1. A business process management system, comprising:

a node management subsystem including a plurality of nodes respectively providing different services, each of the nodes including one or more logic execution units; and

the flow management subsystem is used for managing a plurality of flows corresponding to a plurality of services, and each flow comprises a plurality of nodes in the node management subsystem and an execution sequence of the plurality of nodes; and when a service is started, triggering each node in the flow according to the execution sequence in the flow corresponding to the service, so as to execute one or more logic execution units configured for each node in the node management subsystem according to the execution sequence, and receiving the logic execution result of each node returned by the node management subsystem.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic execution unit comprises: a general logic execution unit and a self-defined logic execution unit; when the node is triggered, the general service logic and/or the custom service logic configured by the node is executed by executing the general logic execution unit and/or the custom logic execution unit configured by the node.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the process management subsystem is further configured to query a process corresponding to the service being executed or completed.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the process management subsystem is further configured to determine whether a process corresponding to the executing service triggers a pre-configured pre-warning condition; and sending early warning information when the early warning condition is triggered.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the process management subsystem is further configured to combine a plurality of nodes including a node providing a new service in the node management subsystem to generate a process corresponding to a new service, and manage the process corresponding to the new service.

6. The system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the process management subsystem sends the trigger information of each node in the process corresponding to each service to the node management subsystem through a message queue, and the node management subsystem returns the logic execution result of each node to the process management subsystem through the message queue.

7. A business process processing method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

acquiring trigger information of a current execution node in a process corresponding to a service to be executed;

searching a corresponding node and one or more logic execution units of the node configured in advance according to the trigger information; and

and executing one or more logic execution units of the node by triggering the node so as to execute the service logic configured in advance by the node and return a logic execution result of the node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the logic execution unit comprises: a general logic execution unit and a self-defined logic execution unit; the trigger information includes: type information of the current execution node; searching a corresponding node and one or more logic execution units of the node configured in advance according to the trigger information, wherein the logic execution units comprise:

searching a corresponding node and a pre-configured general logic execution unit of the node according to the type information of the current execution node; and

and searching a pre-configured custom logic execution unit of the node according to the type information of the service to be executed.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein executing one or more logic execution units of the node to execute the service logic pre-configured by the node by triggering the node comprises:

when the node is triggered, the general service logic and/or the custom service logic configured in advance by the node is executed by executing the general logic execution unit and/or the custom logic execution unit.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the obtaining of the trigger information of the currently executed node in the flow corresponding to the service to be executed comprises: acquiring trigger information of a current execution node in a process corresponding to a service to be executed through a message queue; the logic execution result returned to the node comprises: and returning the logic execution result of the node through the message queue.

11. A computer device, comprising: memory, processor and executable instructions stored in the memory and executable in the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the method according to any of claims 7-10 when executing the executable instructions.

12. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the executable instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of claims 7-10.

Background

As the product variety of internet services gradually diversifies, service providers generally use a unified management platform for service management.

Taking internet insurance services as an example, most of the existing insurance service management systems develop corresponding business processes and business logics for different insurance products. However, in each insurance product, the coupling degree of the business process and the business logic is extremely high, and the individual business process nodes or node business logic are difficult to multiplex among different insurance products, so that the business process needs to be combed and the business logic needs to be developed again when a new insurance product is derived. For the continuous and abundant product types, the development mode obviously needs higher development cost and longer development period, and the online efficiency of new products is seriously influenced.

