Method And System For Managing Communication Protocol Data Based On MIME Types

• US 20080301320A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Scenera Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Original Assignee: Scenera Technologies LLC (Scenera Research LLC)
• Inventors: Morris, Robert P.
• Application Number:
  US11/756,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20080301320A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/328 in the presentation layer [OSI layer 6]

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for managing communication protocol data in a communication stack of an electronic device. One method includes providing a MIME type communication layer in a communication stack that comprises a plurality of communication layers and is operatively coupled to a network interface for receiving and sending data over a network. The MIME type communication layer receives a protocol frame that includes content in a payload, and an endpoint identifier associated with a recipient of the content, determines a MIME type associated with the content, identifies an element by parsing the content of the protocol frame based on the determined MIME type, and determines a data item corresponding to the identified element of the determined MIME type. The data item is provided to the recipient asociated with the endpoint identifier. wherein the recipient receives the data item without parsing the content of the protocol frame.

Claims

1. A method for managing communication protocol data in a communication stack of an electronic device, the method comprising:

providing a MIME type communication layer in a communication stack of an electronic device, wherein the communication stack comprises a plurality of communication layers and is operatively coupled to a network interface for receiving and sending data over a network;

receiving by the MIME type communication layer a protocol frame that includes content in a payload, and an endpoint identifier associated with a recipient of the content;

determining by the MIME type communication layer a MIME type associated with the content;

identifying by the MIME type communication layer an element of the determined MIME type by parsing the content of the protocol frame based on the determined MIME type;

determining by the MIME type communication layer a data item in the content corresponding to the identified element of the determined MIME type; and

providing by the MIME type communication layer the data item to the recipient asociated with the endpoint identifier, wherein the recipient receives the data item without parsing the content of the protocol frame.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the MIME type communication layer includes dynamically registering with the MIME type communication layer at least one content controller associated with at least one MIME type and configuring the MIME type communication layer to invoke the at least one content controller.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the MIME type associated with the content includes at least one of analyzing a MIME type indicator included in the received protocol frame, and analyzing at least a portion of the content to determine at least one of a signature, a type indicator, and a characteristic associated with the MIME type.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element of the determined MIME type by parsing the content of the protocol frame based on the determined MIME type includes invoking a parser component compatible with the determined MIME type, and using the parser to parse the content according to a format associated with the determined MIME type.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the element of the determined MIME type by parsing includes:

identifying a plurality of elements in the content based on a format of the determined MIME type, wherein the plurality of identified elements are associated with a plurality of data items;

constructing a structured data model of the parsed content using the plurality of identified elements; and

validating the plurality of data items according to the format of the determined MIME type.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein identifying the element of the determined MIME type by parsing includes one of receiving a stream of data corresponding to the content to be parsed and dynamically parsing the stream of data, and receiving the content as a whole and parsing the content as a whole.

7. The method of claim 5 including storing the structured data model.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the data item to the recipient includes sending an indication to the recipient, wherein the indication includes an identifier associated with at least one of the content and the data item.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein providing the data item to the recipient includes at least one of:

calling an executable routine associated with the endpoint identifier and receiving a callback from the executable routine to retrieve the data item;

receiving a query from an executable routine associated with the endpoint identifier and sending the indication to the recipient in response to the query;

sending a notification including the indication to the recipient based on a subscription to the endpoint identifier; and

placing the indication in a message queue associated with the endpoint identifier.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the data item to the recipient includes:

providing by the MIME type communication layer a set of common functions associated with a MIME type, wherein the set of common functions includes at least one of a display function, a storage function, an edit function, and a delete function;

receiving from the recipient an instruction to apply at least one common function of the set against the data item of the MIME type; and

applying the at least one common function against the data item pursuant to the instruction, wherein the recipient is not required to process the data item.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the data item to the recipient includes providing one of an object representing the content, and at least one data structure based on the determined MIME type and corresponding to the content.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein prior to providing the data item to the recipient, the method includes determining at least one of whether the recipient is allowed to receive the data item, and whether the data item is a threat to the electronic device.

