End-to-end reliable messaging with complete acknowledgement

• US 20040243800A1
• Filed: 05/28/2003
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shewchuk, John P., Kaler, Christopher G., Langworthy, David E., Cabrera, Luis Felipe, Helland, Patrick J., Lucco, Steven E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,185,209 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/151
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures

Abstract

Reliable end-to-end messaging in which tracking and acknowledgement information are contained in the electronic message that is visible to layers above the transport layer, thereby being independent of what transport protocols, and whether different transport protocols, are used to communicate between the two end points. Furthermore, acknowledgment messages may identify multiple ranges of sequence numbers corresponding to received electronic messages, thereby permitting further flexibility and completeness in acknowledging received messages.

Claims

1. In a network environment that includes a plurality of computing systems that operate using a plurality of different transport protocols, the plurality of computing systems including a sending computing system capable of transmitting electronic messages and a receiving computing system capable of receiving electronic messages transmitted by the sending computing systems, a method for the sending computing system reliably sending an electronic message to the receiving computing system in a manner that is independent of what, or how many, transport protocols are used to transmit the electronic message, the method comprising the following:

an act of the sending computing system constructing an outgoing electronic message that includes tracking information that uniquely identifies the outgoing electronic message;

an act of passing the outgoing electronic message with the included tracking information to a transport layer associated with the sending computing system;

an act of instructing the transport layer to send the outgoing electronic message to the receiving computing system; and

an act of accessing an incoming electronic message from the transport layer, the incoming electronic message originating from the receiving computing system and including an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system received the outgoing electronic message.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the incoming electronic message is a response to the outgoing electronic message.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the incoming electronic message is not a response to the outgoing electronic message.

4. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the tracking information in the outgoing electronic message is signed.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the tracking information in the outgoing electronic message is encrypted.

6. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the acknowledgement in the incoming electronic message is signed.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the acknowledgement in the incoming electronic message is encrypted.

8. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the outgoing electronic message and the incoming electronic message are each Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) envelopes.

9. A method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the transport layer is a HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) layer.

10. A method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the transport layer is a HyperText Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS) layer.

11. A method in accordance with claim 8, wherein the transport layer is a Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) layer.

12. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the transport layer is a HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) layer.

13. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the transport layer is a HyperText Transport Protocol Secure (HTTPS) layer.

14. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the transport layer is a Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) layer.

15. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the transport layer is Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

16. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the transport layer is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

17. A method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the acknowledgement in the incoming message acknowledges receipt of a plurality of electronic message received from the sending computing system using a plurality of ranges.

18. A computer program product for use in a network environment that includes a plurality of computing systems that operate using a plurality of different transport protocols, the plurality of computing systems including a sending computing system capable of transmitting electronic messages and a receiving computing system capable of receiving electronic messages transmitted by the sending computing systems, the computer program product for implementing a method for the sending computing system reliably sending an electronic message to the receiving computing system in a manner that is independent of what, or how many, transport protocols are used to transmit the electronic message, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the sending computing system, cause the sending computing system to perform the following:

an act of the sending computing system constructing an outgoing electronic message that includes tracking information that uniquely identifies the outgoing electronic message;

an act of passing the outgoing electronic message with the included tracking information to a transport layer associated with the sending computing system;

an act of instructing the transport layer to send the outgoing electronic message to the receiving computing system; and

an act of accessing an incoming electronic message from the transport layer, the incoming electronic message originating from the receiving computing system and including an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system received the outgoing electronic message.

19. A computer program product in accordance with claim 18, wherein the one or more computer-readable media further have thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors at the sending computing system, cause the sending computing system to sign the tracking information in the outgoing electronic message.

20. A computer program product in accordance with claim 18, wherein the one or more computer readable media further have thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors at the sending computing system, cause the sending computing system to encrypt the tracking information in the outgoing electronic message.

21. In a network environment that includes a plurality of computing systems that operate using a plurality of different transport protocols, the plurality of computing systems including a sending computing system capable of transmitting electronic messages and a receiving computing system capable of receiving electronic messages transmitted by the sending computing systems, a method for the sending computing system reliably sending an electronic message to the receiving computing system in a manner that is independent of what, or how many, transport protocols are used to transmit the electronic message, the method comprising the following:

an act of the sending computing system constructing an outgoing electronic message that includes tracking information that uniquely identifies the outgoing electronic message; and

a step for causing the outgoing electronic message to be reliably transmitted to the receiving computing system.

22. A method in accordance with claim 21, wherein the step for causing the electronic message to be reliably transmitted to the receiving computing system comprises the following:

an act of passing the outgoing electronic message with the included tracking information to a transport layer associated with the sending computing system;

an act of instructing the transport layer to send the outgoing electronic message to the receiving computing system; and

an act of accessing an incoming electronic message from the transport layer, the incoming electronic message originating from the receiving computing system and including an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system received the outgoing electronic message.

23. In a network environment that includes a plurality of computing systems that operate using a plurality of different transport protocols, the plurality of computing systems including a sending computing system capable of transmitting electronic messages and a receiving computing system capable of receiving electronic messages transmitted by the sending computing systems, a method for the receiving computing system acknowledging receipt of an electronic message received from the sending computing system, the acknowledgment made in a manner that is independent of what, or how many, transport protocols are used to transmit the electronic message, the method comprising the following:

an act of the receiving computing system accessing an incoming electronic message from a transport layer associated with the receiving computing system, the incoming electronic message including tracking information that uniquely identifies the outgoing electronic message;

an act of constructing an outgoing electronic message that includes an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system received the incoming electronic message;

an act of passing the outgoing electronic message with the included acknowledgement to the transport layer; and

an act of instructing the transport layer to send the outgoing electronic message to the sending computing system.

