Grid processing in a trading network

• US 20070100961A1
• Filed: 10/31/2005
• Published: 05/03/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Moore, Dennis
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

Methods and apparatus can enable a trading network can use participant nodes of the trading network as a hub node to distribute tasks within the trading network, instead of a fixed server as a fixed hub. The trading network can allow for distribution of tasks for grid computing. The trading network can also be enabled to switch from using one participant node as the hub to using another participant node as the hub. Additionally, the hub node can be enabled to pass functionality to another node at the request of the hub node instead of at the request of the receiving node.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

operating a trading network including a grid network with a first participant node of the trading network as a hub node, the hub node to distribute tasks to participant nodes in the trading network; and

switching from operating the trading network with the first participant node as the hub node to operating the trading network with a different participant node of the trading network as the hub node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein switching to operating the trading network with the different participant node as the hub node comprises:

switching to the different participant node as the hub node when the different participant node initiates a transaction, the different participant node to operate as the hub node for the transaction.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

distributing computing functionality from the hub node to the participant nodes to provide computing functionality with which to execute the distributed tasks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a participant node has an associated contract defining permissible participation of the participant node in the trading network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the contract defining permissible participation of the participant node further comprises limiting access to the participant node by other participant nodes of the trading network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the contract limiting access to the participant node by other participant nodes of the trading network comprises defining conditions for passing functionality to the participant node by other participant nodes.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the contract limiting access to the participant node by other participant nodes of the trading network comprises disallowing the passing of computing functionality related to the distributed tasks to the participant node.

8. A method comprising:

indicating from a first node of a trading network to a second node of the trading network a processing task to be performed by the second node, the trading network including a grid network of which the first and second nodes are participant nodes, the grid network having an infrastructure to enable distribution of a processing task and distribution of a computing capability between nodes of the trading network; and

distributing functionality system-to-system from the first node to the second node to provide the second node with a capability to perform the indicated processing task, the distributing the functionality initiated by the first node.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the trading network extends between different departments of an enterprise.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first node belongs to one department and the second node belongs to a different department.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the trading network extends between different enterprises.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first node belongs to one enterprise and the second node belongs to a different enterprise.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the trading network extends between an enterprise and a government agency, and wherein the first node belongs to the government agency and the second node belongs to the enterprise, the first node to pass regulatory information to the second node.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the computing capability comprises at least one of a software application, a configuration parameter, a security policy, or a process.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein distributing functionality comprises distributing functionality for the second node to perform operations on data already local to the second node, instead of operations on distributed data.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein distributing functionality comprises distributing discrete functionality to provide the second node with capability to perform an operation that is completely executable at the second node.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein distributing functionality comprises distributing distributed functionality to provide the second node with capability to perform an operation that is performed in conjunction with, and dependent upon an operation at another node of the trading network.

18. An article of manufacture comprising a machine-accessible medium having content stored thereon, which when accessed provides instructions to cause a device to perform operations including:

indicating from a first node of a trading network to a second node of the trading network a processing task to be performed by the second node, the trading network including a grid network of which the first and second nodes are participant nodes, the grid network having an infrastructure to enable distribution of a processing task and distribution of a computing capability between nodes of the trading network; and

distributing functionality system-to-system from the first node to the second node to provide the second node with a capability to perform the indicated processing task, the distributing the functionality initiated by the first node.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, the content to provide instructions for distributing functionality to the second node further comprising content to provide instructions for performing operations including:

accessing enterprise-level data to determine whether the second node includes functionality to perform the indicated processing task, and distributing the functionality if the second node lacks the functionality.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein distributing the functionality comprises distributing the functionality to the second node, whether or not the second node already has the functionality.

21. A system comprising:

a network infrastructure including interfaces and interconnections to enable system-to-system interaction among nodes of a grid trading network; and

a first participant node of the grid trading network coupled to the network infrastructure to act as a hub for a transaction on the grid trading network, including distributing a task related to the transaction to a second participant node of the grid trading network acting as a spoke for the transaction, the first participant node to act as a spoke with respect to a different transaction on the grid trading network.

22. The system of claim 21, the first participant node to further:

pass functionality to the second participant node over the network infrastructure to enable the second participant node to perform the task related to the transaction.

23. The system of claim 22, the first participant node to further:

authenticate with the second participant node prior to passing the functionality to the second participant node.

24. The system of claim 21, the first participant node to further:

access enterprise data coupled to the network infrastructure to obtain a contract of the second participant node, the contract to indicate permissible participation of the second participant node in the grid trading network.

25. The system of claim 24, the first participant node to further:

determine based at least in part on the contract whether to pass tasks to the second participant node.

26. The system of claim 24, the first participant node to further:

determine whether the contract permits passing functionality related to performing the task of the transaction to the second participant node; and

if passing the functionality is permitted by the contract, pass functionality to the second participant node over the network infrastructure to enable the second participant node to perform the task related to the transaction.

27. The system of claim 21, wherein the first participant node is one of multiple hubs on the grid trading network, each hub a participant node acting as the hub for separate transactions on the grid trading network.