EP2411911A1

EP2411911A1 - Apparatus and method for the automatic processing of data

Info

Publication number: EP2411911A1
Application number: EP10717493A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Norbert Peters
Original assignee: Hansa-Datenservice Gowarsch & Co
Current assignee: Hansa-Datenservice Gowarsch & Co
Priority date: 2009-03-24
Filing date: 2010-03-12
Publication date: 2012-02-01
Also published as: DE102009014616A1; WO2010108469A1

Abstract

To increase the computation speed of a data processing apparatus (1) which can be controlled by a computer program (4), a definition (7) of a processing specification (20, 26) is provided by assigning a first descriptor (6) to the definition (7). In addition, data (8, 10, 12) and/or combination definitions (14, 16) are provided outside the computer program (4) by assigning respective second descriptors (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) to the data (8, 10, 12) and/or to the combination definitions (14, 16). The data processing apparatus (1) identifies the definition (7) of the processing specification (20, 26) using the first descriptor (6) and accesses said definition, and it identifies data (8, 10, 12) and/or combination definitions (14, 16) using second descriptors (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) and accesses data (8, 10, 12) or combination definitions (14, 16). It creates an interim processing specification (19) from data (8, 10, 12) or from data (8, 10, 12) and at least one combination definition (14, 16). Second descriptors (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) contained in the interim processing specification (19) are substituted by data (8, 10, 12) and/or combination definitions (14, 16) until the interim processing specification (19) results in the processing specification (20, 26). Next, the processing specification is executed by processing these data (8, 10, 12) in line with the processing specification (20, 26), which produces result data (21).

Description

Device and method for the automatic processing of data

The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus controllable for automatically processing data by means of a computer program comprising at least one instruction for executing the processing, and to a method, in particular a computer-implemented method, for automatically processing data.

Computer program controlled computing devices or computers are controlled by an automatically executing sequence of individual control statements or calculation instructions or binary machine instructions or, briefly, instructions pertaining to the execution of respective operations. A set of individual machine commands is referred to as a computer program or program for short. For its execution, the computer program is loaded into a processor of the data processing device or its main memory. During the automatic execution of the computer program, the processor successively executes individual machine commands of the computer program or the respective operations. In this case, more complex computer programs have machine instructions which, depending on a predetermined condition, lead to branches of the machine instruction sequence, so that a different respective sequence of the machine instruction sequence is executed depending on whether a certain condition is met or not. In addition, in computer programs loops are often provided, which are repeated to repeatedly execute a sequence of machine instruction sequence, wherein the number of passes may be arbitrary.

If the data processing device is to process data automatically in accordance with a processing precursor, this processing instruction must be previously included in known data processing devices including all further steps necessary for processing, such as accessing the data stored in a memory or manually entered data or the output data. ben result data in a memory or on a screen, as a computer program or as part of such a be implemented. To create a computer program there are a variety of programming languages, which allow the formulation of the sequence of individual machine commands in a human-understandable form, wherein a program created in a programming language program is also referred to as source code. A source code must be converted into a sequence of binary machine instructions readable by the processor of the data processing device to enable it to execute the sequence of machine instructions or the computer program. For this conversion, in turn, there are special computer programs such as compilers or interpreters. A compiler converts and stores source code into a sequence of binary machine instructions, commonly referred to as compiling, while an interpreter reads in the source code, converts it into a sequence of binary machine instructions, and executes the machine instructions directly without storing them.

A critical feature of data processing devices is their computational speed. This is not only due to the hardware of a data processing device, it is also influenced by the machine commands to be executed. For example, the execution of machine instructions concerning data processing and possibly new data generating operations, such as arithmetic operations, is particularly time consuming.

It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a data processing device and a method for automatically processing data and a computer program product for controlling a data processing device and a storage medium with computer program product stored thereon, with which the computing speed in automatic data processing can be increased. This object is achieved by a data processing apparatus according to claim 1, a method according to claim 22, a computer program product according to claim 40 and a storage medium according to claim 41. Preferred embodiments are subject of the dependent claims.

In the present invention, a definition of the processing rule according to which data is to be processed is provided outside the computer program, instead of implementing the processing instruction as a computer program or part of a computer program as in known data processing apparatuses. In addition, data or link definitions are provided outside the computer program. With creation of the intermediate processing rule and substitution of second identifiers by respective data and / or link definitions, the processing rule is derived from the intermediate processing rule, the processing rule comprising only data and links of data before the final execution of this processing rule. In contrast to known data processing devices in which the processing instruction is implemented as a computer program, so that several and sometimes quite a few machine instructions are executed for the processing of data, which concern data processing and possibly new data generating operations, is in the automatic processing of data according to the present invention minimizes the number of such machine instructions. At the very most, such operations only take place when the exclusively data-linking processing instruction is executed. Machine instructions that occur during data processing in the present invention are primarily those operations where data is neither processed nor recreated, and where data or association definitions are instead merely identified, substituted or sorted, or where data or association definitions are accessed. Because such operations are many times faster than operations that process or generate data, data from the data processing device of the invention becomes noticeably faster processed as from known data processing devices. Data processing devices according to the present invention can achieve computational speeds that are a factor of 10 to 100 or more higher than those of known data processing devices.

