Microsoft patents AI tool to help update old computer code
Microsoft describes a method that uses a large language model to create a structured map of a software program's components and how they connect. This map is turned into a searchable index, allowing the AI to answer questions about the code to assist in updating it.
In the filing’s own words
Methods, apparatuses, and products for leveraging a large language model (‘LLM’) for modernizing a codebase, including: generating, using a codebase as input, a hierarchical representation of the codebase, wherein the hierarchical representation of the codebase includes one or more summarizations of functional units within the codebase and information describing relationships between the functional units within the codebase; and generating a searchable index that includes vector representations for nodes in the hierarchical representation of the codebase, wherein the LLM generates a response to a query based on content contained in the searchable index.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method of leveraging a large language model (‘LLM’) for modernizing a codebase, comprising: generating, using a codebase as input, a hierarchical representation of the codebase, wherein the hierarchical representation of the codebase includes one or more summarizations of functional units within the codebase and information describing relationships between the functional units within the codebase; and generating a searchable index that includes vector representations for nodes in the hierarchical representation of the codebase, wherein the LLM generates a response to a query based on content contained in the searchable index.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- LEVERAGING A LARGE LANGUAGE MODEL FOR MODERNIZING A CODEBASE
- Publication number
- US20260299940A1
- Application number
- 19094656
- Filed
- Mar 28, 2025
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 8
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 8/75 Physics & computingG06F 8/73 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft in AI & software
- Microsoft patents method to check AI answers against verified facts Oct 20, 2026
- Microsoft patents AI that presents PowerPoint slides for you Sep 3, 2026
- Microsoft patents method to check if LLM answers are based on real data Sep 10, 2026
- Microsoft patents system to blend multiple AI agents into one chat Oct 1, 2026
- Microsoft patents system that answers questions using your screen history Oct 15, 2026
Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.