Machine learning-derived universal connector

• US 10,089,384 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Issued: 10/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hastings, Nathan Allin, Versteeg, Steven Cornelis, Bird, John Sinclair, Yao, Xien
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Cheyne D
• Application Number:
  US14/656,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20160267170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• Field of Search: 707737
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data

Abstract

In a computer-implemented method for endpoint management, a plurality of messages communicated between a target endpoint and a client are recorded, in a computer-readable memory. Ones of the messages are clustered into respective groups, where the respective groups correspond to respective operation types of the ones of the messages included therein. For the respective operation types, respective message structures used by the target endpoint are determined based on commonalities among the ones of the messages of the respective groups corresponding to the operation types. For one of the respective operation types, a request to the target endpoint is generated in accordance with a corresponding one of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint. Related computer systems and computer program products are also discussed.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed by a connector server communicatively coupled to a target endpoint device and a client device, the method comprising:

recording, in a computer-readable memory of the universal connector server, a plurality of messages communicated between the target endpoint device and the client device;

clustering, by at least one processor of the connector server, ones of the messages into respective groups of messages, wherein the respective groups of messages correspond to respective operation types of the ones of the messages included therein;

determining, by the at least one processor, for the respective operation types, respective message structures used by the target endpoint device based on an identification of constant and variable sections of the respective message structures based on commonalities among the ones of the messages of the respective groups corresponding thereto and independent of a communications protocol used by the target endpoint device;

creating, by the at least one processor, for the respective operation types, respective request prototypes comprising fields representing the constant and the variable sections of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device for the respective operation types; and

generating, by the at least one processor, for one of the respective operation types, a request to the target endpoint device using one of the respective request prototypes in accordance with a corresponding one of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device,

wherein the commonalities comprise common characters that are present at the respective positions of ones of the requests of the respective groups, and

wherein, for the respective request prototypes, the fields representing the constant sections include corresponding ones of the common characters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ones of the messages of the respective groups comprise requests to the target endpoint device, and wherein identifying the constant and variable sections of the respective message structures for the respective operation types further comprises:

aligning, by the at least one processor, the requests of the respective groups according to respective positions thereof; and

identifying, by the at least one processor, for the respective operation types, the constant and variable sections of the respective message structures based on a frequency of occurrence of the commonalities at the respective positions of the requests of the respective groups corresponding thereto indicated by the aligning.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the request to the target endpoint device using the one of the respective request prototypes for the one of the respective operation types comprises:

selecting, by the at least one processor, the one of the request prototypes corresponding to the one of the operation types; and

for the one of the request prototypes, populating, by the at least one processor, ones of the fields representing the variable sections with data from an external database communicatively coupled to the connector server to generate the request to the target endpoint device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data corresponds to a user identity in a communication system employing a message structure different from the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device, and wherein the request associates the user identity with an account of the target endpoint device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the clustering comprises:

clustering, by the at least one processor, the ones of the messages into the respective groups responsive to receiving user input indicating the respective operation types of the ones of the messages.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the clustering comprises:

clustering, by the at least one processor, the ones of the messages into the respective groups based on similarities therebetween calculated using a distance function; and

then

classifying, by the at least one processor, the respective groups as corresponding to the respective operation types responsive to receiving user input indicative thereof.

7. A connector server system communicatively coupled to a target endpoint device and a client device, the connector server system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising computer readable program code embodied therein that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

recording, in a computer-readable memory, a plurality of messages communicated between the target endpoint device and the client device;

clustering ones of the messages into respective groups of messages, wherein the respective groups of messages correspond to respective operation types of the ones of the messages included therein;

determining, by the at least one processor, for the respective operation types, respective message structures used by the target endpoint device based on an identification of constant and variable sections of the respective message structures based on commonalities among the ones of the messages of the respective groups corresponding thereto and independent of a communications protocol used by the target endpoint device;

creating, by the at least one processor, for the respective operation types, respective request prototypes comprising fields representing the constant and the variable sections of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device for the respective operation types; and

generating, by the at least one processor, for one of the respective operation types, a request to the target endpoint device using one of the respective request prototypes in accordance with a corresponding one of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device,

wherein the commonalities comprise common characters that are present at the respective positions of ones of the requests of the respective groups, and

wherein, for the respective request prototypes, the fields representing the constant sections include corresponding ones of the common characters.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the ones of the messages of the respective groups comprise requests to the target endpoint device, and wherein, in identifying the constant and variable sections of the respective message structures for the respective operation types, the computer readable program code further causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

aligning the requests of the respective groups according to respective positions thereof; and

identifying, for the respective operation types, the constant and variable sections of the respective message structures based on a frequency of occurrence of the commonalities at the respective positions of the requests of the respective groups corresponding thereto indicated by the aligning.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein, in generating the request to the target endpoint device for the one of the respective operation types, the computer readable program code further causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

selecting one of the request prototypes corresponding to the one of the operation types; and

for the one of the request prototypes, populating ones of the fields representing the variable sections with data from an external database communicatively coupled to the connector server to generate the request to the target endpoint device.

10. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the data corresponds to a user identity in a communication system employing a message structure different from the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device, and wherein the request associates the user identity with an account of the target the endpoint device.

11. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer readable program code comprising;

computer readable code to record, in a computer-readable memory of a connector server, a plurality of messages communicated between a target endpoint device and a client device, the connector server communicatively coupled to the target endpoint device and the client device;

computer readable code to cluster ones of the messages into respective groups, wherein the respective groups of messages correspond to respective operation types of the ones of the messages included therein;

computer readable code to determine, for the respective operation types, respective message structures used by the target endpoint device based on an identification of constant and variable sections of the respective message structures based on commonalities among the ones of the messages of the respective groups corresponding thereto and independent of a communications protocol used by the target endpoint device;

computer readable code to create, for the respective operation types, respective request prototypes comprising fields representing constant and variable sections of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device for the respective operation types; and

computer readable code to generate, for one of the respective operation types, a request to the target endpoint device using one of the respective request prototypes in accordance with a corresponding one of the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device,

wherein the commonalities comprise common characters that are present at the respective positions of ones of the requests of the respective groups, and

wherein, for the respective request prototypes, the fields representing the constant sections include corresponding ones of the common characters.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the ones of the messages of the respective groups comprise requests to the target endpoint device, and wherein the computer readable code to identify the constant and variable sections of the respective message structures for the respective operation types further comprises:

computer readable code to align the requests of the respective groups according to respective positions thereof; and

computer readable code to identify, for the respective operation types, the constant and variable sections of the respective message structures based on a frequency of occurrence of the commonalities at the respective positions of the requests of the respective groups corresponding thereto indicated by the aligning.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable code to generate the request to the target endpoint device for the one of the respective operation types comprises:

computer readable code to select one of the request prototypes corresponding to the one of the operation types; and

computer readable code to populate, for the one of the request prototypes, ones of the fields representing the variable sections with data from an external database communicatively coupled to the connector server to generate the request to the target endpoint device.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the data corresponds to a user identity in a communication system employing a message structure different from the respective message structures used by the target endpoint device, and wherein the request associates the user identity with an account of the target the endpoint device.