Process of communication between an applet and a local agent using a socket communication channel

• US 20030028363A1
• Filed: 07/02/2002
• Published: 02/06/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackboard Collaborate Incorporated (Blackboard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Wimba.Com S.A.
• Inventors: Haetsdaele, Bruno Van, Ross, Keith, Nobili, Johanna, Nobili, Olivier
• Granted Patent: US 7,428,570 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/52 during program execution, e.g. stack integrity ; Preventing unwanted data erasure; Buffer overflow
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

A process allowing communication between a java code and an executable software file which permits the java code to receive an access to the internal system resources of the user'"'"'s computer. The java code is arranged to be configured as a server in the client'"'"'s configuration, by means of the establishment of a server socket communication channel. Once established, that socket communication channel is used for allowing a full ordered, error-free communication between the java code and the local executable file, thereby allowing the java code to take profit of the internal system resources of the user'"'"'s computer. Preferably, the java code is received by the user through an Internet/Intranet network as an applet which thus receives an effective and powerful access to the system resources of the user'"'"'s machine.

Claims

1. Process for allowing access to an applet code to the internal resources of the user'"'"'s computer involving the step of:

giving said applet code the signed format to provide the applet with expanded capabilities;

causing said applet code to install a local Agent executable file in the user'"'"'s machine;

creating a socket communication channel between said applet and its local associated code;

using the created socket communication channel for providing said applet with an access to said internal resources.

2. Process according to claim 1 wherein the execution of the applet involves the following steps:

detecting (42) whether said local Agent executable file is already installed into the user'"'"'s computer and, if not, initiating said installation;

installing a socket communication port by issuing a command socket to the operating system and receiving a free port N,

launching said executable Agent with the attribute of the received free port;

using said socket communication channel for the purpose of said multimedia application.

3. Process according to claim 1 characterized in that said applet is downloaded from a web server (1) or a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) received through an Internet or Intranet network (3).

4. Process according to claim 3 characterized in that it involves a mechanism for detecting whether said Agent executable file is already existing in the user'"'"'s computer, and that the existing file is the more recent one.

5. Process according to claim 4 wherein the file comprising the signed applet also includes a public key used by a assymetric algorithm associated to a hashing function for the purpose of ascertaining integrity of the subsequent downloaded files.

6. Process according to claim 1 to 5 characterized in that said Agent executable file allows to access to the audio system resources of said user'"'"'s computer, so as to permit said applet to take control of the recording functions of the computer.

7. Process according to claim 6 characterized in that said applet uses a Automatic Gain Control mechanism which simultaneously controls the sensitivity of the microphone input and processes the samples of digitized audio signal.

8. Process according to claim 1 to 5 characterized in that it further involves a local cache mechanism which allows the regulation of the streamed audio data provided by the audio devices and get a direct re-access to the message voices which have already been downloaded by a voice message server.

9. Process according to claim 8 characterized in that the voice messages being recorded are simultaneously transmitted to a remote server and stored within said cache mechanism while the recording process is going on.

10. Process of communication of java code which is to be run in a java virtual machine of a web browser in a client system with a local independent agent, said method comprising the steps of:

configuring said java code as a server by creating a socket communication channel for the communication between said downloadable java code and said local agent;

using said socket communication channel for allowing communication between said java code and said local agent.

11. Process according to claim 10 characterized in that said java code is downloadable from a web server or a File Transfer Protocol server through an internet connection.

12. Method according to claim 10 characterized in that said agent code is a specific code for accessing to the internal system resources of the client system.

13. Integrity and/or authentication checking process being performed by a signed java applet for the purpose of checking the integrity and authentication of at least one file being downloaded from a server, the archive file(s) of said signed applet containing a public key associated to a private key in an asymmetric encryption mechanism;

said checking process involving the steps of;

downloading (122) said at least one file as well as an electronic signature El, said electronic signature resulting from a transformation T, possibly involving a hash function, followed by an asymmetrical encryption of the said at least one downloaded files based on said private key;

extracting (124) said electronic signature E1;

applying (125) said transformation T on the downloaded files and computing a first result R1;

applying (126) said asymmetric algorithm using said public key on said electronic signature E1 and computing a second result R2.

comparing (127) said first and second result in order to determine whether said at least one file was been subject of an alteration.

14. Process for automatically distributing a public key associated with a private key in an assymetric encryption algorithm, said public key being contained into an archive file(s) of a signed applet, and the integrity and origin being guaranteed by the signature process of said signed applet.