Tiered Software Configuration Data Structures for Complex Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for managing software configurations in complex information systems, such as those comprising multiple devices and software components, fail to reliably ascertain and manage the software configurations due to incomplete acquisition of configuration information.
Innovation Solution
A software configuration management data structure and apparatus that utilize a tiered class relationship data structure to represent functional configurations of information devices, including a concrete class and abstract classes, with support for creating software configuration management data through design information collection, extraction, and class candidate selection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional component list management technique is used, then the management process is simple, but it cannot reliably ascertain software configurations in complex information systems with multiple devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the software configuration management into hierarchical levels: information system level, information device level, and software component level. Each level has its own configuration data structure, allowing reliable management of complex systems by breaking them down into manageable segments that can be individually tracked and assembled.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to software configuration management by creating multi-level data structures that organize configuration information from abstract system-level views down to concrete device and component levels. This dimensional organization enables reliable tracking of configurations across complex information systems.
2Loss of information
If configuration information is collected from all information devices, then complete software configuration management is achieved, but the data acquisition process becomes extremely complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent establishes predetermined data structure templates and schemas before configuration data collection begins. These pre-defined structures guide the data acquisition process, ensuring that configuration information is collected in a consistent, organized manner that guarantees completeness while simplifying the acquisition process through structured guidance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates universal data structure templates that can accommodate configuration information from multiple types of information devices and software components. These multi-functional templates enable consistent data collection across diverse systems without requiring device-specific acquisition procedures, reducing overall complexity.
3Measurement precision
If detailed configuration information is maintained for all components, then vulnerability identification accuracy is improved, but data management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by maintaining detailed configuration information specifically at the software component level where vulnerability identification is most critical, while using more aggregated representations at higher hierarchical levels. This selective detail distribution achieves high vulnerability identification accuracy without uniformly increasing data management complexity across all system levels.
Data Source
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AI summary
A software configuration management data creation support apparatus is an apparatus that supports creation of software configuration management data for managing a software configuration of an information system including a plurality of information devices, and includes: a design information collection unit that collects design information of the information system; a design information extraction unit that extracts a predetermined word/phrase from the design information; a class candidate selection unit that compares the word/phrase extracted by the design information extraction unit with attribute information set in advance according to a functional configuration of the information system, and selects, on the basis of a result of the comparison, a class candidate corresponding to a concrete class or an abstract class in a case where functional configurations taken charge of by the information devices in the information system are represented in a tiered structure including a concrete class of a lowest tier and abstract classes of one or a plurality of higher tiers; and a management data creation unit that presents the class candidate to a user and creates the software configuration management data on the basis of the user's operation of selecting the class candidate.