Since a computer program can usually only be changed with a certain amount of effort, further advantages of the present invention result in cases where the processing instruction is to be modified. To modify the processing rule, it is first necessary in known data processing devices to modify the source code accordingly. Subsequently, the complete changed source code must be compiled and transferred to the memory of the data processing device. Although the data processing device has an interpreter, compilation of the source code can indeed be dispensed with, nevertheless it is usually necessary to transfer the complete changed source code into the memory of the data processing device. In particular if only a small part of the total number of calculation instructions of a source code, namely the part relating to the processing instruction, is to be changed or if only a few calculation instructions of the source code are changed or only a few calculation instructions are added to the source code in relation to the total number of calculation instructions In the case of any such change, the entire source code must always be compiled and the entire compiled source code must be transferred into the memory of the data processing device, so that considerable amounts of data can be generated with each transmission and much time and effort is expended for the transmission , The effort usually increases with the number of calculation instructions contained in the source code. All these disadvantages are eliminated in the present invention, since the definition of the processing svo script is provided outside the computer program and can be processed independently there by the computer program. In a basic embodiment of the invention, as long as at least one second identifier is contained in the intermediate processing instruction, repeatedly identified with reference to this second identifier are respective data and / or association definitions to which this second identifier is assigned; Link definitions are accessed and the second identifier contained in the intermediate processing rule is substituted by these respective data and / or link definitions. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, data and / or second link definitions are identified for at least one first link definition on the basis of second identifiers contained therein, data and / or second link definitions are accessed, and data or data and at least a second link definition becomes corresponding forming an intermediate link definition for the first link definition and, as long as at least one second identifier is included in the linkage definition, continue to identify data and / or second link definitions based on second identifiers, access data and / or second link definitions, and include in the interlink definition replace second identifiers with data and / or second link definitions until the interlink definition defaults to data only in which the data of the link is then processed in accordance with the link, thereby generating data associated with the second identifier associated with the first link definition, and accessing that generated data instead of the first link definition and / or with a subsequent one Identify the first shortcut definition based on this second identifier instead of accessing the first shortcut definition on that generated data. At least one of the second link definitions may be identical to the first link definition. Thus, in this embodiment, although the first link definition is identified from the second identifier, the first link definition is not accessed but the data generated according to the first link definition. Because the If data were assigned to the second identifier associated with the first association definition, and also when subsequently identifying the first association definition, this generated data is accessed, processing of data according to the first association definition does not have to take place again in subsequent processing of data, neither in cases where data according to the first association definition is processed as part of the processing of the exclusively data-linking processing rule, nor in cases where data is processed according to the first association definition prior to the processing of the exclusively data-linking processing rule and the data generated thereby be substituted in another link definition or the intermediate link rule. Overall, the number of data processing or generating operations is once again significantly reduced and the computing speed of the data processing device is further increased.

In this case, the data processing device can create the intermediate link definition when the command is first obtained, generate the data therefrom and associate it with the second identifier assigned to the first link definition and / or, upon success of the command, after a previous change of data to which another second identifier and create the data using the changed data and replace data previously assigned to the second identifier associated with the first association definition with the generated data. Furthermore, the data processing device can be set up to create the interlink definition on a periodic basis, to generate data therefrom and to assign it to the second identifier assigned to the first link definition. This ensures that the data generated from the join definition is available before the command succeeds if possible, rather than having to be generated after the command succeeds, making data processing even faster. The data may basically be any data, such as numerical values or numbers or numbers, intervals, strings, truth values or other types of data. The definition of the processing rule as well as the join definitions can have arithmetic operations and / or Boolean operators or also any other processing operations or combinations thereof. For example, if the data is numeric values, the definition of the processing rule, such as the join definitions, preferably includes arithmetic operations, and the data generated from these definitions are also numeric values. On the other hand, if the data are truth values, the definition of the processing rule, like the join definitions, preferably includes Boolean operators, and the data generated from these definitions are truth values.

An embodiment of the data processing device comprises at least one memory in which the definition of the processing rule and / or data and / or at least one link definition is or are stored. However, it is not absolutely necessary to provide the definition of the processing rule, data or link definitions within the data processing device. These can also be partially or completely stored outside the data processing device, for example in an external memory such as an external hard disk or in a database. Then the data processing device is expediently arranged to access at least one external memory in which the definition of the processing instruction and / or data and / or at least one link definition is or are stored. Spatially, the external memory can in principle be arbitrarily far away from the data processing device, provided that only one connection can be established between the data processing device and the memory. For the way of this connection there are no restrictions. Thus, the data processing device with the external memory at least partially via a wired connection and / or a wireless connection and / or an air interface and / or a bi- or multidirectional network and / or a client-server connection and / or the Internet and / or a LAN connection and / or a WLAN connection and / or or a Bluetooth connection can be connected.

In the simplest case, at least the first identifier and / or at least one second identifier is a character string or both the first identifier and all second identifiers are respective character strings. Advantageously, the first identifier and / or at least a second identifier comprise an address indicating a storage location of the definition of the processing instruction or of data or a link definition. By means of such identifiers can be directly refer to the storage locations of respective data or definitions, without having to provide additional addressing or referencing devices.

Under certain circumstances, the definition of the processing rule or a link definition may have a second identifier to which neither data nor a link definition is assigned, because such a mapping has either failed due to an error or because the corresponding data has not yet been generated. In order to ensure smooth operation of the data processing device even in such cases, it can advantageously be provided that the data processing device automatically assigns a predetermined value to a second identifier if an assignment of data or a linking definition to this identifier is pending. For example, a second identifier, which is normally associated with a numeric value, can be automatically assigned the value zero, unless the second identifier has yet been assigned a value.

If interactive communication with a user is provided, the provision of data to which a second identifier is assigned can also be effected by manual input of the data. For example, the data processing device can be connected via a graphical user interface. have corresponding input fields into which the user manually enters the data via a keyboard.

Preferably, the result data are stored under assignment of a second subscriber. In this way, the result data is provided for further processing. The result data may be identified by the second identifier and may be accessed for processing by, for example, a processing instruction other than that used to generate the result data.

In an embodiment of the present invention, overlaps of predetermined intervals are determined by the processing rule, the result data being a value corresponding to a size of the overlaps. Particularly preferably, the intervals are time intervals and the result data correspond to a duration of the overlaps of the time intervals. This makes it possible, in particular, to compare different time profiles conveniently with one another, and the result of this comparison, that is to say the result data corresponding to the duration of the overlaps of the time intervals, can be reused for a very wide variety of purposes.

Because files in character-encoded form and especially in HTML format can be changed quickly and easily without any data conversions, it is particularly advantageous to provide the processing rule in character-coded or HTML format and / or at least one concatenation definition in character-coded form or HTML format provided.

The assignment of second identifiers to the data and / or linking rules can be done by means of one or more tables, for example within a relational database.

