Network service system and program using data processing

• US 20030236857A1
• Filed: 03/05/2003
• Published: 12/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twitter Inc (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Takase, Toshiro, Neyama, Ryo, Nakamura, Yuichi
• Granted Patent: US 7,660,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Provides efficient cache systems in a network service that allows for different expressions of requests with the same meaning, such as in a web work service using XML. The invention can be implemented as a network service system comprising a server and a client connected via a network. In this system, the client transmits a processing request that includes a certain canonicalized XML document to the server, and the server returns a response to the processing request while the server processes the XML document included in the processing request and caches the content of the response by using the processed XML document as a key.

Claims

1. A data processing method in a computer comprising responding to a certain processing request with cached data, comprising the steps of:

caching data for responding to a first processing request in memory by using a data file included in the first processing request as a key; and

for a second processing request made after caching the data, searching for the data cached in the memory by using a data file included in the second processing request as a key, and if the cached data corresponds to the second processing request, responding to the second processing request with the cached data.

2. The data processing method according to claim 1,

wherein the step of caching data comprises the steps of:

canonicalizing the data file included in the first processing request; and

caching the data for responding by using the canonicalized data file as a key, and

wherein the step of responding to the second processing request comprises the steps of;

cononicalizing the data file included in the second processing request; and

searching for the cached data by using the canonicalized data file as a key.

3. The data processing method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of preparing the processing requests so that they include XML documents complying with a predetermined canonicalization rule as the data files.

4. The data processing method according to claim 1,

wherein the step of caching data comprises the steps of:

checking if a hash value of the data file included in the first processing request has been added to the first processing request and computing the hash value if the hash value has not been added; and

caching the data used for responding by using the hash value of the data file obtained from the first processing request or obtained by computation as a key, and

wherein the step of responding to the second processing request comprises the steps of;

checking if a hash value of the data file included in the second processing request has been added to the second processing request and computing the hash value if the hash value has not been added; and

searching for the cached data by using the hash value of the data file obtained from the second processing request or obtained by computation as a key.

22. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing data processing, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 1.

25. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for data processing, said method steps comprising the steps of claim 1.

5. A network service system comprising a server and a client connected via a network, wherein the client transmits a processing request that includes a certain XML document to the server, and the server returns a response to the processing request while the server processes the XML document included in the processing request and caches the content of the response by using the processed XML document as a key.

6. The network service system according to claim 5, wherein in processing the XML document, the server canonicalizes the XML document according to a predetermined canonicalization rule.

7. The network service system according to claim 5, wherein in processing the XML document, the server computes a hash value of the XML document and uses the hash value as a key to cache the content of the response.

8. The network service system according to claim 5, wherein the client prepares the processing request that includes the XML document with a template complying with a certain canonicalization rule and transmits the processing request to the server.

9. The network service system according to claim 5, wherein the client caches the response to the processing request returned from the server in memory by using an XML document included in the processing request as a key, and when making a processing request with the same content as the previous processing request, the client searches the memory by using the XML document of the processing request as a key, and uses the cached response for processing.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a network service system, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 5.

10. A server that provides services via a network, the server comprising:

an application for generating a response to a request received from a client;

a cache table for storing the response to the request by using a data file included in the request as a key; and

a response processing unit for searching the cache table by using the data file as a key, wherein if a cached response corresponding to the request is found, the response processing unit returns the cached response to the client, and if a cached response corresponding to the request is not found, the response processing unit passes processing to the application and stores a response generated by the application in the cache table.

11. The server according to claim 10 further comprising a canonicalization unit for canonicalizing the data file included in the request according to a predetermined canonicalization rule,

wherein the cache table stores the response by using the data file canonicalized by the canonicalization unit as a key, and

the response processing unit searches the cache table by using the data file canonicalized by the canonicalization unit as a key.

12. The server according to claim 10 further comprising a hash value computing unit for computing a hash value of the data file included in the request,

wherein the cache table stores the response by using the hash value of the data file computed by the hash value computing unit as a key, and the response processing unit searches the cache table by using the hash value of the data file computed by the hash value computing unit as a key.

13. The server according to claim 10, wherein the data file included in the request is an XML document canonicalized according to a predetermined canonicalization rule.

24. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing a server to provide services, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 10.

14. A client that receives services provided from a server via a network, the client comprising:

a processing unit for preparing a request that includes an XML document canonicalized according to a predetermined canonicalization rule;

a hash value computing unit for computing a hash value of the XML document included in the request prepared by the processing unit and adding the hash value to a header of the request; and

a transmission unit for transmitting the request to the server with the hash value of the XML document added to the header.

15. The client according to claim 14, wherein processing unit uses a template complying with the canonicalization rule to prepare the request that includes the XML document.

16. A client that receives services provided from a server via a network, the client comprising:

a processing unit for preparing a request that includes an XML document canonicalized according to a predetermined canonicalization rule and processing a response to the request from the server;

a communication unit for transmitting the request prepared by the processing unit to the server and receiving the request from the server; and

a cache table for storing the response from the server by using the XML document included in the request as a key,

wherein the processing unit uses the XML document as a key to search the cache table, and if a cached response corresponding to the request is found, the processing unit uses the cached response for processing.

17. The client according to claim 16 further comprising a hash value computing unit for computing a hash value of the XML document included in the request,

wherein the cache table stores the response by using the hash value computed by the hash value computing unit as a key, and

the response processing unit searches the cache table by using the hash value computed by the hash value computing unit as a key.

18. An apparatus for controlling a computer connected to a network to provide services via the network, wherein the apparatus causes the computer to operate as:

means for generating a response to a request received from a client;

means for storing the response to the request in a cache table by using a data file included in the request as a key; and

means for searching the cache table by using the data file as a key, wherein if a cached response corresponding to the request is found, the means for searching returns the cached response to the client, and if a cached response corresponding to the request is not found, the means for searching passes processing to the application and stores a response generated by the application in the cache table.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing control of a computer, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 18.

19. An apparatus for controlling a computer connected to a network to provide services via the network, wherein the apparatus causes the computer to operate as:

means for preparing a request that includes an XML document canonicalized according to a predetermined canonicalization rule;

means for computing a hash value of the XML document included in the prepared request and adding the hash value to a header of the request; and

means for transmitting the request to the server with the hash value of the XML document added to the header.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing control of a computer, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 19.