Object virtualization

• US 20060282461A1
• Filed: 06/10/2005
• Published: 12/14/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Marinescu, Adrian
• Granted Patent: US 7,467,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/468 Specific access rights for resources, e.g. using capability register
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores

Abstract

Object virtualization provides a hierarchy of layers of spaces in which an object is accessible. The hierarchy of layers may include a physical layer containing the physical space in which the object is accessible, and virtual layers containing an arbitrary number of virtual spaces in which an object is accessible. Each virtual space is isolated from one another, so that objects accessible in one virtual space may not necessarily be accessible in another. Interfaces to objects that may be accessible in spaces in the hierarchy of layers facilitate accessing objects in the appropriate space. The appropriate space may be determined from the order of the layers in the hierarchy, alone or in combination with other information about the object and/or the component accessing the object. Accessing the objects in the appropriate space advantageously reduces or eliminates the number of namespace collisions in a computer system.

Claims

1. A system for avoiding object conflicts using object virtualization, the system comprising:

spaces in which objects accessible in one space may not be accessible in other spaces, each space being isolated from one another;

a hierarchy of layers of the spaces; and

an object having metadata identifying which of the layers in the hierarchy of layers have spaces in which the object is accessible.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

an interface to the object to determine in which of the spaces in the identified layers the object should be accessed.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the interface to the object is further to determine an order of the spaces in the identified layers in which the object should be accessed.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the order of the spaces in the identified layers in which the object should be accessed is determined in accordance with the hierarchy of layers of the spaces.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the spaces include one physical space in which the object exists, wherein the physical space is the space in which the object is accessible by default.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the spaces include virtual spaces in which the object does not exist, wherein the virtual spaces include spaces in which the object is accessible in accordance with at least one of the object'"'"'s metadata, an execution context of a component seeking access, and a type of access the component is seeking.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the hierarchy of layers includes a virtual layer having virtual spaces in which an object accessible in one of the virtual spaces is not accessible in other virtual spaces in the same virtual layer.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the virtual layer is associated with a category of attributes, wherein the virtual spaces include a virtual space for each attribute in the category, the virtual space being a space in which objects specific to the attribute may be accessed.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the virtual layer is associated with an intersection of at least two categories of attributes, wherein the virtual spaces include an intersection virtual space for each intersecting attribute in the at least two categories of attributes, the intersection virtual space being a space in which objects specific to each intersecting attribute may be accessed.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the category of attributes includes at least one of an application, a user, and a session category.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the intersection of at least two categories of attributes includes at least one of an intersection between an application category and a user category, and an intersection between an application, user, and session category

12. A method for accessing an object, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access an object;

receiving metadata associated with the object to which access is requested, the metadata identifying layers in a hierarchy of layers having spaces in which the object may be accessed;

responding to the request to access the object by returning information identifying at least one space in which the object may be accessed based on the identified layers in the hierarchy of layers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein information identifying at least one space in which the object may be accessed includes a unique key associated with the at least one space.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein information identifying at least one space in which the object may be accessed is further based on context information associated with the request, the context information including at least one of a security identification associated with the request, an application identification associated with the request, an attribute of the object, and a type of access associated with the request.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein responding to the request to access the object further includes returning information specifying an order in which to attempt to access the object in the identified spaces in accordance with the hierarchy of layers.

16. A method for virtualizing an object, the method comprising:

receiving a request to virtualize an object for access in a virtual space in which the object does not exist but in which the object may be accessed;

generating metadata identifying layers of virtual spaces, the identified layers containing virtual spaces in which the object may be accessed; and

prioritizing the virtual spaces in which the object may be accessed in accordance with a hierarchy associated with the identified layers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein generating metadata identifying layers of virtual spaces includes defaulting to metadata inherited from the object'"'"'s parent container.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein generating metadata identifying layers of virtual spaces includes creating a list identifying layers containing virtual spaces in which the object may be accessed based on context information associated with the request.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein generating metadata identifying layers of virtual spaces includes associating a type of access with a layer in the list identifying layers, the type of access indicating whether to restrict access to objects in the virtual spaces in the layer to the associated type of access.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein prioritizing the virtual spaces in which the object may be accessed includes ordering the list identifying layers containing virtual spaces in which the object may be accessed in accordance with the hierarchy associated with the identified layers.