Scalable infrastructure for handling light weight message protocols

• US 20060026290A1
• Filed: 07/28/2005
• Published: 02/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pulito, Brian, Sami, Yafit, Wallace, Mark, Sullivan, Malissa, Hirschfeld, Oded
• Granted Patent: US 9,112,831 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2212/00 Encapsulation of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability

Abstract

A system and method is provided that includes a communication protocol for handling Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messages is provided. The communication protocol may include a first protocol (e.g., HTTP channel tunneling) for providing a persistent connection based on the utilization of one or more HTTP methods (e.g., GET, POST, etc.). A second protocol (e.g., Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol) may be provided for multiplexing a plurality of application protocols for communication over a single connection using the first protocol. The plurality of application protocols that are received from the first protocol may be demultiplexed for processing.

Claims

1. A communication protocol for handling Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) messages, the communication protocol comprising:

a first protocol for providing a persistent connection based on utilization of at least one HTTP method; and

a second protocol for multiplexing a plurality of other protocols for communication over a single connection using the first protocol, and demultiplexing the plurality of other protocols that are received from the first protocol.

2. The communication protocol according to claim 1, wherein the first protocol is associated with an HTTP tunneled connection.

3. The communication protocol according to claim 1, wherein the at least one HTTP method comprises a GET request.

4. The communication protocol according to claim 1, wherein the at least one HTTP method comprises a POST request.

5. The communication protocol according to claim 1, wherein the second protocol comprises a Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP).

6. The communication protocol according to claim 1, wherein the first protocol comprises a first protocol layer and the second protocol comprises a second protocol layer, wherein the second layer is located above the first layer in a protocol stack.

7. A communication system including a client browser in communication with a network, the client browser comprising:

at least two application programs comprising application protocols;

a first protocol for receiving and multiplexing the application protocols; and

a second protocol for receiving and sending the multiplexed application protocols over a persistent HTTP/TCP connection to a server via the network,

wherein the first protocol receives a plurality of other application protocols from the second protocol via the network and demultiplexes the other application protocols.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the application protocols are associated with Instant Messaging (IM).

9. The system according to claim 7, wherein the second protocol comprises a HTTP Tunneling layer and a HTTP/TCP protocol layer.

10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the first protocol comprises a Blocks Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP).

11. A method of handling requests in a communication infrastructure, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of application protocols;

multiplexing the received plurality of application protocols;

generating a persistent HTTP connection; and

sending the multiplexed plurality of application protocols over the generated persistent HTTP connection for transmitting data associated with the application protocols over a single connection.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising de-multiplexing an other multiplexed plurality of application protocols received from the generated persistent connection.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the persistent HTTP connection creates a tunneling connection to a host.

14. A method of providing Internet based message protocol communication within a communication infrastructure, the method comprising:

providing a tunneling connection to a host;

encapsulating within a HTTP message a plurality of multiplexed application protocols;

sending the plurality of multiplexed application protocols to the host via the tunneling connection; and

demultiplexing the plurality of multiplexed application protocols from the encapsulated HTTP message at the host.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the HTTP message comprises a HTTP request.

16. The method according to claim 14, wherein a Block Extensible Exchange Protocol (BEEP) generates the plurality of multiplexed application protocols from at least two application protocols.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the host receives the HTTP request and a session identifier is returned to a client in a HTTP response.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the session identifier comprises a session specific HTTP cookie.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the HTTP request comprises a sequence number for determining the order of the HTTP request at the server.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein providing the tunneling connection comprises:

sending from a client a first HTTP request to a server, wherein the first HTTP request comprises multiplexed protocol data embedded in the first HTTP request;

sending from the server an HTTP response comprising data based on processing of the multiplexed protocol data received from the first HTTP request; and

sending from the client a second HTTP request to the server based on receiving the HTTP response from the server.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the processing of the multiplexed protocol data comprises determining whether the server has data for sending to the client based on the received first HTTP request.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the data is sent to the client when it is determined that the server has the data to send to the client.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the server refrains from sending the HTTP response to the client until the server has the data.

24. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first HTTP request comprises an HTTP POST request including embedded data and the second HTTP request comprises an empty HTTP POST request.

25. The method according to claim 20, wherein the HTTP response comprises an HTTP POST response.