24. A method in accordance with claim 23, wherein the outgoing incoming electronic message is a response to the incoming electronic message.

25. A method in accordance with claim 23, wherein the outgoing electronic message is not a response to the incoming electronic message.

26. A method in accordance with claim 23, further comprising the following:

an act of identifying at least some of a plurality of electronic messages received by the receiving computing system from the sending computing system including the incoming electronic message; and

an act of generating an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system has received the identified electronic messages, the acknowledgement at least impliedly including the acknowledgement that the receiving computing system has received the incoming electronic message from the sending computing system.

27. A method in accordance with claim 26, wherein at least one of the identified electronic messages included in the acknowledgment was previously acknowledged by the receiving computing system.

28. A method in accordance with claim 26, wherein the identified electronic messages included in the acknowledgement are all of the electronic messages received by the receiving computing system within a common session as the incoming electronic message.

29. A method in accordance with claim 26, wherein the act of generating the acknowledgement comprises the following:

an act of identifying a first contiguous range of one or more electronic messages received from the receiving computing system; and

an act of identifying a second contiguous range of one or more electronic messages received from the receiving computing system, the second contiguous range being discontiguous from the first contiguous computing system.

30. A method in accordance with claim 29, wherein at least one of the identified electronic messages included in the acknowledgment was previously acknowledged by the receiving computing system.

31. A method in accordance with claim 29, wherein the identified electronic messages included in the acknowledgement are all of the electronic messages received by the receiving computing system within a common session as the incoming electronic message.

32. A computer program product for use in a network environment that includes a plurality of computing systems that operate using a plurality of different transport protocols, the plurality of computing systems including a sending computing system capable of transmitting electronic messages and a receiving computing system capable of receiving electronic messages transmitted by the sending computing systems, the computer program product for implementing a method for the receiving computing system acknowledging receipt of an electronic message received from the sending computing system, the acknowledgment made in a manner that is independent of what, or how many, transport protocols are used to transmit the electronic message, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors on the receiving computing system, cause the receiving computing system to perform the following:

an act of accessing an incoming electronic message from a transport layer associated with the receiving computing system, the incoming electronic message including tracking information that uniquely identifies the outgoing electronic message;

an act of constructing an outgoing electronic message that includes an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system received the incoming electronic message;

an act of passing the outgoing electronic message with the included acknowledgement to the transport layer; and

an act of instructing the transport layer to send the outgoing electronic message to the sending computing system.

33. A computer program product in accordance with claim 32, wherein the one or more computer-readable media further have thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the receiving computing system, cause the receiving computing system to sign the acknowledgement in the outgoing electronic message.

34. A computer program product in accordance with claim 32, wherein the one or more computer-readable media further have thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the receiving computing system, cause the receiving computing system to encrypt the acknowledgement in the outgoing electronic message.

35. A computer program product in accordance with claim 32, wherein the one or more computer-readable media further have thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the receiving computing system, cause the receiving computing system to perform the following:

an act of identifying at least some of a plurality of electronic messages received by the receiving computing system from the sending computing system including the incoming electronic message; and

an act of generating an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system has received the identified electronic message, the acknowledgement at least impliedly including the acknowledgement that the receiving computing system has received the incoming electronic message from the sending computing system.

36. A computer program product in accordance with claim 35, wherein the computer-executable instructions for generating the acknowledgement comprises the following:

an act of identifying a first contiguous range of one or more electronic messages received from the receiving computing system; and

an act of identifying a second contiguous range of one or more electronic messages received from the receiving computing system, the second contiguous range being discontiguous from the first contiguous computing system.

37. In a network environment that includes a plurality of computing systems including a sending computing system capable of transmitting electronic messages and a receiving computing system capable of receiving electronic messages transmitted by the sending computing systems, a method for the receiving computing system acknowledging receipt of an electronic message received from the sending computing system, the method comprising the following:

an act of the receiving computing system receiving a plurality of incoming electronic messages from the receiving computing system, the incoming electronic messages each including tracking information that uniquely identifies the incoming electronic message;

an act of constructing an outgoing electronic message that includes an acknowledgement that the receiving computing system received the incoming electronic message, wherein the acknowledgement includes an identification of a first contiguous range of one or more electronic messages received from the receiving computing system, and including an identification of a second contiguous range of one or more electronic messages received from the receiving computing system, the second contiguous range being discontiguous from the first contiguous computing system, wherein the first and second contiguous ranges identify all received messages corresponding to an entire session; and

an act of transmitting the electronic message to the sending computing system.

38. A method in accordance with claim 37, wherein the outgoing incoming electronic message is a response to the incoming electronic message.

39. A method in accordance with claim 37, wherein the outgoing electronic message is not a response to the incoming electronic message.

40. One or more computer-readable media having thereon a data structure comprising the following:

a first acknowledgment range field that identifies a first range of sequence numbers received by a receiving computing system; and

a second acknowledgment range field that identifies a second range of sequence numbers received by the receiving computing system, wherein the second range of sequence numbers is discontiguous with the first range of sequence numbers, wherein the first and second ranges identify all received messages corresponding to an entire session.