Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
1998-05-18
2001-11-13
Alam, Hosain T. (Department: 2172)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
C717S152000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06317746
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to electrical computers and more particularly to program products and methods for providing date and time software services to calling programs.
2. Background of the Invention
Information technology organizations throughout all industries are working to solve what is known as the “Year 2000” problem. For the past several decades, systems have typically used two digits to represent the year, such as “98” to represent “1998”, in order to conserve electronic data storage and reduce operating costs. With this 2-digit format, however, the year “2000” is indistinguishable from the year “1900”, the year “2001” from the year “1901”, and so on. As a result of this ambiguity, application programs that perform calculations, comparisons, or sorting operations on time and date data elements may generate incorrect results when working with years after 1999.
Therefore, to avoid incorrect results, software applications must be made Year 2000 compliant by Jan. 1, 2000. To meet Year 2000 compliancy, many different approaches may be implemented. One common approach is to rewrite the source code for an application to ensure date routines can account for a 2-digit century value. However, many databases and applications are very extensive and have 2-digit year values embedded within them. Expanding such databases and modifying such applications to accommodate a 3- or 4-digit year field is impractical. A second common approach is to utilize a date/time services program that can be called by a software application during execution. Such a services program is passed a date value that comprises a 2-digit year, and returns either a value indicating a century or a date value that comprises a 3- or 4-digit year. This technique is commonly known as “windowing,” and it enables a legacy software application to accommodate different century values to meet Year 2000 compliancy requirements without having to expand the underlying databases.
Beyond the single issue of Year 2000 compliancy, software applications may benefit from various date/time services. For example, during execution, an application may require a date-time translation or a date-time field format conversion. Such needs will exist well beyond the year 2000.
Currently, products on the market that offer similar services have several notable limitations. Such products only provide date services using specific and limited formats. For example, they may provide a Julian or Gregorian date to an application requiring ADABAS ‘D’ or ‘T’ format fields, which must then convert the date to a proper internal format. “ADABAS” is a database marketed by Software A.G. of Germany, and other vendors also use ADABAS formats as input and output field formats in their own database applications. In addition, such products provide services for only one date value in a single call, requiring multiple calls to the services program to obtain multiple date-time operation results. Moreover, these products do not provide combination date and time services or provide for multiple function operations. Therefore, need exists for a date and time services program that provides date and time format conversion, Year 2000 compliancy, and capabilities for handling multiple date/time inputs/outputs and multiple functions in a single call.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a program product that provides date and time services to a calling program.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a program product that performs date and time operations on multiple input dates and times in a single call.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a program product that provides multiple and diverse date and time operations in a single call.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a program product that supports multiple input and output date and time formats and provides conversion capabilities among the formats therein.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method that provides date and time services to a calling program.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method that provides date and time operations on multiple input dates and times in a single call.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a method that provides multiple and diverse date and time operations in a single call.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a date and time services method that supports multiple input and output date and time formats and provides conversion capabilities among the formats therein.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a date and time services program accessible via a communications network.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects, in accordance with the purposes of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the program product of this invention may comprise instructions for receiving a plurality of date/time input data elements via a call from a calling program; selecting one of the plurality of date/time input data elements; selecting one of a plurality of date/time output data elements associated with the selected date/time input data element; performing a date/time function on the selected date/time input data element to produce a function result; loading the function result into the selected date/time output data element; repeating the selecting steps, the performing step, and the loading step until all of the plurality of date/time input data elements have been selected; and outputting the plurality of date/time output data elements to the calling program.
The present invention may also comprise, in accordance with its objects and purposes, a method having the steps of providing a date/time services program; receiving a plurality of date/time input data elements via a call to the date/time services program; selecting one of the plurality of date/time input data elements; selecting one of a plurality of date/time output data elements associated with the selected date/time input data element; performing a date/time function on the selected date/time input data element to produce a function result; loading the function result into the selected date/time output data element; repeating the selecting steps, the performing step, and the loading step until all of the plurality of date/time input data elements have been selected; and outputting the plurality of date/time output data elements from the date/time services program.
An improved date/time services program in accordance with the present invention overcomes the disadvantages and limitations identified in the prior art. A program in accordance with the present invention is a services program, preferably in COBOL, that can be called by other software applications (“calling programs”) to perform date and time services. The calling programs may include both COBOL and non-COBOL programs. The services program can perform operations on both time data elements, date data elements, and combinations thereof. Many different date and time formats can be provided and requested by the calling program, including ADABAS D and T formats, so that the calling program need not convert the input date/time data into a specific date/time format. This conversion capability simplifies the coding requirements of calling programs, because only a call to the services program is needed, whereas in prior art, for example, an additional conversion routine in the calling program would be required to obtain an
Franklin, Jr. Robert Wayne
Looper James Allen
Rogers John M.
Tramble Arnold E.
Alam Hosain T.
Fleurantin Jean Bolte
MCI Communications Corporation
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