Inversion-of-control component service models for virtual environments

• US 10,579,442 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2017
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Aguera y Arcas, Blaise, Fitoussi, Hen, Hebert, John Daniell, Schlesinger, Benny, Yariv, Eran
• Primary Examiner(s): Wai, Eric C
• Application Number:
  US15/433,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20170161118A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

In the field of computing, many scenarios involve the execution of an application within a virtual environment of a device (e.g., web applications executing within a web browser). Interactions between applications and device components are often enabled through hardware abstractions or component application programming interfaces (API), but such interactions may provide more limited and/or inconsistent access to component capabilities for virtually executing applications than for native applications. Instead, the device may provide hardware interaction as a service to the virtual environment utilizing a callback model, wherein applications within the virtual environment initiate component request specifying a callback, and the device initiates the component requests with the components and invokes associated callbacks upon completion of a component request. This model may enable the applications to interact with the full capability set of the components, and may reduce blocked execution of the application within the virtual application in furtherance of application performance.

Claims

1. A system configured to fulfill component requests received from applications within a virtual environment executing on a device having at least two hardware components that each have an associated capability, the system comprising:

a component request initiating component configured to, upon receiving from an application executing within the virtual environment a component request specifying a callback of the application and a one of the hardware components the capability of which is to be invoked,

store the callback associated with the component request and the application,

send the component request to the one hardware component for completion, and

resume execution of the application within the virtual environment;

a callback invoking component configured to, upon detecting a completion of the component request that yields at least one component result, retrieve the callback associated with the component request; and

a component service that is configured to scrutinize

the component request and

one or more of the at least one component result

for at least one of

inclusion of malicious code and

an accessing or leakage of private user information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

respective components of the device are identified by a request address; and

the component request initiating component comprises a server configured to receive component requests specifying a request address identifying the one hardware component of the received component request.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein:

the server is configured to receive the component requests during a communication session initiated by the application executing within the virtual environment; and

the callback invoking component is further configured to;

until the completion of the component request, maintain the communication session with the application; and

upon detecting the completion of the component request, notify the application of the completion of the component request via the communication session.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the server comprises a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) server;

the communication session comprises a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) session; and

the request address comprises a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying the component.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the system further comprises, for respective components, a component model of the component presented within the virtual environment;

the component request initiating component is configured to receive the component request from the application as a component model request initiated by the application and specifying the component model within the virtual environment; and

the system further comprises a callback invoking component configured to, upon detecting the completion of the component request by the one hardware component, notify the application of the completion of the component request through the component model within the virtual environment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the completion of the component request comprises at least one component result;

the system further comprises a memory region accessible to the application within the virtual environment; and

the callback invoking component is further configured to store the component result in the memory region.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the component service is configured to initiate interactions with the hardware components of the device on behalf of the applications.

8. A method of fulfilling component requests received from applications within a virtual environment on a device executing on a device having a processor and at least two hardware components that each have an associated capability, the method comprising:

executing on the processor instructions configured to;

upon receiving from an application executing within the virtual environment a component request specifying a callback of the application and a one of the hardware components the capability of which is to be invoked,

store the callback associated with the component request and the application,

send the component request to the one hardware component for completion, and

resume execution of the application within the virtual environment;

upon detecting a completion of the component request that yields at least one component result, retrieve the callback associated with the component request; and

scrutinize the component request and one or more of the at least one component result for at least one of

inclusion of malicious code and

an accessing or leakage of private user information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

completion of the component request comprises at least one component result;

the instructions are configured to, upon receiving at least one component result from the component, generate a condensed component result having a smaller size than the at least one component result; and

the instructions are further configured to provide the condensed component result of the component request to the application within the virtual environment.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further configured to, upon receiving the component request, initiate a worker process outside of the virtual environment and configured to:

send the component request to the one hardware component; and

notify the application associated with the callback of the completion of the component request.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further configured to, upon receiving a component request from an application executing outside of the virtual environment on the device:

store the callback associated with the component request and the application; and

send the component request to the one hardware component.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the instructions are further configured to:

upon receiving a component request from a remote process executing on a second device;

store the callback associated with the component request and the remote application; and

send the component request to the one hardware component; and

upon detecting a completion of a component request associated with a remote process, invoke the callback on behalf of the remote application.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote process initiates the component request on behalf of the application executing within the virtual environment on the device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the application comprises at least one credential;

the component request received from the remote process includes at least one credential authenticating the component request on behalf of the application; and

the instructions are further configured to, before sending the component request to the one hardware component, authenticate the credential of the component request.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the component request specifies at least one requested result type that has been requested by the application; and

generating the condensed component result comprises generating a condensed component result excluding at least one portion of the component result that is not related to the at least one requested result type.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the instructions are further configured to receive from a user of the device a condensing preference; and

generating the condensed component result comprises generating a condensed component result using the condensing preference.

17. A computer-readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed on a processor of a device comprising a virtual environment and at least one component, cause the execution of a method of fulfilling component requests received from an application executing within the virtual environment, the method comprising:

upon receiving from the application a component request specifying a component and a callback of the application,

storing the callback associated with the component request and the application,

sending the component request to the component, and

resuming execution of the application within the virtual environment;

upon receiving from the application within the virtual environment a device capability enumeration request, enumerating for the application the component capabilities of respective components of the device; and

upon receiving from the application within the virtual environment a device capability request specifying a component capability, translating the device capability request into a component request specifying a one of the at least one component having the component capability specified by the device capability request.

18. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, further comprising, upon detecting a completion of the component request by the component retrieving the callback associated with the component request, and invoking the callback on behalf of the application.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein:

the component request specifies a component capability of the component; and

the method further comprises;

upon receiving a component request, present to a user an offer to initiate the component request identifying the component capabilities requested by the application; and

initiate the component request to the component only after receiving from the user an acceptance of the offer.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises, upon receiving from the application within the virtual environment a component enumeration request, enumerating for the application the components of the device that are identifiable in a component request.