Preferably, the data processing device is for storing the definition of the processing rule, the data and the linking definition. in the event of an override of the definition of the processing rule, of data or of a link definition to which an identifier is assigned and to which a first validity time is assigned, by a second definition of the processing rule second data or by a second link definition to which the same identifier is assigned, the second definition of the processing rule, the second data or the second link definition to a second validity time, which is younger than the first validity time, and stores the second definition of the processing rule, retaining the second data or the second link definition while retaining the first definition of the processing rule, the first data, or the first link definition, the data processing device being further adapted for access and to such access from all stored definitions of the processing rule, data or link definitions to which the same identifier is assigned and to which a validity time older relative to the reference time is assigned to the definition of the processing rule, to data and link definitions which accesses that definition of the processing rule, those data, or the link definition with the most recent validity time, or, if all the stored definitions of the processing rule, all data or all link definitions associated with the same identifier are assigned a validity time that is younger relative to the reference time, from accessing a definition of the processing rule, data and link definitions. In such a data processing apparatus, in case of overwriting of a first data element, which may be the definition of the processing rule, the data or the link definitions, by a second data element the first data element is not deleted as in known devices, but instead the storage of the first data element. Once a data element has been stored, it will not be deleted at any time even with any number of subsequent overwrites of data elements to which the same identifier is assigned. Any data That is why you are fundamentally excluded. Even in the case of an erroneous overwriting, the respective overwritten data element remains physically existent and is not lost. The first data element thus overwritten can also be accessed at any time after it has been overwritten in order, for example, to restore overridden user settings or other data. For this purpose, when accessing a data element to which a second identifier is assigned, a reference time is specified, which is older relative to the second validity time and relatively younger than the first validity time in order to access the first data element. For accesses to the second data element, on the other hand, a reference time is specified, which is younger than the second validity time. In principle, any reference times can be specified, wherein the reference time can also be younger or older than all validity times of all stored data elements to which the same identifier is assigned. In the former case, the data element with the most recently assigned validity time is accessed, whereas in the latter case no data element is accessed because there is no data element associated with a validity time older than the reference time. Because, in the case of rewrites of stored data elements to which a second identifier is assigned, new data elements to which the same second designator is assigned assign validity dates to the new data elements which are younger than the validity time assigned to the respective overwritten data element, for each reference time and also in the presence of a plurality of stored data elements to which this second identifier is assigned, uniquely defines which of the data elements is to be accessed for accesses given a reference time.

Basically, the data elements can be assigned arbitrary validity times. For example, the first validity time may correspond to a time which is arbitrarily far in the past relative to the time of storage of the first data item or which is arbitrarily far in the future relative to the time of storing the first data item. In particular, it is possible to assign to the first data element a validity time that is relative to at least one validity time of a stored data element, the a second identifier is assigned, or is older relative to several or all validity periods of already stored data elements to which the same second identifier is assigned. Accordingly, the second validity time is not limited to such a time that is in the past or corresponds to the time at which the second data item is stored; rather, it may be arbitrarily far in the future analogously relative to the time of storing the second data item. Thus, when accessing a data item associated with a second identifier, for example, specifying a reference time that corresponds to a current time of access, a data item having an assigned validity time that is relative to the time of access in the future, also not accessed. Assuming that the current time of access is always specified as the reference time, such a data element is only accessed if the access takes place at a time after the validity time assigned to the data element. For example, if the second data item is assigned a future time relative to the time of storing the second data item as the second validity period, accesses to a data item associated with a second identifier simply succeed the second data item instead of the first data item Exceeded the second validity time accessed. Thus, the subject of the present invention proves to be much more flexible in overwriting stored data elements than known data storage methods and apparatus, since it allows for future overwriting of stored data elements without the need to provide any special equipment for measuring the time and performance of the data Overwriting at a given time are designed.

A data processing device which is set up for accesses with specification of a period of validity is furthermore preferably designed to access the definition of the processing rule, data and / or link definitions under specification of the same reference time. With such a data processing device, it is easily possible for to process any given reference time at this time in each case valid data in accordance with valid at that time processing rules.

Likewise preferred is an embodiment of the data processing device in which the first identifier and / or at least one second identifier and / or the definition of the processing instruction and / or data and / or at least one association definition is or are associated with at least one predefined data processing category and which are to be processed of data under specification of a data processing category is set up, wherein the data processing device for a given data processing category, the definition of the processing rule, data and link definitions only identifies or accesses them when the first identifier or second identifier assigned to them or they themselves the predetermined data processing category is or are , In this data processing device, data can now be processed for respective data processing categories in accordance with processing instructions that are valid for the respective data processing category.

The invention will be further explained by means of embodiments with reference to figures. Show it:

Figure 1 is a data processing device in a schematic representation;

Figure 2 is a flow chart of a method according to the present invention;

FIG. 3a) -e) contents of a main memory of a processor of the data processing device of FIG. 1 according to various method steps of the method of FIG. 2; FIG. 4a) -g) contents of a main memory of the processor of the data processing device of FIG. 1 according to various method steps of a further method according to the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a memory with contents;

FIG. 6 shows different time intervals;

FIG. 7 shows data with assigned designator and associated validity time.

A data processing device 1 according to the invention with a processor 2 and a memory 3 is shown very schematically in FIG. In the processor 2, a running during the operation of the data processing device 1 computer program 4 as a result of machine instructions 5 is shown. One of the machine instructions 5 comprises a first identifier 6, which is the character string "frml." A definition 7 for a processing instruction for processing data is stored in the memory 3 with assignment of the first identifier 6. Further, in the memory 3 are data 8 under assignment of a second identifier 9, which is the character string "ABez", stored in the memory 3, there are data 10 under assignment of a second identifier 11, which is the string "DBez", in memory 3 are stored, and there are data 12 under assignment of a second identifier 13, which is the string "EBez", stored in the memory 3. In addition, in the memory 3, a link definition 14 is assigned to the memory 3 by assigning a second identifier 15, which is the character string "BBez", and a link definition 16 is assigned to a third identifier 17, which is the String "CBez" is stored in memory 3. The definition 7, the data 8, 10, 12 and the association definitions 14, 16 are stored in the memory 3 in HTML format. Between the processor 2 and the memory 3 there is a connection 18, via which the processor 2 can access contents of the memory 3. For the purpose of simplifying the illustration of basic functionalities of the data processing device 1, in the present example, without limiting the generality, the data 8, 10 and 12 are numerical values, while the definition 7 and the linking definitions 14 and 16 define arithmetic operations. Thus, the data 8 consists of the numerical value 50, the data 10 of the numerical value 20 and the data 12 of the numerical value 10. The definition 7 comprises, inter alia, the second identifiers 9, 15 and 17 and the numerical value 2, where in the definition 7, a subtraction between the second identifier 9 as a minend and the second identifier 15 as a subtrahend with the numerical value 2 and the second identifier 17 is multiplied. The link definition 14 is an addition with the second identifiers 11 and 13 as summands, while the link definition 16 is a subtraction between the second identifier 15 as a minend and a numerical value 5 as a subtrahend.

A first basic method according to the invention for the automatic processing of data by means of the data processing device 1 is shown in the flowchart of FIG. The process begins with step SO. In the subsequent step S1, the data processing apparatus 1 is provided. Then, in step S2, the definition 7 is provided in the memory 3 and the first identifier 6 is assigned to it. Accordingly, in step S3, the data 8, 10, 12 and the link definitions 14, 16 are provided in the memory 3, with the respective second identifiers 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 assigned to them, respectively. After the step S3, the memory 3 is present as shown in FIG.

