System, device, and method for cooperative processing

• US 20070011241A1
• Filed: 11/29/2005
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Kawabe, Shigehisa, Kunitake, Setsu, Tanaka, Katsuhide, Suzuki, Akira
• Granted Patent: US 8,028,018 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/541 Client-server
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion

Abstract

A cooperative processing system includes a first data processing component, existing on a first computer, that generates an output containing object having a function of outputting data contained therein to a stream, a pipeline section that causes the output containing object to output the data contained in the output containing object to a stream addressed to a second computer, and causes the second computer to generate an input containing object that receives the stream and stores data transferred through the stream, and a second data processing component, existing on the second computer, that receives the input containing object to perform a data process.

Claims

1. A cooperative processing system, comprising:

a first data processing component, existing on a first computer, that generates an output containing object having a function of outputting data contained therein to a stream;

a pipeline section that causes the output containing object to output the data contained in the output containing object to a stream addressed to a second computer, and causes the second computer to generate an input containing object that receives the stream and stores data transferred through the stream; and

a second data processing component, existing on the second computer, that receives the input containing object to perform a data process.

2. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the pipeline section includes an output-side pipe section existing on the first computer, and an input-side pipe section existing on the second computer,

when the second data processing component executes a process, the input-side pipe section issues to the output-side pipe section a data request for the output containing object that contains data necessary for the process,

the output-side pipe section issues a response to the data request from the input-side pipe section to cause the requested output containing object to output the data contained therein to a stream of the response, and

the input-side pipe section produces the input containing object that receives the stream of the response from the output-side pipe section and stores the data transferred through the stream.

3. The cooperative processing system according to claim 2, wherein

the pipeline section further includes a cache section for storing the input containing object associated with the output containing object from which the input containing object is produced, and

when the second data processing component performs the data process, the input-side pipe section searches the cache section for the input containing object associated with the output containing object that contains data necessary for the process prior to issuance of the data request, and, if the corresponding input containing object is found, does not issue the data request and provides the input containing object thus found to the second data processing component.

4. The cooperative processing system according to claim 3, wherein

when a data type of the input containing object stored in the cache section is different from an input data type of the second data processing component which processes the data contained in the input containing object, the pipeline section performs type conversion on the input containing object to the input data type, and provides an object produced as a result of the type conversion to the second data processing component.

5. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the pipeline section includes an output-side pipe section existing on the first computer, and an input-side pipe section existing on the second computer,

the output-side pipe section issues a request to the input-side pipe section, and causes the output containing object to output the data contained therein to a stream of the request, and

the input-side pipe section produces the input containing object that receives the stream of the request from the output-side pipe section and stores the data transferred through the stream.

6. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the output containing object and the input containing object each have a data type,

the pipeline section has an object factory that produces the input containing object on the second computer, and

the object factory has a function of producing a plurality of kinds of input containing objects with different data types, and produces the input containing object of the data type corresponding to the data type of the output containing object among the plurality of kinds of input containing objects.

7. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the second data processing component receives the input containing object as an argument to perform the process,

the output containing object and the input containing object each have a data type,

the pipeline section has an object factory that produces the input containing object on the second computer, and

the object factory has a function of producing a plurality of kinds of input containing objects with different data types, and produces the input containing object of the data type corresponding to the data type of the argument of the second data processing component.

8. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the input containing object is an instance of an input containing object class or a descendant class inheriting the class, and

the input containing object class has a constructor method for receiving the stream, and producing the input containing object containing the data transferred through the stream.

9. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the output containing object is an instance of an output containing object class or a descendant class inheriting the class, and

the output containing object class has a data output method for outputting the data contained in the output containing object to the stream.

10. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the output containing object and the input containing object are instances of a data containing object class or a descendant class inheriting the class, and

the data containing object class has

a constructor method for receiving the stream, and producing an instance of the data containing object class containing the data transferred through the stream as the input containing object, and

a data output method for outputting to the stream the data contained in the instance of the data containing object class as the output containing object.

11. The cooperative processing system according to claim 1, wherein

the stream is a data stream formed in response to issuance of an HTTP request or an HTTP response.

