System and method for generic data mapping between wireless component applications and application data sources

• US 20060251029A1
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Published: 11/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Shenfield, Michael, Bibr, Viera, Fritsch, Brindusa
• Granted Patent: US 7,586,926 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

An application gateway is configured to facilitate message communication between an application executing on a wireless device and a backend server. The application gateway comprises a message interface, a backend connector and a transformer. The message interface facilitates communication between the wireless device and the application gateway in a compact format. The backend connector facilitates communication between the application gateway and the backend server using a schema-based internal format. The transformer translates data between the compact format and the internal format. The transformer further includes a transformer mapping document for correlating elements in the compact format with elements in the internal format.

Claims

1. A application gateway configured to facilitate message communication between an application executing on a wireless device and a backend server, the application gateway comprising:

(a) a message interface for facilitating communication between the wireless device and the application gateway in a compact format;

(b) a backend connector for facilitating communication between the application gateway and the backend server using a schema-based internal format; and

(c) a transformer for translating data between the compact format and the internal format, the transformer including a transformer mapping document for correlating elements in the compact format with elements in the internal format.

2. The application gateway of claim 1, wherein the transformer mapping document comprises an application transformer document for providing a field binding path between application messages and a fully qualified version of the internal format.

3. The application gateway as defined in claim 1, wherein the schema-based internal format comprises distinct elements for defining application structure and connection information, thereby decoupling translation requirement from connectivity requirements.

4. The application gateway as defined in claim 1, wherein the schema based internal format is WSDL compliant.

5. A method for translating data from a compact format used for communicating with a wireless device to an internal format used for facilitating communication with a backend server, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a message in the compact format;

(b) retrieving a corresponding transformer mapping document; and

(c) mapping data from the received message in the compact format to the internal format in accordance with the transformer mapping document for communication to the backend server.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of mapping data further comprises the step of mapping data from the compact format to a fully qualified version of the internal format using a field binding path.

7. A computer program product for storing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to implement the method of claim 5.

8. A method for translating data from an internal format used for facilitating communication with a backend server to a compact format used for communicating with a wireless device, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a message in the internal format;

(b) retrieving a corresponding transformer mapping document; and

(c) mapping data from the received message in the internal format to the compact format in accordance with the transformer mapping document for communication to the wireless device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of mapping data further comprises the step of mapping data from a fully qualified version of the internal format to the compact format using a field binding path.

10. A computer program product for storing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to implement the method of claim 8.