It is to be noted that the above information disclosed in the background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention, and therefore it may contain information that does not constitute prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the present invention provides a business process management system, a business process processing method, a computer device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a business process management system, including: a node management subsystem including a plurality of nodes respectively providing different services, each of the nodes including one or more logic execution units; the process management subsystem is used for managing a plurality of processes corresponding to a plurality of services, and each process comprises a plurality of nodes in the node management subsystem and an execution sequence of the plurality of nodes; and when a service is started, triggering each node in the flow according to the execution sequence in the flow corresponding to the service, so as to execute one or more logic execution units configured for each node in the node management subsystem according to the execution sequence, and receiving the logic execution result of each node returned by the node management subsystem.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the logic execution unit includes: a general logic execution unit and a self-defined logic execution unit; when the node is triggered, the general service logic and/or the custom service logic configured by the node is executed by executing the general logic execution unit and/or the custom logic execution unit configured by the node.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process management subsystem is further configured to query a process corresponding to the service being executed or having been executed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process management subsystem is further configured to determine whether a process corresponding to an executing service triggers a pre-configured early warning condition; and sending early warning information when the early warning condition is triggered.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process management subsystem is further configured to combine a plurality of nodes including a node providing a new service in the node management subsystem to generate a process corresponding to a new service, and manage the process corresponding to the new service.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the process management subsystem sends the trigger information of each node in the process corresponding to each service to the node management subsystem through a message queue, and the node management subsystem returns the logic execution result of each node to the process management subsystem through the message queue.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for processing a business process is provided, which includes: acquiring trigger information of a current execution node in a process corresponding to a service to be executed; searching a corresponding node and one or more logic execution units of the node configured in advance according to the trigger information; and executing one or more logic execution units of the node by triggering the node so as to execute the service logic configured in advance by the node and return a logic execution result of the node.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the logic execution unit includes: a general logic execution unit and a self-defined logic execution unit; the trigger information includes: type information of the current execution node; searching a corresponding node and one or more logic execution units of the node configured in advance according to the trigger information, wherein the logic execution units comprise: searching a corresponding node and a pre-configured general logic execution unit of the node according to the type information of the current execution node; and searching a pre-configured custom logic execution unit of the node according to the type information of the service to be executed.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, triggering the node to execute one or more logic execution units of the node to execute the service logic pre-configured by the node includes: when the node is triggered, the general service logic and/or the custom service logic configured in advance by the node is executed by executing the general logic execution unit and/or the custom logic execution unit.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the acquiring the trigger information of the current execution node in the flow corresponding to the service to be executed includes: acquiring trigger information of a current execution node in a process corresponding to a service to be executed through a message queue; the logic execution result returned to the node comprises: and returning the logic execution result of the node through the message queue.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer apparatus comprising: the system comprises a memory, a processor and executable instructions stored in the memory and capable of running in the processor, wherein the processor executes the executable instructions to realize any one of the business process processing methods.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement any of the business process processing methods described above.

According to the business process management system provided by the invention, each node of each business process and the business logic thereof can be reused in other business processes by completely decoupling the business process and the business logic, so that the development period and the cost of a new business process can be obviously reduced.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the invention and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. It is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the invention, and that for a person skilled in the art, other drawings can be derived from them without inventive effort.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a business process management system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a business process processing method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating another business process method according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer device, according to an example embodiment.

Detailed Description

Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example embodiments may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the concept of example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the invention and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and thus their repetitive description will be omitted.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, apparatus, steps, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, methods, devices, implementations, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

As described above, in order to solve the problems of huge development cost of new products, large amount of repetitive work, and the like caused by too high degree of coupling between the business process and the business logic of the current internet products, the invention provides a new business process management system. The following specifically describes embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a business process management system in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. The business process management system shown in fig. 1 can be applied to a server side of an insurance company, for example.

Referring to fig. 1, a business process management system 10 includes:

the node management subsystem 101 is configured to store information of a plurality of nodes 1012 that respectively provide different services.

Wherein each node 1012 is configured with: one or more logic execution units. The node management subsystem 101 actually implements a "node factory," where the nodes 1012 may include, for example: and providing common insurance services such as claims, short messages, logistics and the like.

The process management subsystem 102 is configured to manage a plurality of processes corresponding to a plurality of services.

Each process includes a plurality of nodes 1012 stored in the node management subsystem 101 and an execution sequence of the plurality of nodes 1012.

