Patent Document ID: 8990268
Application ID: 14216936
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for executing a command in a computing environment to perform a database operation utilizing a computerized representation of a functional system, the method comprising the steps of: electronically storing a set of data entities in a database system, the data entities representing elements of the functional system, wherein the functional system comprises a group of related elements ordered by their functional roles in converting inputs to outputs, or as the inputs, or as the outputs; electronically storing a computerized representation of a functional system syntax, wherein the functional system syntax can be applied by a computer processor to establish the validity of expressions of elements of the functional system based on one or more functional attributes of elements of the system; wherein the functional attributes are characteristic properties of the elements of the functional system, and wherein the elements are electronically represented by the data entities in the computerized representation of the functional information system; wherein the functional information system, utilizing the computerized representation of the functional system syntax, structures the data entities according to functional relationships among the inputs, the outputs, and the roles in converting the inputs to the outputs; assigning syntactic tags to the data entities in the functional information system based on the functional attributes of the elements to which the data entities correspond, thereby enabling data entities to be combined to form valid syntactic expressions; and enabling data creating, reading, updating, and deleting operations on the data entities and tags in the data store to correspond with changes in the functional system.