System and Methodology Providing Service Invocation for Occasionally Connected Computing Devices

• US 20060112398A1
• Filed: 11/23/2004
• Published: 05/25/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sybase Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Sybase Incorporated (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Ho, Michael, Mukkamala, Himagiri
• Granted Patent: US 7,467,389 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/541 Client-server
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

A system and methodology providing service invocation for occasionally connected computing devices is described. In one embodiment, for example, in an occasionally connected computing environment, a system of the present invention for providing deferred invocation of services for a mobile device is described that comprises: an application running on a mobile device; a device-side object providing mobile support for a particular service from a server, the device-side object intercepting any requests from the application for invocation of the particular service, thereby deferring actual invocation of the particular service at that time; and a server-side object residing on the server that passes the requests on to a service provider for actual invocation while the mobile device is connected, and returns any result from the actual invocation back to the mobile device for use by the application.

Claims

1. In an occasionally connected computing environment, a method for providing deferred invocation of services for a mobile device, the method comprising:

for a particular service to be supported, creating a device-side object for receiving invocation requests from an application running on the mobile device;

intercepting at the device-side object a request from the application for invocation of the particular service, thereby deferring actual invocation of the particular service at that time;

while the mobile device is connected, synchronizing the device-side object with a server-side object residing on a server, that passes the service request on to a service provider for actual invocation; and

while the mobile device is connected, passing back any result from the actual invocation back to the mobile device for use by the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device-side object comprises a service computing object that functions as a service provider proxy on the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the service computing object operates in conjunction with a service client object to provide a client-side replica for handling service invocation requests for the particular service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the server-side object comprises a service view provider that communicates directly with the service provider.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the service view provider runs on an application server.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the service provider exposes the particular service as a service-oriented architecture (SOA) method that may be invoked by the service view provider.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the server-side object persists any result returned from the actual invocation, so that the result may be preserved until the mobile device is again connected.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is unaware that the invocation request for the particular service is initially handled locally by the device-side object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the device-side object and the server-side object interact with a synchronization system to maintain a consistent state between the mobile device and the server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the device-side object operates in conjunction with metadata describing characteristics necessary for mobilizing the particular service.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said characteristics include specifying that the particular service may be invoked on a deferred basis.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said characteristics include specifying that the particular service may be invoked on a cached basis.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said metadata is accommodated via an extension to WSDL (Web Services Description Language).

14. A computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

15. A downloadable set of processor-executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

16. In an occasionally connected computing environment, a system for providing deferred invocation of services for a mobile device, the system comprising:

an application running on a mobile device;

a device-side object providing mobile support for a particular service from a server, said device-side object intercepting any requests from the application for invocation of the particular service, thereby deferring actual invocation of the particular service at that time; and

a server-side object residing on the server that passes said requests on to a service provider for actual invocation while the mobile device is connected, and returns any result from the actual invocation back to the mobile device for use by the application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the device-side object comprises a service computing object that functions as a service provider proxy on the mobile device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the service computing object operates in conjunction with a service client object to provide a client-side replica for handling service invocation requests for the particular service.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the server-side object comprises a service view provider that communicates directly with the service provider.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the service view provider runs on an application server.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the service provider exposes the particular service as a service-oriented architecture (SOA) system that may be invoked by the service view provider.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the server-side object persists any result returned from the actual invocation, so that the result may be preserved until the mobile device is again connected.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein the application is unaware that the invocation request for the particular service is initially handled locally by the device-side object.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein the device-side object and the server-side object interact with a synchronization system to maintain a consistent state between the mobile device and the server.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the device-side object operates in conjunction with metadata describing characteristics necessary for mobilizing the particular service.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein said characteristics include specifying that the particular service may be invoked on a deferred basis.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein said characteristics include specifying that the particular service may be invoked on a cached basis.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein said metadata is accommodated via an extension to WSDL (Web Services Description Language).