Application code conversion architecture

Details Application code conversion architecture Application code conversion architecture

2001-02-02

2004-11-16

Bullock, Jr., Lewis A. (Department: 2126)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: interprogra

Interprogram communication using message

C705S001100, C707S793000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06820266

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for code conversion, and in particular, to the conversion of codes used by applications.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
As business relationships integrate, more organizations in all industries (e.g., consumer goods, electronics, health, automotive, transportation, government) exchange data electronically. Due to the expeditious movement and accuracy of electronically transmitted data, overall costs and business cycle times are reduced, and productivity and customer service and satisfaction are improved. The electronically communicated data, formerly seen only in paper documents, typically represents standard transactions used in all business cycles, such as pre-order business, procurement/order fulfillment, forecasting, shipping, financial/payment, quality data, environmental data reporting, even government and tax reporting. Usually these transactions are very routine and occur in high volume, e.g. purchase orders, invoices, payments, forecasts, resale and inventory reports. Upon receipt of the electronically communicated data, the receiving party interprets the data to extract data needed to conduct business. Organizations which electronically exchange data in the above manner are called “trading partners”. The entire process surrounding the movement of data representing standard transactions is called Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).
Data can be exchanged in proprietary formats, which the trading partners must agree upon. Usually the proprietary formats are designed by one of the trading partners. However, data is exchanged more efficiently if exchanged in a universally recognized format referred to as “EDI standards”.
Two universally recognized standards are the ASC X12 and UN/EDIFACT standards. For various electronic transactions, EDI standards define a structure (physical layout) and syntax for data. In addition, each standard provides a data dictionary that defines data elements, and, if appropriate for a particular data element, a set of codes representing various values of the data element.
For example, the ASC X12 Purchase Order transaction defines data segments or records, and the order to the data segments. The data segments consists of data elements, some of which may contain pre-defined codes. For example, one data element, a date element, represents a generic date. A second data element, a data/time qualifier, precedes the date element. The date/time qualifier indicates the type of date represented by the date element (e.g. delivery date, ship date, or many other types of date). Definitions of electronic transactions, using the EDI standards, make it possible for all trading partners to consistently interpret the business data.
Need for Code Conversion
An organization often defines for their own internal applications a set of codes (“internal application codes”) that differ from externally recognized sets of codes (“external codes”), such as those prescribed by EDI standards, or those defined by trading partners. In order to electronically exchange data, it is often necessary to convert internal application codes to externally recognized codes.
For example, the code ‘EACH’ may be used to represent the unit of measure ‘each’ in an internal business application. However, the unit of measure ‘each’ is represented by ‘EA’ in the ASC
12
standard, or ‘PC’ in the UN/EDIFACT standard, or may be represented by ‘PIECE’ by a particular trading partner to their internal application.
Code conversion is not limited to converting one single code to another single code (“one-to-one code conversion”). Sometimes, one code is converted into several codes or values (“one-to-many code conversion”), or several codes or values are converted into one code (“many-to-one code conversion”). For example, consider the code “NET 10/20”, which represent payment terms meaning 10% discount if paid in 20 days. In a one-to-many code conversion, the code “NET 10/20” may be converted to the values “0.10” and “20”. In a many-to-one code conversion the values, “0.10” and “20” may need to be converted to “NET 10/20”.
Traditional Processing of Outbound EDI Transactions
Referring to
FIG. 1
, computer system
104
is controlled by trading partner A. Data resides in the application
108
. An interface program
110
extracts the data from the application and optionally performs code conversion. Eventually the data is received by their EDI Translator
120
.
Software for EDI Translators is usually purchased. The EDI translator performs many standard procedures for processing EDI transactions. It monitors EDI activity for a company, defines trading partnerships, tracks which transactions are processed and the particular EDI standard followed by a given trading partner. The EDI translator also formats data to a particular EDI standard.
Communication software
132
receives data from EDI translator
120
and transmits the data to a trading partner. The communication software
132
may transmit the data across any type of communication mechanism, such as third party networks (including the Internet) and internal networks.
To illustrate the process for an outbound transaction, the following example is provided. Application
108
has a data element containing the code ‘EACH’ representing a unit of measure of a purchase order item. However, the ASC X12 standard specifies that the code for the same unit or measure is ‘EA’, and the EDIFACT standard specifies ‘PC’. So interface program
110
converts the code ‘EACH’ to ‘EA’ and ‘PC’, and writes the codes to an interface file. The interface file is sent to the EDI Translator
120
. The EDI Translator
120
will choose the X12 code ‘EA’ for trading partners using the X12 standard, and the EDIFACT code ‘PC’ for trading partners using the EDIFACT standard when it writes data for the standard transaction. Data for standard transactions are communicated to the appropriate trading partner through communication software
132
, using a communication mechanism of choice.
Traditional Processing of Inbound EDI Transactions
Referring to
FIG. 1
, computer system
150
is controlled by the second trading partner B. The inbound EDI transaction process is performed in the reverse order of the outbound EDI transaction process noted above. Data for inbound EDI transactions is received from trading partners through a communication mechanism of choice by a communication process
134
. After communication process
134
receives the data, the first process to handle the data is EDI Translator
140
.
The EDI Translator usually writes the received data to a file in a format suited for interface program
145
. Interface program
145
may then convert codes contained in the file. When all processes are successfully completed, the data is loaded into the applications
160
.
To illustrate this inbound process, the following example is provided. The inbound process is the reverse of the outbound EDI process. The trading partner B receives data as an ASC X12 purchase order transaction. The data is received from a trading partner through the communication mechanism of choice by communication process
134
. When the data is received by the EDI Translator
140
, EDI translator recognizes the X12 unit of measurement code ‘EA’. The EDI translator writes the data to an interface file for interface program
145
. The interface program
145
converts the X12 code ‘EA’ to the corresponding code used by application
160
, which is ‘PIECE’. Data for the purchase order transaction is then loaded into the application
160
. Note that the sending party's code conversion of ‘EA’ does not match the receiving party's code conversion result. One party used ‘EACH’ while the other party used ‘PIECE’. Their use of the data is same. Specifically, both use their own respective codes to represent the same unit of measurement, i.e. the unit of measure that conveys a single unit
Where to Perform Code Conversion
Code conversion can be applied in one or more of the following mechanisms:
EDI Translator software using scripting languages interpreted

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