Middleware abstraction layer (MAL)

• US 10,462,262 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2016
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Parekh, Devang R., Schaefer, Paul, Cao, Feng, Chinaka, Jason, Montgomery, Benjamin, Cao, Long, Barrera, Kathleen, Fung, Henry H., Oddo, Louis
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kassa, Elizabeth
• Application Number:
  US14/989,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20170195458A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,392 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

A middleware abstraction layer (MAL) that can include a plurality of middleware application programming interfaces (APIs). Each of the plurality of middleware APIs can be configured to implement a common programming paradigm for a plurality of different service platforms. The MAL can also include a master application programming interface (API). The master API can be configured to provide a plurality of resources for a mission specific application. Each of the plurality of resources is mapped in a registry to an API call to each of the plurality of middleware APIs. The MAL can further include a control engine configured to load an adapter for a selected a middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs to service a resource request from the mission specific application. The selection can include examining a configuration file to determine an appropriate middleware API to handle the resource request.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine readable medium having machine readable instructions, the machine readable instructions comprising a middleware abstraction layer (MAL) comprising:

a plurality of middleware application programming interfaces (APIs), wherein each of the plurality of middleware APIs are configured to implement a common programming paradigm for a plurality of different service platforms, wherein a given middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is a Data Grid API configured to access, modify, and/or transfer Data Grid data;

a master API configured to provide a plurality of resources for a mission specific application, wherein each of the plurality of resources is mapped in a registry to an API call to each of the plurality of middleware APIs;

wherein a given resource of the plurality of resources includes at least one of a function that comprises a function call to a first middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs and a function call to a second middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs; and

a control engine configured to load at least two adapters for a selected a middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs to service a resource request from the mission specific application, wherein the selection includes examining a configuration file to determine an appropriate middleware API to handle the resource request, wherein the control engine loads a first Data Grid adapter and a second Data Grid adapter for the Data Grid API, wherein the first Data Grid adapter communicates with a first Data Grid service from a first Data Grid vendor to access, modify, and/or transfer Data Grid data stored at a site of the first Data Grid vendor and the second Data Grid adapter communicates with a second Data Grid service from a second Data Grid vendor to access, modify, and/or transfer Data Grid data stored at a plurality of sites of the second Data Grid vendor.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the master API is configured to provide a response to the resource request to the mission specific application.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein a first middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) API, a second middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) API and a third middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs-is a Java Messaging Service (JMS) API.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the Data Grid data stored by the first and second Data Grid services is Digital Terrain and Elevation data (DTED).

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein another middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is a Data Distribution Service (DDS) API that interfaces with a first DDS adapter that communicates with a first DDS from a first DDS vendor and a second DDS adapter that communicates with a second DDS from a second DDS vendor.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein another resource of the plurality of resources is mapped to a plurality of sets of API calls for each respective middleware API.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the adapter for the selected middleware API is further configured to convert the resource request into a plurality of API calls to the service.

8. The medium of claim 1, wherein the configuration file defines a particular middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs to handle a particular resource request of the plurality of resource requests.

9. The medium of claim 1, wherein the selecting by the control engine is further based on an accessibility of each of the plurality of middleware APIs.

10. The medium of claim 1, wherein the at least two adapters are further configured to cause instantiation of multiple instances of the same service that execute concurrently.

11. The medium of claim 1,

wherein a first middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to transfer data in a hub-spoke model;

wherein a second middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to transfer data in a Peer-to-Peer model; and

wherein a third middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to transfer data in a shared memory model; and

wherein a fourth middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to implement a Java Messaging Service.

12. The medium of claim 1, wherein a first administrative domain is configured to regulate access, modification, and transfer of the Data Grid data stored at the site of the first Data Grid vendor based on a first set of security restrictions placed on the Data Grid data at the site of the first Data Grid vendor, wherein a second administrative domain is configured to regulate access, modification, and transfer of the Data Grid data stored at the plurality of sites of the second Data Grid vendor based on a second set of security restrictions placed on the Data Grid data at the plurality of sites of the second Data Grid vendor.

13. A system comprising:

a non-transitory memory to store machine readable instructions; and

a processing unit to access the memory and execute the machine readable instructions, the machine readable instructions comprising a middleware abstraction layer (MAL), the MAL comprising;

a plurality of middleware application programming interfaces (APIs) that are each configured to implement a common programming paradigm for a plurality of different services, wherein a given middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to provide a Data Grid API for a plurality of different Data Grid services provided by a plurality of different Data Grid vendors, wherein the Data Grid API is configured to access, modify, and/or transfer Data Grid data, wherein at least one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors stores the Data Grid data at a site of the respective one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors, wherein another one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors stores the Data Grid data at a plurality of sites of the respective other one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors, wherein the common programming paradigm includes a transport messaging paradigm, an integrated computing mechanism paradigm and an integrated state-based data-centric paradigm;

a master API configured to;

provide a plurality of resources accessible by a resource request, wherein each of the plurality of resources characterizes a generalized function that is mapped in a registry to an API call for each of the plurality of middleware APIs;

wherein a given resource of the plurality of resources includes at least one of a function that comprises a function call to a first middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs and a function call to a second middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs; and

a control engine configured to load an adapter for a selected middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs to service a resource request from a mission specific application.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the selecting is based on a predetermined configuration.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein another middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to provide an API for a plurality of different data distribution services (DDSs).

16. The medium of claim 13, wherein an administrative domain of each of the plurality of different Data Grid vendors is configured to regulate access, modification, and transfer of the Data Grid data stored based on one of a plurality of sets of security restrictions placed on the Data Grid data, wherein each of the plurality of different Data Grid vendors place a different one of the plurality of sets of security restrictions on the Data Grid data.

17. A method comprising:

loading, at a middleware abstraction layer (MAL) executing on one or more computing devices, an adapter of the MAL for a particular middleware application programming interface (API) of a plurality of middleware APIs that each implement a multiple versions of a common programming paradigm on corresponding services, wherein the selecting is based on a configuration file;

receiving, at the MAL, a resource request;

converting, at the adapter of the MAL, the resource request into an API call for a particular service of the corresponding services;

generating, at the adapter of the MAL, a response for the resource request in response to an API call response from the particular service; and

wherein a given resource of the plurality of resources includes at least one of a function that comprises a function call to a first middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs and a function call to a second middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs, wherein a given middleware API of the plurality of middleware APIs is configured to provide a Data Grid API for a plurality of different Data Grid services provided by a plurality of different Data Grid vendors, wherein the Data Grid API is configured to access, modify, and/or transfer Data Grid data, wherein at least one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors stores the Data Grid data at a site of the respective one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors, wherein another one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors stores the Data Grid data at a plurality of sites of the respective other one of the plurality of Data Grid vendors.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the common programming paradigms includes a transport messaging paradigm, and at least one of an integrated data computing mechanism paradigm and an integrated state-based data-centric paradigm.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting is further based on an accessibility of the particular middleware API.

20. The medium of claim 17, wherein an administrative domain of each of the plurality of different Data Grid vendors is configured to regulate access, modification, and transfer of the Data Grid data stored based on one of a plurality of sets of security restrictions placed on the Data Grid data, wherein each of the plurality of different Data Grid vendors place a different one of the plurality of sets of security restrictions on the Data Grid data.