with a definition of a participant interface document includes a reference to a machine-readable specification of a particular transaction, and the specification of the particular transaction includes a document including logical structures for storing at least one of definitions and references to definitions of input and output documents for the particular transaction.

### Claim 31 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the storage units comprise parsed data.

### Claim 32 (depends on 31)

The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the parsed data in at least one of the input and output documents comprises:
character data encoding text characters in the one of the input and output documents, and
markup data identifying sets of storage units according to the logical structure of the one of the input and output documents.

### Claim 33 (depends on 32)

The apparatus of claim 32, wherein at least one of the sets of storage units encodes a plurality of text characters providing a natural language word.

### Claim 34 (depends on 31)

The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the specification includes interpretation information for at least one of the sets of storage units identified by the logical structure of at least one of the input and output documents, encoding respective definitions for sets of parsed characters.

### Claim 35 (depends on 31)

The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the storage units comprise unparsed data.

### Claim 36 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein data structures corresponding to the sets of storage units and logical structures of the input and output documents include programming objects including variables and methods according to the variant transaction processing architecture.

### Claim 37 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the variant transaction processing architectures of the transaction process comprises a process compliant with an interface description language.

### Claim 38 (depends on 23)

The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the definitions of the input and output documents comprise document type definitions compliant with a standard Extensible Markup Language XML.

### Claim 39 (depends on 25)

The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the definition of one of the input and output documents includes a reference to a document type in the repository.

### Claim 40 (depends on 24)

The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying measurements of products subject of transactions.

### Claim 41 (depends on 24)

The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying costs of products subject of transactions.

### Claim 42 (depends on 24)

The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying features of products subject of transactions.

### Claim 43 (depends on 24)

The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying financial terms of transactions.

### Claim 44 (depends on 24)

The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the repository includes interpretation information specifying terms of shipment for products subject of transactions.