Message delivery with configurable assurances and features between two endpoints

• US 20040205781A1
• Filed: 03/27/2003
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Cohen, Shy, Limprecht, Rodney T., Langworthy, David E., Hill, Richard D., Ramadan, Hany Essam
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/24 Traffic characterised by specific attributes, e.g. priority or QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/30 in combination with information about buffer occupancy at either end or at transit nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A single programming model is provided for accessing a plurality of distinct message transports while developing one or more applications for message delivery between two endpoints. The programming model allows for independently configurable assurances and features for transporting the messages. The configurable assurances may be selected from at least once delivery, at most once message delivery, in order message delivery, and message time to live. The independently chosen features may include a session state storage, an extension of time to live, and transacted message buffering.

Claims

1. In a messaging system that supports one or more message transports, a method of simplifying application development by providing a single programming model that permits specifying one or more end-to-end message delivery assurances that are to be met at runtime, independent of a particular message transport or transports that are used at runtime, as opposed to specifying the particular message transport or transports at development time, the method comprising acts of:

defining a message channel interface that abstracts send and receive operations for exchanging messages over one or more message transports available for sending and receiving one or more messages; and

defining, for use within a single programming model, a plurality of end-to-end message delivery assurances, each of which may be specified at runtime independent of the one or more available message transports, without specifying the one or more available message transports at development time, wherein the plurality of message delivery assurances comprise at least one of at least once message delivery, at most once message delivery, in order sent message delivery, and session time to live.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising an act of:

defining a plurality of local reliable message features, wherein each of the plurality of local reliable messaging features may be selected for use within the single programming model, and wherein the plurality of local reliable message features comprise at least one of a session state storage, message time to live, and transacted message buffering.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message feature of a session state storage comprises a pluggable store.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the store comprises at least one of an in-memory storage, on-disk durable storage or a daemon process-storage.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the store is local to an application specifying one or more of the defined plurality of end-to-end message delivery assurances.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the store is remote from an application specifying one or more of the defined plurality of end-to-end message delivery assurances.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a buffer quota, which, in combination with a maximum message size, defines the maximum number of messages that will be buffered by the system and constrains the maximum space messages can consume.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the local reliable message features further comprises a send timeout, which unblocks a message send function after the send timeout expires if required buffer space, subject to the buffer quota, has not been available.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a buffer quota, which, in combination with a maximum message size, reserves buffer space sufficient for a specified number of messages.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein the transmission of higher priority messages take precedence over lower priority messages.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein the delivery of higher priority messages take precedence over lower priority messages.

12. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message feature of transacted message buffering is available regardless of the durability of the session state storage.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a configurable number of how many times message delivery must abort before a message is considered undeliverable.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein messaging characteristics can be defined by a set of profiles, which give a specific set of message configuration options defined by the end-to-end message delivery assurances and local features.

15. In a messaging system that supports one or more message transports, a method of simplifying application development by providing a single programming model that permits specifying one or more end-to-end delivery assurances for use in selecting of a particular message transport at runtime, as opposed to specifying the particular message transport at development time, the method comprising steps for:

abstracting a message channel interface for exchanging messages over the one or more message transports; and

allowing an application developer to specify one or more of a plurality of end-to-end message delivery assurances, for use within the single programming model, the specified end-to-end delivery assurances to be used in selecting a suitable message transport at runtime, without specifying any message transport at development time, wherein the plurality of message delivery assurances comprise at least one of at least once message delivery, at most once message delivery, in order sent message delivery, and message time to live.

16. Thee method of claim 15, further comprising step for:

allowing an application developer to specify one or more a plurality of local reliable message features wherein each of the plurality of local reliable message features may be selected for use within the single programming model, and wherein the plurality of local reliable message features comprise at least one of a session state storage, an message time to live, and transacted message buffering.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the local reliable message feature of a session state storage comprises a pluggable store.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the store comprises at least one of an in-memory storage, on-disk durable storage or a daemon process-storage.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a buffer quota, which, in combination with a maximum message size, defines the maximum number of messages that will be buffered by the system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the local reliable message features further comprises a send timeout, which unblocks the send function after the send timeout expires if the buffer quota has been met.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein higher priority messages rare transmitted before lower priority messages.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein higher priority messages are received before lower priority messages.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the local reliable message feature of transacted message buffering is available regardless of the durability of the session state storage.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a way to configure how many times message delivery must abort before a message is considered undeliverable.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein message delivery characteristics can be defined by a set of profiles, which give a specific set of message configuration options defined by the end-to-end message delivery assurances and local features.

