System and method for managing connections

• US 20060047755A1
• Filed: 06/07/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Jurova, Maria
• Granted Patent: US 7,571,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system and method for managing connections. A filter may receive a client request message having one or more parameters. In an embodiment, the filter may modify the request message based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters. The modified request message may indicate that a connection to the client is to remain open after a corresponding response message is sent. In an embodiment, the modified request message is passed to an application for processing.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving from a client a request message having one or more parameters;

modifying the request message based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters, the modified request message indicating that a connection to the client is to remain open after a corresponding response message is sent; and

passing the modified request message to an application for processing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the request message having one or more parameters comprises:

receiving a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request from the client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the request message comprises:

generating an HTTP request object indicating that the HTTP request object is to be maintained after the response message is sent to the client; and

generating an HTTP response object indicating that the HTTP response object is to be maintained after the response message is sent to the client.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein passing the modified request message to the application for processing comprises:

passing the HTTP request object to the application; and

passing the HTTP response object to the application.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the response message to the client, wherein the connection to the client is maintained subsequent to sending the response message;

releasing one or more request processing resources responsive to sending the response message to the client; and

storing the modified request message in memory.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein releasing one or more request processing resources responsive to sending the response message to the client comprises at least one of:

releasing an application thread to enable the application to process another request message; and

releasing memory resources associated with processing the request message.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

accessing the modified request message to identify the client; and

sending another response message to the client based, at least in part, on the modified request message.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving an indication that the client has closed the connection; and

releasing one or more connection resources, responsive to receiving the indication that the client has closed the connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the indication that the client has closed the connection comprises at least one of:

receiving an exception responsive to writing to an output stream of the connection to the client;

receiving an exception responsive to reading from an input stream of the connection to the client; and

receiving a closed client connection notification from an event listener.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein releasing one or more connection resources comprises at least one of:

closing an input stream of the connection;

closing an output stream of the connection; and

releasing memory resources associated with processing the request message.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is a Web application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the Web application includes at least one of:

a servlet;

a Java Server Page; and

a portlet.

13. A virtual connection system comprising:

a communication service to receive a request message from a client and to provide a request object based, at least in part, on the received request message;

a filter to receive the request object from the communication service and to generate a modified request object based, at least in part, on the received request object, wherein the modified request object is to indicate that a connection to the client is to be maintained subsequent to sending a corresponding response message; and

an application to receive the modified request object and to generate a response message based, at least in part, on the modified request object.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein

the communication service is a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) service;

the received request message is an HTTP request message;

the request object is an HTTP request object; and

the modified request object is a modified HTTP request object.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the modified request object further indicates that the modified request object is to be maintained subsequent to sending the response message to the client.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the modified request object is to be stored in memory.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the application is to generate another response message based, at least in part, on the modified request object.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising an event listener to notify the application if the client closes the connection.

19. A system comprising:

means for receiving from a client a request message having one or more parameters;

means for modifying the request message based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters, the modified request message indicating that a connection to the client is to remain open after a corresponding response message is sent; and

means for passing the modified request message to an application for processing.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the means for receiving the request message having one or more parameters from the client comprises:

means for receiving a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request from the client.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the means for modifying the request message comprises:

means for generating an HTTP request object indicating that the HTTP request object is to be maintained after the response message is sent to the client; and

means for generating an HTTP response object indicating that the HTTP response object is to be maintained after the response message is sent to the client.

22. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

means for sending the response message to the client, wherein the connection to the client is maintained subsequent to sending the response message;

means for releasing one or more request processing resources responsive to sending the response message to the client; and

means for storing the modified request message in memory.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for accessing the modified request message to identify the client; and

means for sending another response message to the client based, at least in part, on the modified request message.

24. An article of manufacture comprising:

an electronically accessible medium providing instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to;

receive from a client a request message having one or more parameters;

modify the request message based, at least in part, on the one or more parameters, the modified request message indicating that a connection to the client is to remain open after a corresponding response message is sent; and

pass the modified request message to an application for processing.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to receive the request message having one or more parameters from a client cause the apparatus to:

receive a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request from the client.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to modify the request message cause the apparatus to:

generate an HTTP request object indicating that the HTTP request object is to be maintained after the response message is sent to the client; and

generate an HTTP response object indicating that the HTTP response object is to be maintained after the response message is sent to the client.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 24, wherein the electronically accessible medium provides further instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to

send the response message to the client, wherein the connection to the client is maintained subsequent to sending the response message;

release one or more request processing resources responsive to sending the response message to the client; and

store the modified request message in memory.

28. The article of manufacture of claim 27, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to release one or more request processing resources cause the apparatus to perform at least one of:

release an application thread to enable the application to process another request message; and

release memory resources associated with processing the request message.

29. The article of manufacture of claim 27, wherein the electronically accessible medium provides further instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to

access the modified request message to identify the client;

and

send another response message to the client based, at least in part, on the modified request message.

30. The article of manufacture of claim 29, wherein the electronically accessible medium provides further instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to

receive an indication that the client has closed the connection;

and

release one or more connection resources, response to receiving the indication that the client has closed the connection.