System and method for providing a hypertext transfer protocol service multiplexer

• US 20080120412A1
• Filed: 11/19/2007
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Icaza, Miguel de
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,793 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/133 Protocols for remote procedure calls [RPC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A system and method for registering one or more services at a location where clients can access the services both locally and remotely is provided. A HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) service multiplexer (HSM) may be accessed at a recognizable location, which may be any suitable location or resource that a client can locate on a local system. The HSM may make a plurality of services available at the recognizable location by binding the location (e.g., a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)) to URLs or other resources associated with the services. In this manner, the HSM functions similarly to a domain name service, as HTTP redirections can be issued to enable a single well-known resource to be used for accessing the plurality of registered services.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for providing a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) service multiplexer, the system comprising:

one or more network services, each network service associated with a network location;

a registration module operable to register the one or more network services and the network locations respectively associated with the network services using an HTTP POST request; and

an HTTP service multiplexer associated with a network resource, the network resource identified by a Universal Resource Identifier (URI), the HTTP service multiplexer operable to;

receive a request for one or more of the registered network services, the request received at the network resource associated with the HTTP service multiplexer and including an HTTP GET request;

identify the network location registered as being associated with the requested network service; and

redirect the request to the identified network location.

2. The system of claim 1, the HTTP service multiplexer further operable to launch the requested network service when the requested network service is not currently running.

3. The system of claim 2, the HTTP service multiplexer further operable to use an HTTP redirect facility to point a client system to the launched network service.

4. The system of claim 1, the HTTP service multiplexer further operable to broadcast data from the one or more network services to a client system connected to the HTTP multiplexer, the data broadcasted using an HTTP POST request or in response to an HTTP GET request.

5. The system of claim 1, the HTTP service multiplexer further operable to deliver data to a client system through an HTTP POST request or in response to an HTTP GET request, the data submitted using chunked transfer or a mechanism that maintains an established connection.

6. A computer implemented method using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to communicate between a client system, one or more network services, and an HTTP service multiplexer, the method comprising:

registering one or more network services and one or more network locations respectively associated with the one or more network services, the network services and the associated network locations registered with an HTTP service multiplexer using an HTTP POST request;

receiving a request for one or more of the registered network services, the request received at a network resource associated with the HTTP service multiplexer and including an HTTP GET request, the network resource identified by a Universal Resource Identifier (URI);

identifying the network location registered as being associated with the requested network service; and

redirecting the request from the HTTP service multiplexer to the identified network location.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising launching the requested network service when the requested network service is not currently running.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising using an HTTP redirect facility to point a client system to the launched network service.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising broadcasting data from the one or more network services to a client system connected to the HTTP multiplexer, the data broadcasted using an HTTP POST request or in response to an HTTP GET request.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising delivering data to a client system through an HTTP POST request or in response to an HTTP GET request, the data submitted using chunked transfer or a mechanism that maintains an established connection.