The node execution order included in each flow may be stored in the flow management subsystem 102, for example, in the form of a flow graph assembled from nodes.

When a service is started (for example, a user designates a certain service to start), the process management subsystem 102 may trigger each node 1012 in the flow according to an execution order in the flow corresponding to the service, to trigger each node 1012 configuration in the node management subsystem 101 according to the execution order, to execute one or more logic execution units configured for each node in the node management subsystem 101 according to the execution order, and to receive a logic execution result of each node 1012 returned by the node management subsystem 101.

In some embodiments, the logic execution unit may include: a general logic execution unit 1014, and a custom logic execution unit 1016. When node 1012 is triggered, the generic service logic and the custom service logic pre-configured for node 1012 may be executed by executing generic logic execution unit 1014 and custom logic execution unit 1016, respectively.

Referring to FIG. 1, this functionality may be implemented, for example, by a process execution center 1022 in the process management subsystem 102.

Typically, each node 1012 may be present in the flow corresponding to multiple services, for example, all insurance products may include "claim" nodes. However, for different types of traffic (e.g., different risk categories), the specific traffic logic of these nodes may differ such that they cannot be fully multiplexed.

Therefore, in the node management subsystem 101, the generic logic execution unit 1014 pre-configured for each node 1012 is used to execute the service logic that is generic in various services for the node 1012, and the custom logic execution unit 1016 is used to execute the custom service logic that is related to the service type corresponding to the flow in which the node 1012 is located.

It should be noted that, since the node 1012 may be present in various services, there may be a plurality of the custom logic performing units 1016 pre-configured for each node 1012. The combination of a generic logic execution unit 1014 and multiple custom logic execution units 1016 can satisfy the individual requirements of different service types, and ensure the reusability and extensibility of each node 1012.

According to the business process management system provided by the embodiment of the invention, each node of each business process and the business logic thereof can be reused in other business processes by completely decoupling the business process and the business logic, so that the development period and the cost of a new business process can be obviously reduced.

It should be clearly understood that the present disclosure describes how to make and use particular examples, but the principles of the present disclosure are not limited to any details of these examples. Rather, these principles can be applied to many other embodiments based on the teachings of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the process management subsystem 102 can be further configured to query a process corresponding to the executing or completed business. Referring to FIG. 1, this functionality may be implemented, for example, by a process query hub 1024 in the process management subsystem 102.

In some embodiments, the process management subsystem 102 may further be configured to determine whether a process corresponding to the executing service triggers a pre-configured warning condition, and send warning information when the warning condition is triggered. With continued reference to FIG. 1, this functionality may be implemented, for example, by a process pre-warning center 1026 in the process management subsystem 102.

In some embodiments, the process management subsystem 102 may be further configured to combine a plurality of nodes including a node providing a new service in the node management subsystem 101 to generate a process corresponding to a new service, and manage and control the process corresponding to the new service. With continued reference to FIG. 1, this functionality may be implemented, for example, by flow management center 1028 in flow management subsystem 102.

In the present invention, when the business process management system 10 adds a new business, only a part of the logic that cannot be satisfied by the existing node 1012 needs to be configured. With the continuous update of the business process management system 10, the number of nodes accumulated by the node management subsystem 101 gradually increases; when the number of the nodes is enough to cover most services, the process management subsystem 102 only needs to drag and assemble the existing nodes, and then the workflow node circulation diagram corresponding to the new service can be generated.

In some embodiments, the process management subsystem 102 may send trigger information of each node in the process corresponding to each service to the node management subsystem 101 through a Message Queue (MQ), and the node management subsystem 101 may also return a logic execution result of each node to the process management subsystem 102 through the Message Queue.

The message queue is a communication method of 'application to application': the applications communicate with each other by writing or retrieving data (messages) to and from the queue and for the applications without using a dedicated connection or linking each other by direct calls. Because the message queue relieves the receiving application of the requirement to execute concurrently with the sending application, communication between the node management subsystem 101 and the process management subsystem 102 may be implemented asynchronously according to some embodiments of the present invention.

