Dynamic Protocol Construction

• US 20070226356A1
• Filed: 05/29/2007
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wortendyke, David, Levin, David, Kaler, Christopher, Della-Libera, Giovanni, Box, Donald, Nog, Saurab, Christensen, Erik, Lee, Alfred
• Granted Patent: US 7,664,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0873 Checking configuration conflicts between network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/03 Protocol definition or specification protocol conformance testing H04L1/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities

Abstract

A method includes advertising a policy characterizing communication properties supported by a node. The policy may be distributed to another node in response to a request for the policy. Policy expressions in the policy include one or more assertions that may be grouped and related to each other in a plurality of ways. A system includes a policy generator for generating at least one policy characterizing properties of a node. A policy retriever retrieves a policy from another node and a message generator generates a message to the other node, wherein the message conforms to the policy from the other node.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

retrieving a destination node policy having a plurality of policy assertions characterizing communication properties supported by a destination node, each assertion specifying a communication property supported by the destination node and selectable by a source node to construct a communication protocol for communication with the destination node;

generating a message that conforms to the policy.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising selecting one of the plurality of policy assertions to be applied during communication with the destination node.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising determining whether one of the plurality of policy assertions is compatible with a source node policy having a plurality of policy assertions characterizing communication properties supported by a source node.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the generating operation comprises generating a message including a source node policy having a plurality of policy assertions characterizing communication properties supported by a source node.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the retrieving operation comprises retrieving the destination node policy from a node other than the destination node.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the retrieving operation comprises receiving the destination node policy incrementally.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

creating a source node policy having a plurality of policy assertions characterizing communication properties supported by a source node;

determining whether a received message conforms to at least one of the policy assertions in the source node policy.

8. A system comprising:

a policy having one or more assertions characterizing communication properties related to a first node, each assertion specifying a communication property supported by the first node and selectable by a second node to construct a communication protocol with the first node; and

a policy generator generating the policy in response to a request for the policy.

9. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein the policy specifies an aggregate assertion representing a plurality of other assertions.

10. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein the policy specifies a Boolean relationship between at least two of the one or more of assertions.

11. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein the policy specifies a preference value related to a group of at least one of the one or more assertions.

12. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein the policy comprises an input policy having one or more assertions characterizing input communication properties, and an output policy having one or more assertions characterizing output communication properties.

13. A system as recited in claim 8, further comprising a policy retriever retrieving a policy having one or more assertions characterizing communication properties related to a second node.

14. A system as recited in claim 8, further comprising a message generator operable to generate a message conforming to a policy having one or more assertions characterizing communication properties related to a second node.

15. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein the policy comprises a uniform resource identifier related to one of the one or more assertions in the policy.

16. A system as recited in claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more assertions specifies:

an integrity algorithm;

a privacy parameter;

a communication protocol;

an audit trail;

or

a message routing path.

17. A computer program product encoding a computer program for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

generating a policy specifying a plurality of assertions characterizing properties of a destination node, each assertion specifying a communication property supported by the destination node and selectable by a source node to construct a communication protocol for communication with the destination node;

receiving a message conforming to one or more of the plurality of assertions.

18. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the generating operation comprises generating an aggregate assertion representing the plurality of assertions.

19. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising advertising the policy at an advertising node.

20. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising distributing the policy in response to a request for the policy.

21. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the generating operation comprises:

creating a group of two or more of the plurality of assertions;

specifying a relationship between two or more assertions in the group.

22. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the generating operation comprises specifying a preference for at least one of the plurality of assertions over at least one other of the plurality of assertions.

23. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the generating operation comprises:

creating a group of two or more of the plurality of assertions;

specifying a first relationship between the two or more assertions in the group;

specifying a second relationship between the group of assertions and at least one other assertion not in the group of assertions.

24. A computer program product as recited in recited in claim 17 wherein the generating operation comprises generating an input policy having one or more assertions characterizing input communication properties, and an output policy having one or more assertions characterizing output communication properties.

25. A computer program product as recited in claim 17 wherein the generating operation comprises generating a mark-up language document.

26. A computer program product as recited in claim 17, further comprising determining whether the message conforms to at least one of the plurality of assertions.