FORM-2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES 2003
Complete
Specification
(See section 10 and rule 13)
APPARATUS TO PROVIDE DYNAMIC APPLICABILITY AND SEQUENCING OF BUSINESS RULES TO HELP IMPLEMENT CLIENT
SPECIFIC NEGOTIATIONS
TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED
an Indian Company of Bombay House, 24, Sir Homi Mody Street, Mumbai 400 001,
Maharashtra, India

THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED.

This invention relates to apparatus to provide dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules to help implement client specific negotiations.
In particular, the present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus including a computer or other processing unit to implement applicability and sequencing of business rules, and particularly utilizing a business rule engine.
More particularly, the invention provides a method and apparatus to change the applicability and the sequence of execution of rules while a computer program is running. This makes it possible for an organization to implement client-specific negotiations in such applications almost instantaneously.
In the prior art, a rule base consists of individual rules, and groups of rules, that are related to a particular situation. When a 'group' is evaluated, the rules in that group are applied in the sequence in which they appear in the group.
Rules, particularly business rules are part of the policies and procedures of an organization and govern business functions. These rules are specified in a rulebase and a business application consults and executes the rules at run¬time.
However, during client-specific negotiations, the organization's management may decide to waive or alter some of the rules for a client, or alter the sequence in which the rules apply. This could be different for different
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clients. For example, in a charge-calculation scenario for banking service(s), the way the charges are applied may depend on a client's profile and the negotiations carried out with the client. Sometimes, a client may be charged 2% for a particular service and 7% for some other service. For a preferred client, who is offered the same set of services, the 2% charge may be waived. For yet another client, the charges may be 7% charge followed by the 2% charge.
It may happen that, for a particular client, all rules are applied while for some other client certain rules are not applied, or applied in a different sequence. Sometimes, it may also happen that the values in the actions of a rule are altered for a client. A system which implements business rules should be able to cater to these client-specific business negotiations at run¬time, from the common set of rules.
To enable this, it is important for the rule engine to dynamically decide on the applicability of rules in the rulebase and also alter the sequence of rule application.
If, at run-time, this sequence has to be altered, then a device is required by which business data can be taken and their sequence can be determined. Additionally, if a mechanism is desired to change the action values and control which rule is applicable and alter it dynamically, then this has to be provided in the rule engine.
This invention presents a method and an apparatus for carrying out that method by means of which rule application; rule sequence and rule action
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values can be dynamically altered and controlled at run-time, based on the business data.
There are various business rule engines in the market by using of which the business logic of an application can be coded using rule based technology. However, the facility of dynamically altering and controlling the applicability and sequence of rules in the rulebase to aid implement client-specific negotiations is missing in the prior art.
An object of this invention is to allow a user to dynamically alter and control the applicability and sequencing of rules as well as its action values, depending on business data at run-time.
Another object of this invention is to help a user to make an application flexible to cater to business needs such as implementation of negotiated services and tailor-made packages.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a method of utilizing a computer or other processing unit to enable these objects in a rule base, dynamically.
The apparatus and method in accordance with this invention, allows a rule engine to apply selected rules in specific sequence depending on the business data at run-time.
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The aim of this invention therefore is to provide a mechanism by which rules can be selected and applied in a particular sequence depending on the business data and alter the values in the actions of the rule at run-time.
To meet the aforesaid objects and aims, in accordance with this invention there is provided an apparatus for providing dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules to help implement client-specific negotiations comprising a processing unit having a data storage unit comprising a rule engine adapted to receive rules and rule groups created in context of a particular application, said rule engine having the facility of writing declarative rules on objects attributes and associations of primary set of rules and rule groups received by the rule engine, an object oriented format generator means adapted to receive declarative rules from the rule engine and process the said rules using the processing unit to convert the rules into object oriented format, storage means in the storage unit to receive rules and rule groups in an object oriented format, a database means resident in the storage unit for loading and storing the sequence of execution of rules and rule groups; an extractor means resident in the said storage unit for extracting data of the sequence of execution of rules and rule groups from the database and storing the said extracted data in the RAM of the processing unit; instruction storage means resident in the said storage unit for receiving and storing on line instructions regarding applicability and sequencing of rules and groups of rules; an analyzer for analyzing for fetching instructions from the analyzer means and data from the database to create a set of rules and the sequence of rules and a comparator means which has a stored set of permutation and combination of rules and sequences and is adapted to receive the created set of rules and their sequence and compare
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them with a stored set of rules and their sequence and generate new set of rules and sequence and their result; and a result storage means for receiving and storing the generated rules and their sequence and their result in the said storage unit for dynamic application.
The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which
Figure 1 shows a block diagram of the apparatus in accordance with this
invention;
Figure 2 shows the general architecture of the use of the apparatus of figure
l;
Figures 2a to 2e of the accompanying drawings, shows the flowchart which
illustrates the proposed architecture for implementation of dynamic
applicability and sequencing of business rules using the analyzer and the rule
engine;
Figure 3 shows the operation of the rule engine;
Figure 4 shows the architecture for the working of the rule engine figure 3;
and
Figure 5 shows an example of the use of this invention;
Referring to figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, which represents the block diagram of the apparatus in accordance with this invention.
