USING A RESOURCE CONTEXT TO ACCESS RESOURCES AND SOURCE DATA FOR A TRANSFORM

• US 20070242302A1
• Filed: 04/17/2006
• Published: 10/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, James, Haller, Michael, Lewis, Harry
• Granted Patent: US 8,200,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/1.150
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for using a resource context to access resources and source data for a transform. A transform receives a request to transform source data and calls a resource context. The resource context initializes a resource object for the transform and acquires associations to source data and resources needed by the transform. The resource context maintains the acquired associations to source data and resources in the resource object for the transform and supplies the associations to the source data and resources to the transform. The transform transforms the source data using the resources to produce output and provides the output to the resource context.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a transform, a request to transform source data;

calling, by the transform, a resource context;

initializing, by the resource context, a resource object for the transform;

acquiring, by the resource context, associations to source data and resources needed by the transform;

maintaining, by the resource context, the acquired associations to source data and resources in the resource object for the transform;

supplying, by the resource context, the associations to the source data and resources to the transform;

transforming, by the transform, the source data using the resources to produce output; and

providing, by the transform, the output to the resource context.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource context acquires the data based on information from the transform, and wherein the transform requests the source data and resources needed to process the data from the resource context.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing, by the transform, the output to the resource context comprises:

providing the output to a client context to forward the output to a target client; and

determining, by the client context, client specific methods to use to transmit the output to the target client, wherein the client context maintains client specific methods for different clients.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein different clients have different types of communication requirements, wherein the client specific methods for the target client transmit the data to the target client using the client specific communication methods, further comprising:

formatting the data using client specific information.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the clients to which output is transmitted comprise at least one of printers, remote display devices, applications, web services accessible over a network.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

maintaining, by the client context, information on a status of providing the formatted output to the client in response to a failure occurring in the transmission of the formatted output to the client; and

recovering, by the client context, from the failure to continue transmitting the formatted output to the client using the status information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calling, by the resource context, a resource transform to transform one resource requested by the transform, wherein supplying the resource to the transform comprises supplying the transformed resource.

7. The method of 1, wherein the resource context acquires source data and makes it available at a location known by the transform for the transform by calling methods to access data and to format the source data to provide to the transform.

9. A system, comprising:

a transform for receiving a request to transform source data and calling a resource context;

a resource context enabled to perform operations, comprising;

initializing a resource object for the transform;

acquiring associations to source data and resources needed by the transform;

maintaining the acquired associations to source data and resources in the resource object for the transform;

supplying the associations to the source data and resources to the transform, wherein the transform further transforms the source data using the resources to produce output and provide the output to the resource context.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the resource context acquires the data based on information from the transform, and wherein the transform requests the source data and resources needed to process the data from the resource context.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a client context, wherein the transform provides the output to the resource context by providing the output to the client context to forward the output to a target client, and wherein the client context further determines client specific methods to use to transmit the output to the target client, wherein the client context maintains client specific methods for different clients.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein different clients have different types of communication requirements, wherein the client specific methods for the target client transmit the data to the target client using the client specific communication methods, wherein the transform or the client context further perform formatting the data using client specific information.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the client context further maintains information on a status of providing the formatted output to the client in response to a failure occurring in the transmission of the formatted output to the client and recovers from the failure to continue transmitting the formatted output to the client using the status information.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a resource transform, wherein the resource context further calls the resource transform to transform one resource requested by the transform, wherein supplying the resource to the transform comprises supplying the transformed resource.

15. An article of manufacture including code to implement a transform and resource context, wherein the code is executed to cause the transform and resource context to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, by the transform, a request to transform source data;

calling, by the transform, the resource context;

initializing, by the resource context, a resource object for the transform;

acquiring, by the resource context, associations to source data and resources needed by the transform;

maintaining, by the resource context, the acquired associations to source data and resources in the resource object for the transform;

supplying, by the resource context, the source data and resources to the transform;

transforming, by the transform, the source data using the resources to produce output; and

providing, by the transform, the output to the resource context.

16. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the resource context acquires the data based on information from the transform, and wherein the transform requests the source data and resources needed to process the data from the resource context.

17. The article of manufacture of claim 15, wherein the code further implements a client context, wherein providing, by the transform, the output to the resource context comprises providing the output to the client context to forward the output to a target client, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining, by the client context, client specific methods to use to transmit the output to the target client, wherein the client context maintains client specific methods for different clients.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein different clients have different types of communication requirements, wherein the client specific methods for the target client transmit the data to the target client using the client specific communication methods, and wherein the client context or the transform further perform formatting the data using client specific information.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining, by the client context, information on a status of providing the formatted output to the client in response to a failure occurring in the transmission of the formatted output to the client; and

recovering, by the client context, from the failure to continue transmitting the formatted output to the client using the status information.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

calling, by the resource context, a resource transform to transform one resource requested by the transform, wherein supplying the resource to the transform comprises supplying the transformed resource.