If the command with the first identifier 6 takes place in the course of the computer program 4 which automatically runs in the processor 2, the definition 7 is identified on the basis of the identifier 6 in step S4 and the processor accesses the definition 7 stored in the memory 3. FIG. 3 a) shows the definition contained in a working memory (not shown) of the processor 2 7 immediately after the access in step S4. Based on the identifiers 9, 15 and 17 included in the definition 7, the data 8 and the linking definitions 14 and 16 are identified and accessed in step S5, whereupon in step S6 according to the definition 7 an intermediate processing rule shown in figure 3b) 19 is created with the data 8 and the link definitions 14 and 16 by substituting the respective identifiers 9, 15 and 17 in the definition 7.

The subsequent course of the method depends on whether the intermediate processing instruction 19 comprises second identifiers or not, which is determined in step S7. If no second identifiers are included in the intermediate processing instruction 19, then the intermediate processing instruction 19 is identical to the processing instruction, and the method proceeds to the step S8 which will be described later. However, according to FIG. 3b), immediately after the execution of step S6, the intermediate processing instruction 19 comprises the identifiers 11, 13 and 15, so that the method repeats step S6. In step S6, the identifiers 11, 13 and 15, the data and / or the link definitions are again identified on the basis of identifiers contained in the intermediate processing rule 19, in accordance with FIG. 3b), in the present case the data 10 and 12 and the link definition 14, they are accessed and the respective identifiers 11, 13 and 15 in the intermediate processing instruction 19 are respectively substituted by the corresponding data 10 and 12 and the association definition 14. The result of this substitution is shown in FIG. 3c). Subsequently, in step S7, it is checked again whether the intermediate processing instruction 19 thus obtained contains second identifiers. Since the intermediate processing instruction 19 shown in FIG. 3c) has the identifiers 11 and 13, the step S6 is executed again, ie the data 10 and 12 are identified on the basis of the identifiers 11 and 13, and the identifiers 11 are accessed and 13 in the intermediate processing rule 19 are substituted by the corresponding data 10 and 12. The result of this substitution shown in FIG. 3d) is now processing rule 20, which is derived from the 19 and no identifiers. Instead, the processing instruction 20 exclusively links data or numerical values or numerical values. This is determined in step S7, and the method proceeds to step S8 where the processing rule 20 is processed, which in the present case means that the numerical values are processed according to the arithmetic operations of the processing rule 20. As a result of the processing, result data 21 in the form of the numerical value 1000 is obtained. The result data 21 are stored in the memory 3 with assignment of a second identifier, where they are available for later processing. At the same time or alternatively, the result data 21 can also be output on a screen, for example. The method finally ends with step S9.

A further method according to the invention that can be executed by the data processing device 1 is shown in FIGS. 4a) -g). In this method, the steps S1 to S4 are analogous to the method described above. According to FIG. 3 a), FIG. 4 a) shows the definition 7 located in the main memory of the processor 2 immediately after the execution of step S 4. In this method as well, the linking definitions 14 and 16 are identified and accessed on the basis of the identifiers 15 and 17 covered by the definition 7 in step S5, but the intermediate processing rule 19 is now not created immediately.

In FIG. 4b), the definition 7 and the association definitions 14 and 16 can be seen, stored in the working memory of the processor 2 in the course of the step S5, which is extended in the present method compared to the previously described method. In the further course of step S5, the data 10, 12 and the link definition 14 are identified on the basis of the second identifiers 11, 13 and 15 contained in these link definitions 14 and 16, the data 10, 12 and the link definition 14 are accessed and become according to the link definitions 14 and 16 from the data 10, 12 and the link definition 14, respectively, creates respective intermediate link definitions 22 and 23 by substituting the identifiers 11 and 13 in the link definition 14 with the respective data 10 and 12, thereby generating the link definition 22; and the identifier 15 in the link definition 16 is substituted by the link definition 14, thereby creating the linkage definition 23.

FIG. 4c) shows the situation after the intermediate link definitions 22 and 23 have been created. As can be seen, the intermediate link definition 22 no longer contains identifiers, while the intermediate link definition 23 has the identifiers 11 and 13. Therefore, in the extended step S5, the identifiers 11 and 13 contained in the intermediate-link definition 23 continue to identify the data 10 and 12, access them, and assign the respective identifiers 11 and 13 in the intermediate-link definition 23 through the respective data 10 and 12 substitute. After this substitution, identifiers are no longer contained in the intermediate link definition 23, as can be seen in FIG. 4d).

Now, the data or numerical values contained in the interconnect definitions 22 and 23 are processed according to the arithmetic operations specified by the interconnect definitions 22 and 23. As a result of the processing of the intermediate-link definition 22, the data 24 which is the numerical value 30 is obtained, and as a result of the processing of the intermediate-link definition 23, the data 25 which is the numerical value 25 is obtained. The data 24 and 25 are assigned to the same identifiers as the respective link definitions 14 and 16, from which they have emerged.

The method now proceeds to step S6 and identifies the data 8, 22 and 23 from the identifiers 9, 15 and 17 included in the definition 7, accesses them and substitutes in the definition 7 the respective identifiers 9, 15 and 17 by the respective data 8, 22 and 23. Because the intermediate processing definition 26 resulting therefrom from the definition 7 and shown in FIG. 4f) contains no identifiers they are identical to the processing instructions. This is determined in step S7, and the processing instruction is processed as described in the previous method in step S8. As a result of the processing, as can be seen in FIG. 4g), the same result data 21 are generated as in the previously described method.

In the method just described, it is of particular advantage if the data 24 and 25 generated in the extended step S5 are stored in the memory 3 under assignment to the same respective identifiers 15 and 17 as the respective linking definitions 14 and 16, from which they have arisen be as shown in Figure 5. This allows later accesses to data 24 and 25 in subsequent identifications of join definitions 14 and 16 rather than to the join definitions

14 and 16. Thus, the method last described can be abbreviated in later implementations thereof, since the definition shown in FIG. 4a) can be used to directly produce the intermediate processing definition 26 or the processing instruction according to FIG. 4f), i. the method steps of FIGS. 4b) -e) can be skipped, as a result of which the computing time is shortened even further. In this case, the data processing device 1 is set up to carry out the method as described in connection with FIGS. 4 a) -g) and then to carry out the identifiers

15 and 17 to replace data with newly generated data 24, 25, when either the data 8 or the data 10 or the data 12 has been changed since the last execution of the method to ensure the correctness of the processing of the data. Additionally or alternatively, the data processing device 1 may be configured to carry out the method on a periodic basis as described in connection with FIGS. 4a) -g). FIG. 6 shows an example in which the data processing device 1 determines overlaps of predetermined intervals by means of processing instructions and in which the result data are a value which corresponds to a size of the overlaps. Specifically, the intervals are time intervals and the result data corresponds to a duration of the overlaps of the time intervals.