Block R: Represents Group of business Rules. These Rules are written in context to a particular application.
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Block RE represents a Rule Engine block. Rule Engines like Infrex from TCS, or Fair Isaac Blaze Advisor provide facility of writing declarative Rules. Infrex Rule Engine provides facility of writing declarative Rules on Objects, attributes and Association.
Block C represents the generator in Object Oriented format. The input to 'Dynamic Applicability and Sequencing' enabled Rule engine is Group of Rules, after processing those Rules it uses Object Oriented format generator to generate OO format.
Block STl represents storage for storing Groups of Rules in OO format.
Block D represents Database. Vendors like Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase provide Database where the sequence of execution of Rules and Groups is stored.
Block E represents Extractor which actually extracts the data from Database and stores in to ST3 in RAM.
Block STl represents Instructions regarding applicability and sequencing of Rules and Groups.
Analyzer analyzes the data from database and based on the Instructions regarding applicability and sequencing of Rules and Groups it uses Comparator to compare the with existing sequence.
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Block G represents Groups of Rules with new sequence of execution. These Groups of Rules will be then executed and the result will be stored in storage device.
The use of the apparatus envisaged in this invention is shown in figure 2 of the accompanying drawings. As seen in figure 2 the rules are stored in a rule base R and the applicability of the rules and the sequence is stored in a database D. These are analyzed in the analyzer which is accessed by the user interface UI which also receives continuous inputs from the domain application DA for a particular business application.
The apparatus consists of:
i) a rulebase for storing rules
ii) Rule applicability and sequence database
iii) Dynamic-applicability-and-sequencing-enabled Rule Engine
iv) The analyzer
v) the comparator
vi) User interface
vii) Business Application
These are described below.
Rules in a rulebase
A Rulebase is a collection of all rules that are possible on the business data (in the form of application objects) during the course of the application execution. These consist of conditional statements of the form "if then ". The conditions consist of object entities
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combined with other entities through mathematical relations. The actions are specific computational instructions that can be performed on the object entities when the conditions are satisfied.
Rule applicability and sequence database
The database consists of records that capture the entries of applicability and sequence of rules in a group of rules. Each entry in the database is specific to a client of the organization. The organization may negotiate with the clients on the rules that it will apply in a specific business deal. During that negotiation, the sequence of rules can also be negotiated by the organization. This information is stored in the database.
User interface
The user interface allows setting of the applicability and sequence of rules in
a group for a specific client. These can be negotiated with the client for
various purposes. Once the negotiation process is over, the information of
which rules apply and in what sequence is stored in the database. While
storing the information, the client's ID is stored so that it is specific for that
client.
Dynamic-applicability-and-sequencing-enabled Rule Engine
The dynamic-applicability-and-sequencing-enabled rule engine is an inference engine that can read, parse, interpret, translate and execute rules in the Rulebase. The engine has the ability to perform operations on a User Model and can dynamically decide to apply or not apply a rule / sets of rules in a group based on inputs from the rule-applicability-and-sequence database. The engine also has the ability to change the firing sequence of rules in a group depending on the sequence mentioned in the database. The
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engine has the power to determine the applicability and sequencing for each client and apply the one suitable for that client.
Business Application
The business application consists of the core software that is written for a specific purpose. Its entities are based on the business model and create the real-world objects at run-time. The workflow and control of the application directs what functions are carried out in that business domain.
The apparatus of this invention will be used as follows:
When a group of rules is invoked, the rule engine takes as input the unique business data, which identifies that business situation. This business data is created when client-specific negotiations take place and reflects the rules that the organization plans to apply for a client and also specifies the order in which they apply.
At runtime, the rule engine is invoked with a call to a specific group of rules together with the business situation. We assume that the business situation will have data about the client identification and the transaction details for which the rulebase is invoked.
If the called group has the facility of dynamic applicability and sequencing of rules, then a call is made to a specific function with the business situation that is supplied. This function will evaluate the situation and call other functions to read the database. The database functions will find client-related information, which states the rules that should apply, and their sequence.
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Alternatively, this information can be computed based on the business situation. Depending on this data the rules in the group are now re-sequenced from an array to decide how they should execute. If some rules do not apply, then they are removed from the changed sequence. The actual rules are not touched. The re-sequenced set of the rules is now evaluated one-by-one in sequence for the client.
To implement different values in the actions for different clients, another function could be called with the business situation that would determine the actual value for a client. This could be applied in the action for the rule. Thus client-specific business rule firing is possible. Hence, this provides a method to implement client-specific negotiations.
