Information-technology workflows using executable tiles with plural user interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018164997-A1
Application number	US-201715458694-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 14, 2017
Priority date	Dec 9, 2016
Publication date	Jun 14, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A workflow is expressed as an arrangement of a set of executable tiles. In some embodiments, the tiles include operations expressed in different programming languages. A tile can include a declarative specification of datatypes so that external agents, e.g., workflow services, can identify the datatypes and schemas required as arguments and produced as result; this simplifies the defining of a workflow, e.g., by a workflow coder. A tile can have zero, one, or plural user interfaces; selection of a user interface from plural user interfaces can be based on a user selection, on user roles, or on tile lifecycle stage. Workflow services can communicate with each other so that workflows can be distributed and shifted among processor nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A process comprising:
accessing, by a first user, a tile using a first user interface of the tile; accessing, by a second user different from the first user, the tile using a second user interface of the tile; and executing a workflow including the tile in part by executing an operation of the tile.

2 . The process of claim 1 wherein the first user interface is expressed using a first UI framework, the second user interface being expressed using a second UI framework different from the first UI framework.

3 . The process of claim 1 further comprising selecting a user interface for a user based on an identity or role assigned to the user.

4 . The process of claim 1 further comprising selecting a user interface for a user based on a lifecycle state of the tile.

5 . The process of claim 1 further comprising selecting a user interface for a user based at least in part on whether the tile is or is not arranged in a workflow.

6 . The process of claim 1 further comprising, selecting, by a user, one of plural user interfaces of a tile for accessing the tile.

7 . A system comprising non-transitory media encoded with code that, when executed using hardware, implements a process including:
accessing, by a first user, a tile using a first user interface of the tile; accessing, by a second user different from the first user, the tile using a second user interface of the tile; and executing a workflow including the tile in part by executing an operation of the tile.

8 . The system of claim 7 wherein the first user interface is expressed using a first UI framework, the second user interface being expressed using a second UI framework different from the first UI framework.

9 . The system of claim 7 further comprising selecting a user interface for a user based on an identity or role assigned to the user.

10 . The system of claim 7 further comprising selecting a user interface for a user based on a lifecycle state of the tile.

11 . The system of claim 7 further comprising selecting a user interface for a user based at least in part on whether the tile is or is not arranged in a workflow.

12 . The system of claim 7 further comprising, selecting, by a user, one of plural user interfaces of a tile for accessing the tile.

13 . The system of claim 7 further comprising the hardware.

Assignees

• Vmware Inc

Inventors

• Sinha Rakesh
• Nagaraja Vishwas
• Holzman Danny
• Dube Arjun

Classifications

• G06F9/4443

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06F3/04847 Primary

  Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials · CPC title

• G06F9/44526

  Plug-ins; Add-ons · CPC title

• G06F8/71

  Version control (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57); Configuration management · CPC title

• G06F9/451 Primary

  Execution arrangements for user interfaces · CPC title