Meta-data driven, service-oriented architecture (soa)-enabled, application independent interface gateway

Abstract

An interface gateway may receive a request including a first interface identifier. The interface gateway is associated with a group of interfaces, where each interface is associated with metadata that defines the interface. The metadata may include an interface identifier, information identifying services to be executed for the interface and an order in which the identified services are to be executed, and information identifying servers on which the identified services are implemented. The interface gateway may also identify, for the received request, one interface, of the group of interfaces, for processing the request based on the first interface identifier. The interface gateway may further process the received request using the one interface. When processing the received request, the interface gateway may execute the identified services on the identified servers according to the order, where the executing causes data, associated with the received request, to be converted from a source format to a target format.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by an interface gateway, a batch data request, the interface gateway being associated with a plurality of interfaces, each interface, of the plurality of interfaces, providing conversion between a different set of source and target formats, each interface further being associated with a combination of components from a group of components that includes:
 a first component to fetch data from a source location and store the fetched data in a particular target location, 
 a second component to create session logs relating to a processing of data at the interface gateway, 
 a third component to convert data to a canonical format, 
 a fourth component to at least one of translate data, transform data, or edit data, and 
 a fifth component to forward data to a target system and notify one or more users of a successful or unsuccessful processing of data by the interface gateway; 
   identifying, by the interface gateway and based on receiving the batch data request, one interface, of the plurality of interfaces, with which the batch data request is to be processed; and   processing, by the interface gateway, batch data, associated with the batch data request, using the identified one interface, the processing causing the batch data to be converted to the target format, the processing including invoking the combination of components with which the identified one interface is associated.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 authenticating, prior to identifying the one interface, the batch data request.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , where the batch data request includes an interface identifier that corresponds to the one interface and a file name for the batch data,
 where the processing includes invoking the first component, and   where the invoking the first component includes:
 receiving, by the first component, the interface identifier and the file name, 
 using, by the first component, the interface identifier to determine first information identifying a source device where the batch data is stored, second information identifying a target device where the batch data is to be stored, and third information identifying a location, in the target device, where the batch data is to be stored, 
 retrieving, by the first component, the bulk data from the source device using the first information, and 
 storing the bulk data at the location in the target device using the second information and the third information. 
   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , where the batch data request includes an interface identifier that corresponds to the one interface,
 where the processing includes invoking the third component, and   where the invoking the third component includes:
 converting the bulk data to a canonical eXtensible Markup Language (XML) structure, the canonical XML structure being identified using the interface identifier. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , where the batch data request includes an interface identifier that corresponds to the one interface,
 where the processing includes invoking the fourth component, and   where the invoking the fourth component includes:
 performing at least one of translating the bulk data, transforming the bulk data, or editing the bulk data based on the interface identifier. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 monitoring the processing of the bulk data by the one interface to create monitored data, and   providing the monitored data to a user.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting an error occurring during the processing of the bulk data;   logging the detected error; and   providing information relating to the detected error to a user.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , further comprising:
 receiving a signal from the user, and   reprocessing data, in the bulk data that is associated with the error, using the one interface, the reprocessing being performed in response to receiving the signal.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a portal that allows a user to configure the one interface, where the configuring the one interface includes:   receiving first information specifying the combination of components with which the interface is associated,
 receiving second information identifying steps to be executed by the combination of components and an order in which the steps are to be executed, 
 receiving third information identifying services that are to be invoked for executing the identified steps, 
 receiving fourth information identifying servers on which the identified services are located, and 
 associating the first information, the second information, the third information, and the fourth information in a database. 
   
     
     
         10 . A system comprising:
 an interface gateway that includes:
 a memory to store a plurality of tables, the plurality of tables defining different interfaces that are used to process data that are to be transferred between source systems and target systems, the plurality of tables including:
 a first table to store parameters relating to an interface of the different interfaces, the parameters including an interface identifier, 
 a second table to store a plurality of rules that are used to implement the interface, where a first rule, of the plurality of rules, causes received data to be converted to a canonical structure, and where a second rule, of the plurality of rules, causes the canonical structure to be translated or transformed to a target format, 
 a third table to store information mapping, for at least one rule of the rules stored in the second table, the at least one rule to a server and a service, 
 a fourth table to store parameters for the server, 
 a fifth table to store parameters for the service, and 
 a sixth table to store parameters for the canonical structure; and 
 
 an orchestrator component to:
 receive a request to process data, where the request includes the interface identifier and where the data is in a source format, 
 identify the interface using the interface identifier, 
 process the data using the interface to convert the data to the target format, where the target format is different than the source format, where when processing the data, the orchestrator component is to:
 execute the rules, where, when executing the rules, the orchestrator component is to: 
  execute the first rule to cause the data to be converted to the canonical structure, 
  execute the second rule to cause the canonical structure to be translated or transformed into the target format, and 
  execute the at least one rule by invoking the service on the server. 
 
 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , where the request includes a real-time data request, and
 where the orchestrator component receives the real-time data request from a user device.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , where the request includes a batch data request, and
 where the orchestrator component receives the batch data request from a scheduler.   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , where the interface gateway further includes:
 an interface specific service component that connects to an input of the orchestrator component, the interface specific service component to:
 convert data, received in connection with a real-time data request, to a canonical eXtensible Markup Language (XML) structure. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , where the interface gateway further includes:
 a services component to:
 implement one or more services for processing data received at the interface gateway, the one or more services including at least one of a monitoring service, a masking engine service, a data service that allows connectivity to a database, a data error handling service, a correction and recycling service, a notification service, an error handling service, or a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) service. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , where the interface gateway further includes:
 a services component to:
 implement a plurality of different types of services for processing data received at the interface gateway, the plurality of services being implemented as at least two of an Oracle Data Integration (ODI) service, a SAP service, a Java Web Service, or a Unix shell script. 
   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , where the interface gateway further includes:
 a service adapter component that includes a group of adapters for the different types of services implemented by the services component.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 10 , where the interface gateway further includes:
 a transactional database to:
 store information relating to errors that occurred while processing the data by the interface gateway. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a portal to:
 provide one or more graphical user interfaces to a user that allow the user to create a new interface for the interface gateway, modify an existing interface associated with the interface gateway, and delete an existing interface associated with the interface gateway. 
   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 10 , where the portal is further to at least one of:
 provide one or more graphical user interfaces to the user to allow the user to perform real-time monitoring of a status of data being processed by the interface gateway, or   provide one or more graphical user interfaces to the user to allow the user to perform error correction.   
     
     
         20 . A method comprising:
 receiving a request at an interface gateway, the request including a first interface identifier, the interface gateway being associated with a plurality of interfaces, each interface, of the plurality of interfaces, being associated with metadata that defines the interface, the metadata including:
 an interface identifier, 
 information identifying services to be executed for the interface and an order in which the identified services are to be executed, and 
 information identifying servers on which the identified services are implemented; 
   identifying, by the interface gateway and for the received request, one interface, of the plurality of interfaces, for processing the request based on the first interface identifier; and   processing, by interface gateway and using the one interface, the received request, the processing including:
 executing the identified services on the identified servers according to the order, the executing causing data, associated with the received request, to be converted from a source format to a target format. 
   
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , where the plurality of interfaces are user-configurable. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 20 , where the request includes a batch data processing request. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 monitoring the processing of the received request to obtain status information; and   providing, via a graphical user interface, the status information to a user associated with the one interface.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 monitoring the processing of the received request to identify errors;   providing, via a graphical user interface, the errors to a user associated with the one interface; and   allowing the user to dynamically correct the identified errors.