12. A storage medium readable by a first computer, the storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by the first computer to cause a first computer to perform a function as:

a first data processing component that executes a first data process, and outputs an output containing object having a function of outputting data obtained through the first process as a stream; and

an output-side pipe section that causes the output containing object to output the data contained in the output containing object as a stream addressed to a second computer when the data obtained through the first process executed is provided to a second data processing component on the second computer to execute a second data process.

13. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the program comprises instructions to cause the first computer to perform a function as:

an input-side pipe section that produces an input containing object that receives a stream from an external device and stores input data transferred through the stream, and

a process instructing section that causes the first data processing component to process the input data by inputting the input containing object to the first data processing component.

14. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

when the first data processing component is caused to execute a process, the input-side pipe section transmits a data request for data necessary for the process to the external device containing the data, and produces the input containing object that receives a stream of a response to the data request.

15. The storage medium according to claim 14, wherein

the input-side pipe section includes a cache section that stores the produced input containing object associated with the data from which the input containing object is produced, and

when the first data processing component is caused to execute a process, the input-side pipe section searches the cache section for the input containing object associated with the data necessary for the process prior to issuance of the data request, and, if the corresponding input containing object is found, does not issue the data request, and provides the input containing object thus found to the second data processing component.

16. The storage medium according to claim 15, wherein

when a data type of the input containing object stored in the cache section is different from an input data type of the first data which processes component processing the data contained in the input containing object, the input-side pipe section performs type conversion on the input containing object to the input data type, and provides an object produced as a result of the type conversion to the first data processing component.

17. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein

the output-side pipe section issues a request to the second computer asking for execution of the second data processing component, and causes the output containing object to output the data contained therein to a stream of the request.

18. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein

the output containing object outputs to the stream type information indicating its own data type in addition to the data contained therein.

19. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

the input-side pipe section produces the input containing object having the data type corresponding to the data type of the data transferred through the stream.

20. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein the process instructing section causes the first data processing component to process the input data by inputting the input containing object as an argument to the first data processing component, and

the input-side pipe section produces the input containing object of the data type corresponding to the data type of the argument of the first data processing component.

21. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the program further comprises an instruction to cause the first computer to perform a function as a third data processing component executing a third process, and

when the third data processing component performs the process by receiving the data obtained through the first process executed by the first data processing component, the output-side pipe section activates the third data processing component by designating the output containing object as input data.

22. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

the input containing object is an instance of an input containing object class or a descendant class inheriting the class, and

the input containing object class has a constructor method for receiving the stream, and producing the input containing object containing the data transferred through the stream.

23. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein

the output containing object is an instance of an output containing object class or a descendant class inheriting the class, and

the output containing object class has a data output method for outputting the data contained in the output containing object to the stream.

24. The storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

the output containing object and the input containing object are instances of a data containing object class or a descendant class inheriting the class, and

the data containing object class has

a constructor method for receiving the stream, and producing an instance of the data containing object class that contains the data transferred through the stream as the input containing object, and

a data output method for outputting to the stream the data contained in the instance of the data containing object class as the output containing object.

25. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein

the stream is a data stream formed in response to issuance of an HTTP request or an HTTP response.

26. A storage medium readable by a computer, the storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by the computer to cause the computer to perform a function comprising:

producing an input containing object that receives a stream from an external device and stores data transferred through the stream;

receiving the stream from an external device; and

executing a data processing using the input containing object.

27. A computer device, comprising:

a first data processing component that executes a first process, and outputs an output containing object having a function of outputting data obtained through the first process as a stream; and

an output-side pipe section that causes the output containing object to output the data contained in the output containing object as a stream addressed to a second computer device when the data obtained through the first process is provided to a second data processing component on the second computer device to execute a second process.

28. A computer device, comprising:

a first data processing component that executes a first process;

an input-side pipe section that produces an input containing object that receives a stream from an external device and stores input data transferred through the stream; and

a process instructing section that causes the first data processing component to process the input data by inputting the input containing object to the first data processing component.

29. A cooperative processing method, comprising:

generating an output containing object as an output of a first data processing;

outputting data contained in the output containing object to a stream addressed to a second computer;

generating an input containing object that receives the stream and stores the data transferred through the stream;

outputting the data contained in the input containing object; and

executing a second data processing using the data outputted from the input containing object.