NETWORK SERVICE VERSION MANAGEMENT

• US 20080178169A1
• Filed: 01/19/2007
• Published: 07/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Serghi, Laura Mihaela, Velummylum, Piragash, GROSSNER, CLIFFORD
• Granted Patent: US 8,214,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/170
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Network service version management techniques are disclosed. Service access information, which is associated with access to a network service by a network service user, may be destined for a particular version of the network service. A determination is made as to whether a different version of the network service is accessible by the network service user. If so, then a further determination is made as to whether to select the different version of the network service to process the service access information. Any inconsistency between versions of the network service, such as different information requirements, can be handled by transforming received service access information. A replay function may also be provided, to have service access information again processed by the same or a different version of a network service. This function may be useful, for example, where a version of a service is rolled back or for debugging.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an interface enabling service access information associated with access to a network service by a network service user to be received, the service access information being destined for a first version of the network service; and

a version selection module operatively coupled to the interface and operable to determine whether a second version of the network service, which is different from the first version of the network service, is accessible by the network service user, and to determine whether to select the second version of the network service to process the received service access information where the second version of the network service is accessible by the network service user.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory, operatively coupled to the version selection module, for storing an access policy associated with the network service, the access policy comprising an indication of whether the second version of the network service is accessible by the network service user,

wherein the version selection module is operable to determine whether the second version of the network service is accessible by the network service user by consulting the access policy associated with the network service in the memory.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the access policy comprises an access policy established by a provider of the network service.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a transformation module operatively coupled to the version selection module and operable to, where a determination is made to select the second version of the network service, determine whether second version of the network service is capable of processing the received service access information, and transform the received service access information for processing by the second version of the network service where the second version of the network service is not capable of processing the received service access information.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first version of the network service is older than the second version of the network service.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first version of the network service is newer than the second version of the network service.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory; and

a logging module operatively coupled to the memory and to the version selection module and operable to store in the memory service access information, including the received service access information, for which a network service version selection has been made by the version selection module, to subsequently retrieve from the memory stored service access information for which one of the first and second versions of the network service had previously been selected, and to provide the retrieved service access information to the other of the first and second versions of the network service.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network service comprises a web service.

9. A communication network element for providing access for a network service user to a network service, the network element comprising:

the apparatus of claim 1.

10. A method comprising:

receiving service access information associated with access to a network service by a network service user, the service access information being destined for a first version of the network service;

determining whether a second version of the network service, which is different from the first version of the network service, is accessible by the network service user; and

determining whether to select the second version of the network service to process the received service access information where the second version of the network service is accessible by the network service user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining whether a second version of the network service is accessible by the network service user comprises consulting an access policy associated with the network service, the access policy comprising an indication of whether the second version of the network service is accessible by the network service user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the access policy comprises an access policy established by a provider of the network service.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising, where a determination is made to select the second version of the network service:

determining whether the second version of the network service is capable of processing the received service access information; and

transforming the received service access information for processing by the second version of the network service where the second version of the network service is not capable of processing the received service access information.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein one of the first version and the second version of the network service is a newer version of the network service.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

storing service access information, including the received service access information, for which a network service version selection has been made;

retrieving stored service access information for which one of the first and second versions of the network service had previously been selected; and

providing the retrieved service access information to the other of the first and second versions of the network service.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the network service comprises a web service.

17. A machine-readable medium storing instructions which when executed perform the method of claim 10.

18. A method comprising:

storing service access information that is associated with access to a network service and that has been provided to a version of the network service for processing;

retrieving the stored service access information; and

providing the retrieved service access information to a version of the network service for processing.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein providing comprises providing the retrieved service access information to a different version of the network service than the version to which the service access information has been provided.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining whether the version of the network service, to which the service access information has been provided, has become unavailable,

wherein retrieving and providing are responsive to a determination that the version of the network service, to which the service access information has been provided, has become unavailable.

21. A machine-readable medium storing a data structure, the data structure comprising:

version information indicative of a version of a network service; and

user information indicative of a network service user by whom the version of the network service is accessible,

the data structure allowing a determination to be made as to whether the version of the network service is accessible by a network service user from whom service access information, which is associated with access to the network service and destined for a different version of the network service, is received.