It is noted that the block diagrams shown in the above figures are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in the form of software, or in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and/or processor devices and/or microcontroller devices.

The following are embodiments of the method of the present invention, which may be performed by embodiments of the apparatus of the present invention. For details which are not disclosed in the method embodiments of the present invention, reference is made to the apparatus embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a business process processing method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. The business process processing method shown in fig. 2 can be applied to the node management subsystem 101 in the business process management system 10 described above, for example.

Referring to fig. 2, the business process processing method 20 includes:

in step S202, trigger information of a currently executed node in a flow corresponding to a service to be executed is acquired.

In some embodiments, the step S202 may further include: and acquiring the trigger information of the current execution node in the flow corresponding to the service to be executed through the message queue.

First, a user selects a service to be executed through an interactive interface with the service process management system 10, and the node management subsystem 101 may send request information for starting a process corresponding to the service to the process management subsystem 102. Thereafter, the process management subsystem 102 triggers each node 1012 in the process according to the execution sequence in the process corresponding to the service, and the node management subsystem 101 may sequentially obtain the trigger information of each currently executed node 1012.

It should be noted that, in each execution order, there may be any number of nodes 1012 currently executed.

In step S204, according to the trigger information, the corresponding node and one or more preconfigured logic execution units are searched.

For each execution sequence, the node management subsystem 101 searches the corresponding node 1012 in the "node factory" according to the acquired trigger information of the currently executed node 1012.

In step S206, by triggering the node, one or more logic execution units of the node are executed to execute the service logic configured in advance by the node, and a logic execution result of the node is returned.

In some embodiments, step S206 may further include: and returning the logic execution result of the node through the message queue.

In each execution sequence, the node management subsystem 101 executes its configured one or more logic execution units by triggering the currently executing node 1012 to execute the preconfigured business logic on the currently executing node 1012, and returns the logic execution result of the currently executing node 1012 to the flow management subsystem 102.

In some embodiments, the logic execution result of the currently executing node 1012 can be used to instruct the process management subsystem 102 to trigger the nodes whose execution sequence is located after the currently executing node 1012, that is, steps S202 to S206 constitute a loop process. When the business logic of all nodes 1012 in the process is completed, the loop process of the process is terminated.

It should be noted that there may be more than one current execution node 1012 in each execution order, and the triggering of the following execution node 1012 does not need to wait for the logic execution results of all the nodes 1012 that are executed previously.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating another business process method according to an exemplary embodiment. The difference from the method 20 shown in fig. 2 is that the method shown in fig. 3 further provides a method for finding the node 1012 and its generic logic execution unit 1014 and custom logic execution unit 1016 in the "node factory", i.e. further provides an embodiment of the above step S204. Likewise, the method shown in fig. 3 can also be applied to the node management subsystem 101 in the business process management system 10.

In some embodiments, the logic execution unit may include: a general logic execution unit 1014, and a custom logic execution unit 1016.

In some embodiments, the trigger information of the currently executed node 1012, which is acquired by the node management subsystem 101 in step S202, may include type information (e.g., "claim settlement", "short message", "logistics", etc.) of the corresponding node.

As described above, in the node management subsystem 101, the generic logic execution unit 1014 pre-configured for each node 1012 is configured to execute service logic that is generic in various services for the node 1012, and the custom logic execution unit 1016 is configured to execute custom service logic related to the service type corresponding to the flow where the node 1012 is located. Therefore, referring to fig. 3, step S204 may further include:

in step S2042, the corresponding node and the general logic execution unit of the preconfigured node are searched according to the type information of the currently executed node.

In step S2044, a custom logic execution unit of a preconfigured node is searched according to the type information of the service to be executed.