26. In a messaging system that supports one or more message transports, a computer program product comprising one or computer readable media carrying computer executable instructions that implement a method of simplifying application development by providing a single programming model that permits specifying one or more end-to-end delivery assurances for use in selecting of a particular message transport at runtime, as opposed to specifying the particular message transport at development time, the method comprising acts of:

defining a message channel interface that abstracts send and receive operations for exchanging messages over the one or more message transports; and

defining, for use within a single programming model, a plurality of end-to-end message delivery assurances to be used in selecting a suitable message transport at runtime, without specifying the suitable message transport at development time, wherein the plurality of message delivery assurances comprise at least one of at least once message delivery, at most once message delivery, in order sent message delivery, and session time to live.

27. The computer product of claim 26, further comprising an act of:

defining a plurality of local reliable message features, wherein each of the plurality of local reliable messaging features may be selected for use within the single programming model, and wherein the plurality of local reliable message features comprise at least one of a session state storage, message time to live, and transacted message buffering.

28. The computer product of claim 27, wherein the local reliable message feature of a session state storage comprises a pluggable store.

29. The computer product of claim 28, wherein the store comprises at least one of an in-memory storage, on-disk durable storage or a daemon process-storage.

30. The computer product of claim 27, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a buffer quota, which, in combination with a maximum message size, defines the maximum number of messages that will be buffered by the system.

31. The computer product of claim 30, wherein the local reliable message features further comprises a send timeout, which unblocks the send function after the send timeout expires if the buffer quota has been met.

32. The computer product of claim 27, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein higher priority messages are transmitted before lower priority messages.

33. The computer product of claim 27, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein higher priority messages are received before lower priority messages.

34. The computer product of claim 27, wherein the local reliable message feature of transacted message buffering is available regardless of the durability of the session state storage.

35. The computer product of claim 27, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a way to configure how many times message delivery must abort before a message is considered undeliverable.

36. The computer product of claim 27, wherein message delivery characteristics can be defined by a set of profiles, which give a specific set of message configuration options defined by the end-to-end message delivery assurances and local features.

37. In a messaging system that supports one or more message transports, a computer program product comprising one or computer readable media carrying computer executable instructions that implement a method of simplifying application development by providing a single programming model that permits specifying one or more end-to-end delivery assurances for use in selecting of a particular message transport at runtime, as opposed to specifying the particular message transport at development time, the method comprising steps for:

abstracting a message channel interface for exchanging messages over the one or more message transports; and

allowing an application developer to specify one or more of a plurality of end-to-end message delivery assurances, for use within the single programming model, the specified end-to-end delivery assurances to be used in selecting a suitable message transport at runtime, without specifying any message transport at development time, wherein the plurality of message delivery assurances comprise at least one of at least once message delivery, at most once message delivery, in order sent message delivery, and message time to live.

38. The computer product of claim 37, further comprising step for:

allowing an application developer to specify one or more a plurality of local reliable message features wherein each of the plurality of local reliable message features may be selected for use within the single programming model, and wherein the plurality of local reliable message features comprise at least one of a session state storage, an message time to live, and transacted message buffering.

39. The computer product of claim 38, wherein the local reliable message feature of a session state storage comprises a pluggable store.

40. The computer product of claim 39, wherein the store comprises at least one of an in-memory storage, on-disk durable storage or a daemon process-storage.

41. The computer product of claim 38, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a buffer quota, which, in combination with a maximum message size, defines the maximum number of messages that will be buffered by the system.

42. The computer product of claim 41, wherein the local reliable message features further comprises a send timeout, which unblocks the send function after the send timeout expires if the buffer quota has been met.

43. The computer product of claim 38, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein higher priority messages are transmitted before lower priority messages.

44. The computer product of claim 38, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a priority option, wherein higher priority messages are received before lower priority messages.

45. The computer product of claim 38, wherein the local reliable message feature of transacted message buffering is available regardless of the durability of the session state storage.

46. The computer product of claim 38, wherein the local reliable message features further comprise a way to configure how many times message delivery must abort before a message is considered undeliverable.

47. The computer product of claim 38, wherein message delivery characteristics can be defined by a set of profiles, which give a specific set of message configuration options defined by the end-to-end message delivery assurances and local features.