The example shown in FIG. 6 relates to a salary collection for a company employee. In FIG. 6, times from 0 o'clock to 24 o'clock are plotted in steps of six hours each for two consecutive days on a timeline. The employee was on sick leave on day 2, while he was able to work on day 1. Therefore, "KR" for sick is entered in the top line for all times of the day 2, while for all times of the day 1 "VF" is entered for available. In the middle row, times are marked "target", where the employee was required to perform specific tasks, on day 1 this was between 10am and 12pm, between 2pm and 6pm, and between 10pm and 24 o'clock, and on day 2 for the period between 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock and between 2 o'clock and 6 o'clock pm Finally, in the bottom line wage supplements are registered, which apply for certain working hours At 6 o'clock, a pay supplement marked "Nachti" and, for working hours between 6 and 12 o'clock, a wage supplement marked "Nacht2".

For the day 1, the data processing device 1 generates the numerical value 24 corresponding to the first line, which is stored as an identifier by assigning the character string "VF" because the employee was able or available to work on day 1. According to the second line, the numerical value becomes 8 created and stored under assignment of the string "target", because the employee was committed on day 1 for a total of eight hours. Furthermore, a numerical value 6 is generated twice on the bottom line and once under assignment of the designation "Nachti" and once under assignment. stored the term "night2", because the two wage supplements are paid for six hours of day one.

In addition, for day 1, the first line is combined with the middle line, i. Overlaps of the first and middle lines are determined and stored. This results in a numerical value 8, which is stored as an identifier under assignment of the combined character string "VFSoll." Accordingly, overlaps of the first row with the lowest row are determined, which gives the numerical value 6 twice, one of which is assigned to the combined string "VFNachti" is stored as an identifier and the other as an identifier under assignment of the combined character string "VFNacht2." For the overlaps of the middle line with the lowest line, the numerical value 2 is obtained, which is stored as identifier with assignment of the string "SollNacht2". Finally, all three lines are combined, i. the overlaps of all three lines are determined, which gives the numerical value 2, which is stored as an identifier while assigning the character string "VFSollNacht2".

According to this scheme, the numerical value 24 for day 2 is assigned the character string "KR", the numerical value 8 with assignment of the string "nominal", the numerical value 6 with assignment of the character string "Nachti", the numerical value 6 with assignment of the character string "night2 ", the numerical value 8 is stored under assignment of the character string" KRSoll ", the numerical value 6 under assignment of the character string" KRNachti ", and the numerical value 6 under assignment of the character string" KRNacht2 "because there are no overlaps between the middle and the bottom line are still between all three lines, no further numerical values are determined.

The data thus generated by the data processing device 1 and stored in the memory 3 are now available for a wide variety of further processing. In this case, advantageously, data is generated that corresponds to the individual columns and all possible combinations thereof, regardless of whether any of these generated Data may not be needed at all later. The possibility of using the method according to the invention to determine overlaps of time intervals, or to combine time intervals, proves to be substantially more flexible than known computer programs which exist for this purpose. In the example of FIG. 6, the time intervals are indeed indicated to the hour, but they can just as well be accurate to the minute, accurate to the second, accurate to the exact month, accurate to the year or specified in any other accuracy.

The data processing device 1 may further be adapted to store the definition of the processing rule 7, the data 8, 10, 12 and the link definitions 14 and 16 with the assignment of a respective validity time, accessing them with specification of a reference time. In this way, the data processing device 1 can process, for all given reference times, data according to a processing instruction which was or will be the respectively valid reference time at the respective reference time. This will be explained on behalf of the other data 10 and 12 and for the definition of the processing rule 7 and the link definitions 14 and 16 using the example of the data 8.

FIG. 7 a) shows the data 8 stored in the memory 3 with the identifier 9 assigned to it. In addition, the data 8 is assigned a validity time 27. In the present case, the validity time 27 has the value "24.09.2008" and corresponds to the day on which the data 8 were stored in the memory 3.

The data 8 with the associated identifier 9 should now be overwritten by new data 28, to which the same identifier 9 is to be assigned, wherein the new data should be the numerical value 55. For this purpose, the new data 28 are stored in the memory 3 with the designation 9 being assigned the validity time 29, which corresponds to the time of storing the data 28 and in this case has the value "13.12.2008." The validity time 29 is therefore younger as the Validity time 27. Of this, the data 8 is unaffected, ie the data 8 are neither deleted nor otherwise changed, but their memory state is retained. FIG. 7b) shows the situation after storing the new data 28: In addition to the data 8 and its validity time 27, the new data 28 together with the validity time 29 are also stored in the memory 3.

If data is accessed after overwriting, to which the identifier 9 is assigned, a reference time is predetermined either manually or automatically by the data processing device 1. According to a preset first operating mode of the data processing device 1, the current time of access is automatically selected and specified as the reference time. This is of course younger than both validity times 27 and 29. Thus, it is checked by the data processing device 1 whether any stored in the memory 3 data 8 and 28, to which the subscriber is assigned 9, a validity time 27 and 29 is assigned, which is older as the reference time. If this is the case, those of the data 8 and 28 are read out with the most recent validity time 29, in the present example, the data 28. However, if the test determines that no data is assigned a validity time that is older than the predetermined reference time, because For example, a reference time that was still before the validity period 27 was specified, the data processing device 1 looks away from accessing data.

Outside of the memory 3, the effect of the storage with assignment of a validity time thus does not differ from the effect of known memory methods in which stored data elements such as the definition of the processing rule, data and link definitions are overwritten and thereby physically deleted, since the just current In the case of accesses to data to which the same identifier is assigned, in both cases the respectively newly stored data element with which the original data element was overwritten is output. Within the memory 3, on the other hand, if a data element is overwritten according to this method, the overwritten data element stored unchanged in the memory 3, while it is physically deleted in known methods under certain circumstances and its information content is irretrievably lost. Thus, the data processing apparatus 1 configured in this manner allows to access the overwritten data item even after overwriting, if necessary. Unintentional deletion of data elements, for example when updating existing databases, is therefore fundamentally excluded.