That is, for two different services to be executed, for example, insurance products a and insurance products B respectively corresponding to two different types of risk: when the two are executed to the "claim" node respectively, the general logic execution units of the "claim" node and the "claim" node in the two processes are the same, and the custom logic execution units of the "claim" node may be different.

In some embodiments, step S206 may further include: when the node 1012 is triggered, the general service logic and the custom service logic configured in advance by the node 1012 are executed by executing the general logic execution unit 1014 and the custom logic execution unit 1016, respectively.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the steps implementing the above embodiments are implemented as computer programs executed by a CPU. The computer program, when executed by the CPU, performs the functions defined by the method provided by the present invention. The program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, which may be a read-only memory, a magnetic or optical disk, or the like.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the above-mentioned figures are only schematic illustrations of the processes involved in the method according to exemplary embodiments of the invention, and are not intended to be limiting. It will be readily understood that the processes shown in the above figures are not intended to indicate or limit the chronological order of the processes. In addition, it is also readily understood that these processes may be performed synchronously or asynchronously, e.g., in multiple modules.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or program product. Thus, various aspects of the invention may be embodied in the form of: an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, microcode, etc.) or an embodiment combining hardware and software aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a "circuit," module "or" system.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a computer device, according to an example embodiment. It should be noted that the computer device shown in fig. 4 is only an example, and should not bring any limitation to the function and the scope of the application of the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the computer apparatus 800 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU)801 that can perform various appropriate actions and processes in accordance with a program stored in a Read Only Memory (ROM)802 or a program loaded from a storage section 808 into a Random Access Memory (RAM) 803. In the RAM 803, various programs and data necessary for the operation of the apparatus 800 are also stored. The CPU 801, ROM 802, and RAM 803 are connected to each other via a bus 804. An input/output (I/O) interface 805 is also connected to bus 804.

The following components are connected to the I/O interface 805: an input portion 806 including a keyboard, a mouse, and the like; an output section 807 including a signal such as a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and the like, and a speaker; a storage portion 808 including a hard disk and the like; and a communication section 809 including a network interface card such as a LAN card, a modem, or the like. The communication section 809 performs communication processing via a network such as the internet. A drive 810 is also connected to the I/O interface 805 as necessary. A removable medium 811 such as a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like is mounted on the drive 810 as necessary, so that a computer program read out therefrom is mounted on the storage section 808 as necessary.

In particular, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the processes described above with reference to the flowcharts may be implemented as computer software programs. For example, embodiments of the invention include a computer program product comprising a computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising program code for performing the method illustrated in the flow chart. In such an embodiment, the computer program can be downloaded and installed from a network through the communication section 809 and/or installed from the removable medium 811. The computer program performs the above-described functions defined in the apparatus of the present invention when executed by the Central Processing Unit (CPU) 801.

It should be noted that the computer readable medium shown in the present invention can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium or any combination of the two. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium may include, but are not limited to: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the present invention, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. In the present invention, however, a computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated data signal may take many forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may also be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wire, fiber optic cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems which perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The units described in the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by software or hardware. The described units may also be provided in a processor, and may be described as: a processor includes a transmitting unit, an obtaining unit, a determining unit, and a first processing unit. The names of these units do not in some cases constitute a limitation to the unit itself, and for example, the sending unit may also be described as a "unit sending a picture acquisition request to a connected server".

As another aspect, the present invention also provides a computer-readable medium that may be contained in the apparatus described in the above embodiments; or may be separate and not incorporated into the device. The computer readable medium carries one or more programs which, when executed by a device, cause the device to comprise:

acquiring trigger information of a current execution node in a process corresponding to a service to be executed; searching a corresponding node and a general logic execution unit and a user-defined logic execution unit of a preconfigured node according to the trigger information; and executing the service logic configured in advance on the node through the general logic execution unit and the self-defined logic execution unit of the node, and returning the logic execution result of the node.

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are specifically illustrated and described above. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction, arrangements, or instrumentalities described herein; on the contrary, the invention is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.