Patent ID: 7383240

Claim:
A method for operationalizing a goal, comprising: receiving the goal and a plurality of execution rules associated with the goal, each execution rule corresponding to an execution system for initiating execution of the execution rule; representing the goal in a representation language comprising a set of operations; applying an operation of the set of operations to the goal to partition the goal into a plurality of subgoals; responsive to a determination that a foreign goal exists, introducing the foreign goal as a subgoal, the foreign goal being independent of application of an operation of the set of operations to the goal; for each subgoal, applying an operation of the set of operations to the subgoal to derive and configure an execution rule associated with the subgoal; recording the goals, the applied operations, the subgoals, and the execution rules as operationalized knowledge to operationalize the goal: receiving a goal modification associated with the goal: and propagating the goal modification from the goal to the subgoals according to the operationalized knowledge to determine a subgoal modification associated with a specific subgoal.