In a second operating mode of the data processing device 1, any reference times can be specified. If, for example, a reference time lying between the validity times 27 and 29 is given when accessing data to which the designator 9 is assigned, the data processing device 1 reads out the data element 8, since its validity time 27 is now the most recent of those validity times that older than the reference time. If instead one specifies a reference time that lies before the validity period 27 or is older than the validity time 27, no data is read out because none of the validity times 27 and 29 are older than the reference time. Given a reference time which is relative to the time of access in the future, again the data 28 are read out, since their validity time 29 is also in this case the most recent of the validity times 27 and 29, which are older than the reference time.

In a later overwriting of the data 28 in Figure 7b), which as mentioned until then those of the data to which the identifier 9 is assigned, with the most recent validity time 29, the procedure is analogous. To overwrite the data 28, for example by data 30, which are also associated with the identifier 9 and which is the numerical value 67, the data 30 are stored in the memory 3. In this case, they are assigned a validity period 31, in the present case "03.03.2009", which is the day on which the data 30 were stored in the memory 3. Figure 7c) shows the situation after the data 28 has been overwritten Data 30. After the overwriting has been completed, the first In the case of accesses to data to which the identifier 9 is assigned, the data processing device 1 accesses those of the three stored data 8, 28, 30 which now have the most recent validity time 30 of all validity times 27, 29, 31 of the data 8, 28, 30 In the second working mode, no data is accessed for accesses specifying a reference time that lies before the validity period 27, as explained above; if a reference time between the validity period 27 and the validity period 29 is specified, data 8 is used when a reference time between the validity time 29 and the validity period 31 is set, the data 28 is accessed, and when a reference time younger than the validity time 31 is set, for example as in the first working mode of the device 1 the time being accessed or a time relative to the time of access in the future, access to the data 30 takes place.

According to a further embodiment, portions of the first identifier 6 and respective portions of the second identifiers 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 may indicate membership of the respective definition 7, data 8, 10, 12 and link definitions 14, 16 to respective categories of data processing. Alternatively, an indicator for identifiers indicating the data processing category or the objects designated by them can also be provided. The data processing device 1 can then process data in accordance with predefined data processing categories by accessing, for a given data processing category, only that definition and those data and association definitions which belong to this data processing category, which is recognized by the respective identifiers or indicators. For example, in the case of FIG. 6, a plurality of pay tables may be stored under an identifier "pay table", with each pay table being assigned an indicator indicating its respective pay scale group given the indicator of a specific group of tariffs, the data processing Device 1 allows to carry out data processing according to this tariff group, because it is accessed only on belonging to this tariff group data and link definitions.

Although the memory 3 has been described in the previous examples as belonging to the data processing apparatus 1, the memory 3 may nevertheless be an external memory. In this case, the memory can be located at any distance from the data processing device 1 as long as the data processing device 1 can only access the memory. For this purpose, all possible connections between the data processing device 1 and the memory are conceivable, such as a wired connection, a wireless connection, an air interface, a bi- or multidirectional network, a client-server connection, the Internet, a LAN Connection, a Wi-Fi connection or a Bluetooth connection.

Finally, the data 8, 10 and 12 need not be provided by storage in a memory as described in the previous examples, the provision of the data 8, 10, 12 may alternatively be done by a manual input via an interface to the data processing device 1. For example, the interface can be a graphical user interface with an input mask, which is displayed on a screen of the data processing device 1 and into which the data are entered by the user by means of a keyboard of the data processing device 1.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1. Data processing device

2nd processor

3rd memory

4. Computer program

5. Machine command

6. first identifier

7. Definition

8. Data

9. second identifier

10. Data

11. second identifier

12. Data

13. second identifier

14. Link definition

15. second identifier

16. Link definition

17th second identifier

18. Connection

19. Intermediate processing rule

20. Processing instructions

21. Result data

22. Interconnect Definition

23. Interconnect definition

24. Data

25th data

26. Processing instructions

27. Validity period

28. Data

29. Validity period

30. Data

31. validity period

Claims

claims

A data processing device (1) controllable for automatically processing data (8, 10, 12) by means of a computer program (4) comprising at least one command (5) for executing the processing, the data processing device (1) being arranged in that at least one definition (7) provided outside the computer program (4) of at least one processing instruction (20, 26) to which a first identifier (6) is uniquely assigned is identified on the basis of the first identifier (6) and based on this definition (7). access, as well as data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) provided outside the computer program (4), to which respective second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) are uniquely assigned, on the basis of second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) and to access these data (8, 10, 12) and / or link definitions (14, 16), both the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) as well as the linking definitions (14, 16) each comprise at least a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17), wherein the data processing device (1) upon success of the command (5) in the course of an automatic run the computer program (4) identifies the definition (7) of the processing instructions (20, 26) on the basis of the first identifier (6) and accesses these based on second identifiers contained in the definition (7) of the processing instructions (20, 26) (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) identifies data (8, 10, 12) and / or link definitions (14, 16), accesses data (8, 10, 12) and / or link definitions (14, 16) and in accordance with the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) from data (8, 10, 12) or from data (8, 10, 12) and at least one linking definition (14, 16), an intermediate processing rule (19) is prepared and if the intermediate processing instruction (19) has at least one second identifier (9, 11, 13 , 15, 17) continues to identify data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) from second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) and to data (8, 10, 12). 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) and second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) contained in the intermediate processing rule (19) by data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) until the processing instruction (20, 26) emerges from the intermediate processing instruction (19), the processing instruction (20, 26) excluding data (8, 10, 12) and links (Data 8, 10, 12), and wherein the data processing device (1) subsequently executes the processing rule (20, 26) by applying the data (8, 10, 12) included in the processing rule (20, 26) according to the method of The processing instructions (20, 26) have processed links and thereby generates result data (21).

2. Data processing device (1) according to claim 1, the at least for a first link definition (14, 16) based on the second identifiers contained therein (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) data (8, 10, 12) and / or identifies second link definitions (14, 16), accesses data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions (14, 16) and corresponding to the first link definition (14, 16) from data (8, 10, 12) or from data (8,

10, 12) and at least one second link definition (14, 16) creates an inter-link definition (22, 23) and that, as long as at least one second identifier (9, 12, 23) in the inter-link definition (22, 23)

11, 13, 15, 17) continues to proceed, based on second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions

(14, 16), access data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions (14, 16) and include second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) contained in the intermediate link definition (22, 23) ) by data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions (14, 16), until the intermediate link definition (22, 23) results in a link of only data (8, 10, 12), the data processing device ( 1) then processes the data (8, 10, 12) of the link in accordance with the link and thereby generates data (24, 25) which assigns it to the second identifier (15, 17) associated with the first link definition (14, 16) and instead the first link definition (14, 16) accesses this generated data (24, 25) and / or on a subsequent identification of the first link definition (14, 16) on the basis of this second link definition (14, 16) Drawing (15, 17) instead of the first link definition (14, 16) accesses this generated data (24, 25).

