Filing Information

Inventor(s)	Dirk M. Klemm · Richard A. Chang ·
Assignee(s)	Accenture LLP ·  View assignee updates
Attorney/Agent(s)	Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione ·
Primary Examiner	William Thomson ·
Assistant Examiner	Diem Cao ·
Application Number	US9705577
Filing date	11/03/2000
Issue date	10/17/2006
Predicted expiration date	01/15/2022
Patent term adjustment	438
U.S. Classifications	719/313  · 717/101  ·
International Classifications	G06F1300  · G06F300  · G06F944  · G06F946  ·
Kind Code	B1
Related U.S. Application Data	REFERENCE TO EARLIER FILED APPLICATION The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/163,477, filed Nov. 3, 1999, which is incorporated by reference herein.

Patent Family

Abstract

A framework and method for using the framework are disclosed for integrating disparate components, such as existing and new components, on a computing network system. The existing network may include useful existing content repositories, such as data repositories, and existing computer architectures. With the addition of new systems on the network, the framework can aid an architect in choosing a framework integration layer that allows for the integration of the disparate components.

Independent Claims | See all claims (38)

1. 1. A method for managing the integration of a plurality of disparate components into a computing network, the method comprising: (a) identifying the disparate components that require integration; (b) selecting from an integration framework an integration layer for integrating the disparate components, wherein the integration layer is selected from a plurality of integration layers including: a presentation integration layer, an application integration layer, an environment integration layer, a content integration layer and a network integration layer, wherein the application integration layer comprises at least three styles of integration including: a first style that provides a shared application architecture and a shared content among access channels, a second style that provides a shared content among access channels but utilizes a unique application architecture for each of the access channels and a third style that provides a unique application architecture and unique content for each of the access channels; and (c) integrating the disparate components after selecting the integration layer.
2. 22. A method for utilizing an application integration layer to integrate a plurality of disparate applications into a computing network, the method comprising: (a) identifying the disparate applications that require integration; (b) selecting from an integration framework an integration layer for integrating the disparate applications, wherein the integration layer is selected from a plurality of integration layers including: a presentation integration layer, an application integration layer, an environment integration layer, a content integration layer and a network integration layer, wherein the application integration layer comprises at least three styles of integration including: a first style that provides a shared application architecture and a shared content among access channels, a second style that provides a shared content among access channels but utilizes a unique application architecture for each of the access channels and a third style that provides a unique application architecture and unique content for each of the access channels; (c) after selecting the application integration layer, selecting an integration service from at least one mapping service or at least one translating service where the translating service is selected from the group consisting of an E-mail translation service, an electronic data interchange translation service, an object request broker translation service and a transaction processing translation service; and (d) utilizing the selected integration service to integrate the disparate applications into the computing network.
3. 25. The method for utilizing a content integration layer to integrate a plurality of disparate content sources into a computing network, the method comprising: (a) identifying the disparate content sources that require integration; (b) selecting from an integration framework an integration layer for integrating the disparate content sources, wherein the integration layer is selected from a plurality of integration layers including: a presentation integration layer, an application integration layer, an environment integration layer, a content integration layer and a network integration layer, wherein the application integration layer comprises at least three styles of integration including: a first style that provides a shared application architecture and a shared content among access channels, a second style that provides a shared content among access channels but utilizes a unique application architecture for each of the access channels and a third style that provides a unique application architecture and unique content for each of the access channels; (c) after selecting the content integration layer, selecting an integration service from the group consisting of multi-media gateway services, non-relational database gateway services, SQL gateway services and web gateway services; and (d) utilizing the selected integration service to integrate the disparate content sources into the computing network.
4. 26. An integration architecture framework for use in the integration of disparate components into a computing network, comprising: (a) a presentation integration layer to integrate computer-user interfaces; (b) an application integration layer to integrate at least one application message between a first application and a second application; (c) an environment integration layer to provide sign-on security to the computing network; (d) a content integration layer to provide for the sharing of content between the first application and the second application; and (e) a disparate network integration layer to connect a first node of a first network and a second node of a second network, wherein the application integration layer comprises at least three styles of integration including: a first style that provides a shared application architecture and a shared content among access channels, a second style that provides a shared content among access channels but utilizes a unique application architecture for each of the access channels and a third style that provides a unique application architecture and unique content for each of the access channels; (f) wherein the layers (a)–(e) cooperate to integrate disparate components into the computing network in a way that appears transparent to a user.