Organizing resources into collections to facilitate more efficient and reliable resource access

• US 20060074876A1
• Filed: 09/30/2004
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hasha, Richard L., Kakivaya, Gopala Krishna R.
• Granted Patent: US 7,613,703 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/3015 Name registration, generation or assignment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for organizing resources into collections to facilitate more efficient and reliable resource access. Namespace managers communicate with one another to form a federation namespace infrastructure. The infrastructure can efficiently route, migrate, and process namespace requests, such as, for example, namespace registration requests from providers requesting to manage portions of namespaces and lookup requests from consumers requesting access to managed resources. Resources can be registered in and made accessible from multiple different namespaces. Resources can be identified using nested queries that filter results at multiple levels of a hierarchical namespace.

Claims

1. In a namespace federation infrastructure, a method for organizing a plurality of resources, the method comprising:

an act of determining that a new resource is to be included in one or more namespaces, each of the one or more namespaces being configured to organize one or more resources;

an act of identifying a first resource within a first namespace of the one more namespaces that is to be related to the new resource; and

an act of using a first namespace segment to link the new resource to the first resource such that the namespace segment can be traversed to navigate from the first resource to the new resource within the namespace.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of establishing the one or more namespaces based on the resources that are to be included in the one or more namespaces, each of the one or more namespaces identifying a starting point for resource queries such that that cached information for implementing queries is reduced and distributed across each of the one or more namespaces.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising;

an act of identifying an second resource within a second namespace of the one more namespaces that is to be related to the new resource; and

an act of using a second namespace segment to link the new resource to the second resource such that the namespace segment can be traversed to navigate from the existing resource to the new resource within the namespace.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of publishing the availability of the resource in the first namespace such that the first namespace can be queried to locate the resource.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of identifying a first resource comprises an act of querying properties of existing namespace node resources within the namespace.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the act of identifying a first resource comprises an act of identifying an intermediate namespace node resource in the first namespace, the intermediate namespace node resource having attributes that can be queried during traversal of the first namespace.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the act of identifying an intermediate namespace node resrouce in the first namespace comprises an act of identifying an intermediate namespace node resource having attributes that can be provided as input to a filter to identify the new resource when traversing the first namespace segment.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of assigning a URI to the new resource such that the resource can be accessed using the URI.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of assigning a URI to the new resource comprises an act of assigning a unique URI to the resource such that the URI can be used from to access the resource singularly.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

an act of assigning one or more additional URIs to the resource, each of the one or more additional URIs for accessing the new resources from within one of the one or more namespaces.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of assigning a URI to the new resource comprises an act of assigning a URI that can be used to identify the new resource in a hierarchical namespace.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of assigning a URI to the new resource comprises an act of assigning a URI that can be used to identify the new resource in a flat namespace.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, wherein the act of assigning a URI to the new resource comprises an act of assigning a URI that has one or more parts defined in accordance with RFC-2396.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein using a first namespace segment to link the new resource to the first resource comprises an act of using an existing namespace segment that links the first resource to one or more other resources in addition to linking the first resource to the new resource.

15. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the new resource is a namespace node resource.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the first resource is a namespace node resource.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

an act of identifying a second resource within a second namespace of the one more namespaces that is to be related to the new resource; and

an act of using a second namespace segment to link the new resource to the second resource such that the second namespace segment can be traversed to navigate from the second resource to the new resource within the second namespace.

18. In a namespace federation infrastructure, a method for registering a resource in a plurality of namespaces, the method comprising:

an act of establishing a unique resource identifier for a resource;

an act of publishing the availability of the resource in a first namespace;

an act of linking the unique resource identifier to a first namespace node resource in the first namespace such that the first namespace can be traversed to identify the resource;

an act of publishing the availability of the resource in a second namespace; and

an act of linking the unique resource identifier to a second namespace node resource in the second namespace such that the second namespace can be traversed to identify the resource.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of publishing the availability of the resource in a first namespace comprises an act of publishing the availability of the resource in a first namespace from among a plurality of namespaces that partition resources to provide a basis for namespace scoping.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of publishing the availability of the resource in a first namespace comprises an act of publishing the availability of the resource in a first namespace having a starting namespace node resource that can be queried by other resources to identify the resource within the namespace.

21. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of linking the unique resource identifier to a first namespace node resource in the first namespace such that the first namespace can be traversed to identify the resource comprises an act of associating a URI with the resource.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the act of associating a URI for the first namespace with the resource comprises an act of assigning a unique URI with the resource such that the unique URI can be used to access the resource singularly.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

an act of assigning one or more additional URIs to the resource, each of the one or more additional URIs for accessing the new resources from within one of the plurality of namespaces.

24. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of linking the unique resource identifier to a first namespace node resource in the first namespace such that the first namespace can be traversed to identify the resource comprises an act of forming a namespace segment between the resource and the first namespace node resource.

25. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of publishing the availability of the resource in a second namespace comprises an act of publishing the availability of the resource in a second namespace from among a plurality of namespaces that partition resources to provide a basis for namespace scoping.

26. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of publishing the availability of the resource in a second namespace comprises an act of publishing the availability of the resource in a second namespace having a starting namespace node resource that can be queried by other resources to identify the resource within the namespace.

27. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of linking the unique resource identifier to a second namespace node resource in the second namespace such that the second namespace can be traversed to identify the resource comprises an act of associating a URI for the second namespace with the resource.

28. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the act of linking the unqiue resource identifier to a second namespace node resource in the second namespace such that the second namespace can be traversed to identify the resource comprises an act of forming a namespace segment between to resource the second namespace node resrouce.

29. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the resource is a namespace node resource.

30. In a namespace federation infrastructure, a method for implementing a query in the namespace federation infrastructure, the method comprising:

an act of receiving a query from a device, the query comprising;

a first query portion, the first query portion identifying a first portion of resources that satisfies first query criteria, the first portion of resources being identified at a first level in a namespace hierarchy; and

a second query portion, the second query portion identifying a second portion of resources selected from among the resources included in the first portion of resources that satisfies second query criteria, the second portion of resources being identified at a second different location in a namespace; and

an act of returning the identity of the second portion of resources to the device.

31. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the act of receiving a query from a device comprises an act of a starting namespace node resource for a namespace receiving a query.

32. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the act of receiving a query from a device comprises an act of an intermediate namespace node resource within a namespace receiving a query from a root namespace node resource for the namespace.

33. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the act of receiving a query from a device comprises an act of receiving a query having second query criteria that identify resources at a second level in the namespace hierarchy.

34. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the act of receiving a query from a device comprises an act of receiving a query having second query criteria that identify resources in a second different namespace hierarchy.

35. The method as recited in claim 30, wherein the act of returning the identity of the second portion of resources to the device comprises an act of returning, for each of the second portion of resources, at least a unique corresponding URI that can be used to access a resource singularly.

36. The method as recited in claim 35, further comprising:

an act of assigning one or more additional URIs to each of the second resources, each of the one or more additional URIs for accessing each of the second resources from within one of the plurality of namespaces.

37. The method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

an act of traversing a namespace segment from a first resource in the first portion of resources to the a second resource in the second portion of resources, the namespace segment satisfying the second query criteria.

38. The method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

an act of utilizing the first query criteria to navigate through the properties of resources that reference the first portion of resources.

39. The method as recited in claim 30, further comprising:

an act of utilizing the second query criteria to navigate through the properties of the first portion of resources that reference the second portion of resources.

40. A computer program product for use in a namespace federation infrastructure, the computer program product for implementing a method for organizing a plurality of resources, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to perform the following:

determine that a new resource is to be included in one or more namespaces, each of the one or more namespaces being configured to organize one or more resources;

identify a first resource within a first namespace of the one more namespaces that is to be related to the new resource; and

use a first namespace segment to link the new resource to the first resource such that the namespace segment can be traversed to navigate from the first resource to the new resource within the namespace.

41. The computer program product as recited in claim 40, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to:

establishing the one or more namespaces based on the resources that are to be included in the one or more namespaces, each of the one or more namespaces identifying a starting point for resource queries such that that cached information for implementing queries is reduced and distributed across each of the one or more namespaces.

42. The computer program product as recited in claim 40, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to:

publish the availability of the resource in the first namespace such that the first namespace can be queried to locate the resource.

43. The computer program product as recited in claim 40, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to identify a first resource comprise the namespace comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to identify an intermediate namespace node resource in the first namespace, the intermediate namespace node resource having attributes that can be queried during traversal of the first namespace.

44. The computer program product as recited in claim 40, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to identify a first resource comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to identify an intermediate namespace node resource having attributes that can be provided as input to a filter to identify the new resource when traversing the first namespace segment.

45. The computer program product as recited in claim 40, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to:

assign a URI to the new resource such that the resrouce can be accessed using the URI.

46. A computer program product for use in a namespace federation infrastructure, the computer program product for implementing a method for registering a resource in a plurality of namespaces, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to perform the following:

establish a unique resource identifier for a resource;

publish the availability of the resource in a first namespace;

link the unique resource identifier to a first namespace node resource in the first namespace such that the first namespace can be traversed to identify the resource;

publish the availability of the resource in a second namespace; and

link the unique resource identifier to a second namespace node resource in the second namespace such that the second namespace can be traversed to identify the resource.

47. The computer program product as recited in claim 46, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to link the unique resource identifier to a first namespace node resource in the first namespace comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to form a namespace segment between the resource to the first namespace node resource.

48. The computer program product as recited in claim 46, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to link the unique resource identifier to a second namespace node resource in the second namespace comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to form a namespace segment between the resource to the second namespace node resource.

49. A computer program product for use in a namespace federation infrastructure, the computer program product for implementing a method for implementing a query in the namespace federation infrastructure, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to perform the following:

receive a query from a device, the query comprising;

a first query portion, the first query portion identifying a first portion of resources that satisfies first query criteria, the first portion of resources being identified at a first level in a namespace hierarchy; and

a second query portion, the second query portion identifying a second portion of resources selected from among the resources included in the first portion of resources that satisfies second query criteria, the second portion of resources being identified at a second different location in a namespace; and

return the identity of the second portion of resources to the device.

50. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to receive a query from a device comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause a starting namespace node resource for the namespace to receive the query.

51. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to receive a query from a device comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to receive a query having second query criteria that identify resources at a second level in the namespace hierarchy.

52. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, wherein computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to receive a query from a device comprise computer-executable instructions, that when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to receive a query having second query criteria that identify resources in a second different namespace hierarchy.

53. The computer program product as recited in claim 49, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause the namespace federation infrastructure to:

traverse a namespace segment from a first resource in the first portion of resources to the a second resource in the second portion of resources, the namespace segment satisfying the second query criteria.