The data processing apparatus (1) according to claim 2, which upon initial successes of the instruction (5) constructs the intermediate link definition (22, 23), generates therefrom the data (24, 25), and assigns it to the first link definition (14, 16) second identifier (15, 17) assigns and / or in successes of the command (5) after a previous change of data (8, 10, 12) to which another second identifier (9, 11, 13) is assigned , the intermediate link definition (22, 23) is created and therefrom generates the data (24, 25) using the changed data (8, 10, 12) and previous second identifier (15, 17) associated with the first link definition (14, 16) associated data replaced by the generated data (24, 25).

A data processing apparatus (1) according to claim 2 or claim 3, arranged to periodically generate the intermediate link definition (22,23), to generate therefrom data (24,25) and to associate it with the second link associated with the first link definition (14,16) Identifier (15, 17) assign.

A data processing apparatus (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the data (8, 10, 12) are numerical values, intervals, strings or truth values.

6. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) and / or at least one link definition (14, 16) has arithmetic operations and / or Boolean operators.

7. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims with at least one memory (3), in which the definition (7) of the Processing instruction (20, 26) and / or data (8, 10, 12) and / or at least one link definition (14, 16) is or are stored.

8. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, which is set up to access at least one external memory (3) in which the definition (7) of the processing instructions (20, 26) and / or data (8, 10, 12 ) and / or at least one link definition (14, 16) is or are stored.

9. Data processing device (1) according to claim 8, with the external memory (3) at least partially via a wired connection (18) and / or a wireless connection and / or an air interface and / or a bi- or multi-directional network and / or a client-server connection and / or the Internet and / or a LAN connection and / or a WLAN connection and / or a Bluetooth connection is connectable.

10. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, in which at least the first identifier (6) and / or at least one second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is a character string or in which both the first identifier ( 6) as well as all second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) are respective character strings.

11. Data processing device (1) according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first identifier (6) and / or at least a second

Identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) comprises an address indicating a storage location of the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) or of data (8, 10, 12) or of a link definition (14, 16) ,

12. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, which automatically assigns a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) a predetermined value, provided that an assignment of data (8, 10, 12) or a link definition (14, 16) to this identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is outstanding.

13. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, in which the provision of data (8, 10, 12) to which a second

Identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is assigned by a manual input of the data (8, 10, 12).

14. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, the result data (21) with assignment of a second identifier (9,

11, 13, 15, 17) stores.

15. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, which determines by means of the processing instruction (20, 26) overlaps predetermined intervals and in which the result data (21) are a value corresponding to a size of the overlaps.

16. Data processing device (1) according to claim 15, in which the intervals are time intervals and the result data (21) correspond to a duration of the overlaps of the time intervals.

Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, which is adapted to a definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) provided in character-coded form or in HTML format and / or to at least one in character-coded form or in HTML - Access format provided link definition (14, 16).

18. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, which is set up to identify and / or access data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16), which second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) are assigned in one or more tables.

Data processing apparatus (1) according to one of the preceding claims, for storing the definition (7) of the processing instructions (20, 26), the data (8, 10, 12) and the association definitions (14, 16) with assignment of a respective validity time (27, 29, 30) and which in case of overriding the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26), of data (8, 10, 12) or of a linking definition (14, 16), the one or more an identifier (9) is assigned and to which a first validity period (27, 29) is assigned, by a second definition of the processing instruction, by second data (28, 30) or by a second link definition, to which the same identifier (9 ), assigns to the second definition of the processing rule, the second data (28, 30) or the second link definition a second validity time (29, 31) that is younger than the first validity time (27, 29), u nd the second definition of the processing rule storing the second data (28, 30) or the second link definition while retaining the storage of the first definition of the processing rule, the first data (8, 10, 12), or the first link definition, wherein the data processing device (1 ) is also set up for access to the definition of the processing instruction, to data (8, 28, 30) and link definitions under specification of a reference time and to such access from all stored definitions of the processing instruction, data (8, 28, 30) or Link definitions to which the same identifier (9) is assigned and to which a valid validity period relative to the reference time is assigned, to which definition of the processing instruction, to the data (8, 28, 30) or to the link definition with the most recent validity time respectively all stored definitions of A processing rule, data (8, 28, 30) or association definitions associated with the same identifier (9) is assigned a validity time that is younger relative to the reference time, from accessing a definition of the processing specification, to data (8, 28, 30). or ignore a shortcut definition.

20. Data processing device (1) according to claim 19, which is adapted to the definition of the processing rule, to data (8, 28, 30) and / or access shortcut definitions under specification of the same reference time.

21. Data processing device (1) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first identifier (6) and / or at least a second

Identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) and / or the definition (7) of the processing specification (20, 26) and / or data (8, 10, 12) and / or at least one association definition (14, 16) at least assigned to a predefined data processing category, and which is set up for processing data (8, 10, 12) with specification of a data processing category, wherein the data processing device (1) for a given data processing category the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26), Data (8, 10, 12) and link definitions (14, 16) are only identified or accessed if the first identifier (6) or second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) assigned to them or the user of the same is assigned to predetermined data processing category or are.

22. A method of automatically processing data (8, 10, 12) comprising the steps of: (a) providing a data processing device (1) controllable by a computer program (4) comprising at least one command (5) for executing the processing,

(b) providing at least one definition (7) of at least one processing instruction (20, 26) outside the computer program (4) and assigning a first identifier (6) to the definition (7),

(c) providing data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) outside the computer program (4) and uniquely associating respective second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) with the data (8, 10, 12) and / or the linking definitions (14, 16), the definition (7) of the processing specification

(20, 26) as the linking definitions (14, 16) each comprise at least one second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17), (d) identifying the definition (7) of the processing rule (20, 26) based on the first identifier (6) and accessing the same when the command (5) is automatically executed by the computer program (4); (e) identifying data (8, 10, 12) and / or link definitions (14, 16) based on second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) contained in the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) and accessing Data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16), (f) creating an intermediate processing rule (19) according to the definition (7) of the processing rule (20, 26) from data (8, 10, 12) or from data (8, 10, 12) and at least one link definition (14, 16), and

(g) if the intermediate processing instruction (19) comprises at least one second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17), repeatedly identifying data (8, 10, 12) and / or association definitions (14, 16) on the basis of second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17), accessing data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) and substituting second identifiers contained in the intermediate processing instruction (19) (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) by data (8, 10, 12) and / or linking definitions (14, 16) until the processing instruction (20, 26) results from the intermediate processing rule (19), the processing rule (20, 26) excluding Comprises data (8, 10, 12) and links of data (8, 10, 12),

(h) executing the processing rule by processing the data (8, 10, 12) included in the processing rule (20, 26) according to the links included in the processing rule (20, 26), thereby generating result data (21).