Example 1
Consider a rule base with three rules, which calculate interest rates for a loan. Let these rules be in a group called Interest-for-Loan. Group Interest-for-loan
{// group members
Rule Interest-rule-1
Rule Interest-rule-2
Rule Interest-rule-3}
Rule Interest-rule-1 If (Amount is greater than 100000 and Duration is 5 Years) Then Interest Rate is 10%;
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Rule Interest-rule-2
If (Client Loyalty > 5 years)
Then Interest Rate is reduced by 2%;
Rule Interest-rule-3
If (Client Service Risk is Medium)
Then Interest Rate is increased by 3.75%;
By default, the above rules apply in sequence for all clients. However, in a negotiation with a client (say Client-1), the organization may decide not to apply Interest-rule-3. For another client, (say Client-2) the organization may decide to first apply Interest-rule-3 followed by Interest-rule-2. For a third client (say Client-3), the organization may reduce the interest rate increase in rule-3 to 1.8%. This is depicted below.
For Client-1, apply Group Interest-for-Loan as:
{// group members
Rule Interest-rule-1
Rule Interest-rule-2 } For Client-2, apply Group Interest-for-Loan as: {// group members
Rule Interest-rule-1
Rule Interest-rule-3
Rule Interest-rule-2 } For Client-3, apply Group Interest-for-Loan as:
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{// group members Rule Interest-rule-1 Rule Interest-rule-2 Rule Interest-rule-3 with 1.8% instead of 3.75% }
Thus, dynamic sequencing of rules and changing their applicability as required can implement client-specific business negotiations.
The invention includes a tool for incorporating business logic in an application in the form of rules. The rule engine is used as an apparatus for this invention, i.e. the method for providing dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules.
The Rulebase is made of two files, the interface file (INI file) and the rulebase file (RB file). While the INI file contains declaration of various components of the Rulebase, the RB file has the definitions of Rules. The rule engine which can typically be a Infrex Rule Translator translates the rulebase file into equivalent C/C++/JAVA code in object oriented format as seen in figure 3 of the accompanying drawings.
Application execution
From the application, an entry point or a group will be called. This group is of type applicability required, which means, at run-time, the rule engine will decide applicability of rules and sequence them depending on business data available. For such groups, the rule engine will internally call a function
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named "getapplinfo", which will set the members of an integer array to provide the sequence and firing / non-firing status of the rules in the group.
Depending on this information, the rule engine will execute the applicable rules and in the sequence specified. The function "get_appl_info" is also provided with the transaction data as its parameters so the values in the array can be set depending on the data passed. The sequencing function "get_appl_info" is coded by the Application Programmer so all the flexibility remains with the programmer for deciding the logic of applicability and sequencing of rules. The diagram in figure 4 shows the architecture for the working of the rule engine.
The diagram shown in figure 5 of the accompanying drawings, is another example of the use of this invention.
Advantages in respect of the use of this invention.
1. This method supports the implementation of client-specific business negotiations.
2. Negotiation logic can be built into an application very easily.
3. The method is domain and application independent.
4. The method is very easy to implement and integrate with an application.
Although the invention has been described in terms of particular embodiments and applications, one of ordinary skill in the art, in light of this
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teaching, can generate additional embodiments and modifications without departing from the spirit of or exceeding the scope of the invention.
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We Claim:
1] An apparatus for providing dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules to help implement client-specific negotiations comprising a processing unit having a RAM and a data storage unit, a rule engine adapted to receive rules and rule groups created in context of a particular application forming a rule base, said rule engine having writing means for writing declarative rules on objects attributes and associations of a primary set of rules and rule groups received by the rule engine, an object oriented format generator means adapted to receive declarative rules from the rule engine and process the said rules using the processing unit to convert the rules into object oriented format, storage means in the data storage unit to receive rules and rule groups in an object oriented format, a database means resident in the storage unit for loading and storing the sequence of execution of said rules and rule groups; an extractor means resident in the said storage unit for extracting data of the sequence of execution of rules and rule groups from the database and storing the said extracted data in the RAM of the processing unit; instruction storage means resident in the said storage unit for receiving and storing on line instructions regarding applicability and sequencing of rules and groups of rules; an analyzer having means for receiving said instructions and information of said rules and data groups from the database means as analyzing both of them to create a set of rules and the sequence of rules and a comparator means which has a stored set of permutation and combination of rules and sequences and is adapted to receive the created set of rules and their sequence and compare them with a stored set of rules and their sequence and generate a new set of rules and sequence and their result; and a result storage means for receiving and
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storing the generated rules and their sequence and their result in the said storage unit for dynamic application.
2] An apparatus for providing dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules as claimed in claim 1, in which the rule engine is provided in a remotely located terminal.
3] An apparatus for providing dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules as claimed in claim 1, in which the analyzer is provided in a remotely located terminal.
4] An apparatus for providing dynamic applicability and sequencing of business rules as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 9th day of February 2004.
MOHAN DEWAN Of R. K. Dewan & Co., Applicants' Patent Attorney