Apparatus and method for communicating data in a multi-tenant computer system

• US 10,656,982 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2019
• Issued: 05/19/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sage People Limited (Sage Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: Sage People Limited (Sage Group PLC)
• Inventors: Brown, Alastair
• Primary Examiner(s): Abad, Farley
• Application Number:
  US16/399,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20190332452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 385 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/42 Bus transfer protocol, e.g. handshake; Synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2213/40 Bus coupling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/548 Object oriented; Remote method invocation [RMI] non-remote method invocation G06F9/449

Abstract

An aspect of the present invention provides a computer system, comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable data storage mediums, program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more storage mediums for execution by the one or more processors, to provide a multi-tenant cloud computing environment to support at least first and second applications executing on the one or more processors within the cloud computing environment, an object bus for communicating object bus objects between applications supported by the cloud computing environment, and an object broker arranged to request, from an object provider associated with the first application, data from the first application, and an object mapper associated with the first application arranged to translate an object comprising the requested data to the object bus object, wherein the object provider provides the object bus object comprising the request data to the object broker to communicate the object bus object to the second application.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors and one or more computer-readable data storage mediums;

program instructions, stored on at least one of the one or more data storage mediums for execution by the one or more processors, to provide;

a multi-tenant cloud computing environment to support at least first and second applications executing on the one or more processors within the cloud computing environment; and

an object bus for communicating a canonical object bus object between applications supported by the cloud computing environment;

wherein the second application comprises an object subscriber which is arranged to register with the object bus, and the first application is arranged to authorise the object subscriber to receive data owned by the first application;

wherein the object bus comprises;

an object broker arranged to receive a request from the object subscriber associated with the second application for data from the first application, wherein the object broker is arranged to, in dependence thereon, request from an object provider associated with the first application, the requested data from the first application; and

an object mapper associated with the first application arranged to translate an object received from the object provider comprising the requested data to the canonical object bus object;

wherein the object mapper provides the canonical object bus object comprising the requested data to the object broker to communicate the canonical object bus object to the object subscriber associated with the second application.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the object broker is selectively operable in one of a synchronous or asynchronous mode.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the object broker is selectively operable in one of the synchronous or the asynchronous mode for the object subscriber to request the data from the first application in the selected synchronous or asynchronous mode.

4. The computer system of claim 3, wherein, in the asynchronous mode, the object broker is arranged to:

generate an event in dependence on receiving the request for the data from the object subscriber, wherein said event is received by the object broker; and

request the data from the object provider in dependence on receiving the event.

5. The computer system of claim 3, wherein, in the asynchronous mode,

the object subscriber is arranged to provide an indication of a callback interface to the object broker with the request for the data from the first application;

the object broker is arranged to invoke the callback interface to communicate the canonical object bus object to the second application.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the object subscriber is arranged to register with the object bus to receive events of one or more predetermined types associated with the first application.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein:

the object bus is operable to communicate an event to one or more subscriber applications, wherein the event is issued by the first application and is indicative of the data being updated at the first application; and

the object subscriber associated with the second application is arranged to determine whether to request the data from the object provider in dependence on receiving the event.

8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the object mapper is arranged to receive mapping information from the first application and to translate the object comprising the requested data to the canonical object bus object according to the mapping information.

9. A system, comprising:

the computer system of any preceding claim;

a first client computer arranged to communicate with the computer system via a computer network, wherein the client computer is arranged to utilise the second application executing in the multi-tenant cloud computing environment and to receive data corresponding to the canonical object bus object from the second application.

10. The system of claim 9, comprising a second client computer arranged to communicate with the computer system via the computer network, wherein the client computer is arranged to utilise the first application.

11. A computer-implemented method of communicating data in a multi-tenant cloud computing environment, comprising:

supporting, in a multi-tenant cloud computing environment, at least first and second applications executing on one or more processors within the cloud computing environment;

receiving, at an object bus, a request from an object subscriber associated with the second application to register with the object bus to receive data owned by the first application, wherein the first application is arranged to authorise the object subscriber to receive the data;

receiving at an object broker of the object bus a request from the object subscriber associated with the second application for data from the first application;

requesting, by the object broker, the data from an object provider associated with the first application;

translating, by an object mapper of the object bus associated with the first application, an object comprising the requested data to a canonical object bus object; and

communicating, via the object bus, the canonical object bus object from the object provider to the object subscriber associated with the second application.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising selecting one of a synchronous or asynchronous mode of operation of the object broker.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising receiving, at the object broker, a request for the data from an object subscriber associated with the second application and, in dependence thereon, requesting the data from the first application from an object provider associated with the first application.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising selectively operating the object broker in one of the synchronous or the asynchronous mode for the object subscriber to request the data from the first application.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the object broker in the asynchronous mode:

generates an event in dependence on receiving the request for the data from the object subscriber, wherein said event is received by the object broker; and

requesting the data from the object provider in dependence on receiving the event.

16. The method of claim 14, comprising:

providing, via the object subscriber, an indication of a callback interface to the object broker with the request for the data from the first application; and

invoking, via the object broker in the asynchronous mode, the callback interface to communicate the canonical object bus object to the second application.

17. The method of claim 13, comprising:

communicating, from the object bus, an event to one or more subscriber applications, wherein the event is indicative of the data being updated at the first application; and

requesting, via the object subscriber, the data from the first application in dependence on receiving the event.

18. The method of claim 11, comprising receiving, at the object broker, mapping information from the first application for translating the object comprising the requested data to the canonical object bus object according to the mapping information.

19. Computer software stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium which, when executed by a computer, is arranged to perform a method according to claim 11.