23. The method of claim 22, wherein for at least a first link definition (14, 16) based on the second identifiers contained therein (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link - Definitions (14, 16) are identified, data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions (14, 16) are accessed and from data (8, 10, 12) or from data (8, 10, 12) and at least one second link definition (14, 16) is created according to the first link definition (14, 16), an intermediate link definition (22, 23) and, as long as in the intermediate link definition (22, 23) at least one second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) to continue to identify data (8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions (14, 16) based on second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) on data (8, 10, 12). 8, 10, 12) and / or second link definitions (14, 16) and second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) contained in the intermediate link definition (22, 23) by data (8, 10, 12) and or second link definitions (14, 16) until the intermediate link definition (22, 23) has a Linking only data (8, 10, 12) is apparent, then the data (8, 10, 12) of the link processed according to the link and thereby data (24, 25) are generated, which is the first link definition (14, 16 assigned second identifiers (15, 17) and wherein, instead of the first link definition (14, 16), this generated data (24, 25) is accessed and / or wherein in a subsequent identification of the first link definition (14, 16) is accessed on the basis of this second identifier (15, 17) instead of the first link definition (14, 16) on this generated data (24, 25).

24. A method according to claim 23, wherein upon first success of the instruction (5), the intermediate link definition (22, 23) is created, the data (24, 25) is generated therefrom and the second identifier (15, 16) associated with the first link definition (14, 16) is generated , 17) and / or in which, upon success of the instruction (5), after a previous change of data (8, 10, 12) to which another second identifier (9, 11, 13) is assigned, the interlink definition ( 22, 23) and therefrom generates the data (24, 25) using the changed data (8, 10, 12) and previous to the second associated with the first link definition (14, 16) Identifier (15, 17) assigned data by the generated data (24, 25) are replaced.

25. The method of claim 23 or claim 24, wherein creating the intermediate link definition (22, 23), generating the data (24,

25) thereof and assigning them to the second identifier (15, 17) assigned to the first association definition (14, 16) on a periodic basis.

26. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 25, in which numerical values, intervals, character strings or truth values are used as data (8, 10, 12).

27. Method according to one of claims 22 to 26, in which arithmetic operations and / or Boolean operators are used for the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) and / or at least one link definition (14, 16).

28. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 27, wherein at least the first identifier (6) and / or at least a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is provided as a string or in which both the first identifier ( 6) as well as all second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) are provided as respective character strings.

29. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 28, wherein at least a part of the first identifier (6) and / or at least a part of at least one second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is provided as an address, which indicates a storage location of the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) or of data (8, 10, 12) or of a link definition (14, 16).

30. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 29, in which a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) automatically assigned a predetermined value is, if an assignment of data (8, 10, 12) or a link definition (14, 16) to this identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is outstanding.

31. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 30, wherein the data (8, 10, 12) to which a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) is assigned to be manually entered.

32. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 31, wherein the result data (21) are stored with assignment of a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17).

33. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 32, wherein by means of the processing instruction (20, 26) overlaps of predetermined intervals are determined, wherein as result data (21) a value of a size of the overlaps is generated corresponding.

34. The method according to claim 33, in which overlaps of predetermined time intervals are determined and the result data (21) correspond to a duration of the overlaps of the time intervals.

35. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 34, wherein the definition (7) of the processing rule (20, 26) in character-coded form or in HTML format is provided and / or in the at least one link definition (14, 16) in character-coded Form or in HTML format.

36. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 35, wherein data (8, 10, 12) and / or link definitions (14, 16) second identifiers (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) are assigned in one or more tables ,

37. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 36, wherein the definition (7) of the processing rule (20, 26), the data (8, 10, 12) and the linking definitions (14, 16) with assignment of a respective validity time (27, 29, 30), wherein if the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26), of data (8, 10, 12) or of a link definition (14, 16), which or to which an identifier (9) is assigned and to which a first validity period (27, 29) is assigned, by a second definition of the processing instruction, by second data (28, 30) or by a second linking definition, the same Identifier (9), the second definition of the processing instruction, the second data (28, 30) or the second link definition, a second validity time (29, 31) is assigned, which is younger than the first validity time (27, 29), and wherein the second definition of the processing rule, the second data (28, 30) and the second link definition retain the storage of the first definition of the processing rule, the first data (8, 10, 12) and the first V Furthermore, accesses to the definition of the processing rule, to data (8, 28, 30) and to link definitions under specification of a reference time are envisaged and, in the case of such access, of all stored definitions of the processing rule, data (8, 28 , 30) and link definitions to which the same identifier (9) is assigned and to which a valid validity time is assigned relative to the reference time, to the definition of the processing rule, to those data (8, 28, 30) and to the link definition with the most recent validity time or, if all the stored definitions of the processing rule, data (8, 28, 30) and association definitions associated with the same identifier (9) are assigned a validity time younger relative to the reference time, from accessing a definition of the processing regulation, to data (8, 28 , 30) and ignore link definitions.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the definition of the processing rule, data (8, 28, 30) and link definitions is accessed using the same reference time.

39. The method according to any one of claims 22 to 38, wherein the first identifier (6) and / or at least a second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) and / or the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26) and / or data (8, 10, 12) and / or at least one link definition (14, 16) is / are assigned to at least one predefined data processing category and processing of data (8, 10, 12) under specification of a data processing category is provided in which, for a given data processing category, the definition (7) of the processing instruction (20, 26), data (8, 10, 12) and association definitions (14, 16) are only identified and / or accessed; if the first identifier (6) or second identifier (9, 11, 13, 15, 17) assigned to it or it itself is assigned to the predetermined data processing category.

40. Computer program product with control instructions for controlling a data processing device (1) according to one of claims 1 to 21.

41. Storage medium on which a computer program product according to claim 40 is stored.