13. A method for managing communication protocol data in a communication stack of an electronic device, the method comprising:

providing a MIME type communication layer in a communication stack of an electronic device, wherein the communication stack comprises a plurality of communication layers and is operatively coupled to a network interface for receiving and sending data of a specified MIME type over a network;

receiving by the MIME type communication layer a data item for association with an element of a specified MIME type, and a communication endpoint identifier associated with a sender of the data item;

determining by the MIME type communication layer whether the data item is compatible with the element of the specified MIME type;

generating by the MIME type communication layer content including the data item, the content compatible with the specified MIME type when the data item is determined to be compatible with the element of the specified MIME type; and

providing the content and the communication endpoint identifier to an underlying communication layer of the communication stack.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein determining whether the data item is compatible with the element includes using a schema that defines a format specification corresponding to the specified MIME type.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein generating content including the data item includes using a schema that defines a format specification corresponding to the specified MIME type and constructing a structured data model representing the content.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein providing the content and the communication endpoint identifier to the underlying communication layer of the communication stack includes:

creating a protocol frame compatible with a frame format associated with the MIME type communication layer;

including the content and the communciation endpoint identifier in the protocol frame; and

passing the protocol frame to the underlying communication layer of the communication stack.

17. The method of claim 16 including providing a MIME type indicator in the protocol frame along with the content and the communciation endpoint identifier.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein prior to providing the content and the communication endpoint identifier to the underlying communication layer, the method includes determining whether the sender is allowed to send the data item.

19. A system for managing communication protocol data received by and sent from an electronic device, the system comprising:

means for receiving a protocol frame that includes content in a payload, and an endpoint identifier associated with a recipient of the content;

means for determining by the MIME type communication layer a MIME type associated with the content;

means for identifying an element of the determined MIME type by parsing the content of the protocol frame based on the determined MIME type;

means for determining a data item in the content corresponding to the identifed element of the determined MIME type; and

means for providing the data item to the recipient asociated with the endpoint identifier. wherein the recipient receives the data item without parsing the content of the protocol frame.

20. A system for managing communication protocol data received by and sent from an electronic device, the system comprising:

a network interface card configured for receiving and sending data over a network; and

a communication stack component coupled to the network interface card, wherein the communication stack component includes;

a physical communication layer coupled to the network interface card; and

a MIME type communication layer configured for receiving via the physical communication layer a protocol frame that includes content in a payload, and an endpoint identifier associated with a recipient of the content, wherein the MIME type communication layer includes;

a content router component configured for determining a MIME type associated with the content of the protocol frame; and

a content controller component associated with the determined MIME type, wherein when the content router determines the MIME type associated with the content of the protocol frame, the content router routes the content to the content controller component associated with the determined MIME type, the content controller component configured for identifying an element of the determined MIME type by parsing the content of the protocol frame according to the determined MIME type, for determining a data item in the content corresponding to the identified element of the determined MIME type, and for providing the data item to the recipient asociated with the endpoint identifier, wherein the recipient receives the data item without parsing the content of the protocol frame.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the MIME type communication layer is configured for dynamically registering a new content controller associated with a new MIME type and for configuring the content router to locate and route content to the new content controller.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the content router is configured for at least one of analyzing a MIME type indicator included in the protocol frame, and using the content controller component to analyze at least a portion of the content to determine at least one of a signature, a type indicator, and a characteristic corresponding to the determined MIME type.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the content controller includes a content parser component compatible with the determined MIME type and configured for parsing the content of the protocol frame according to a format of the determined MIME type.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the content controller includes a content parser component, a modeler component, and a validator component, wherein the parser component is configured for identifying a plurality of elements in the content based on a format of the determined MIME type, wherein the plurality of identified elements are associated with a plurality of data items, the modeler component is configured for constructing a structured data model of the parsed content using the plurality of identified elements, and the validator component is configured for validating the plurality of data items according to the format of the determined MIME type.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the content parser component is configured for one of receiving a stream of data corresponding to the content to be parsed and dynamically parsing the stream of data, and receiving the content as a whole and parsing the content as a whole.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the modeler component is configured for storing the structured data model.

27. The system of claim 20 wherein the content controller component includes a content output interface configured for sending an indication to the recipient, wherein the indication includes an identifier associated with at least one of the content and the data item.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the content output interface is configured for at least one of calling an executable routine associated with the endpoint identifier and receiving a callback from the executable routine to retrieve the data item, for receiving a query from an executable routine associated with the endpoint identifier and sending the indication to the recipient in response to the query, for sending a notification including the indication to the recipient based on a subscription to the endpoint identifier, and for placing the indication in a message queue associated with the endpoint identifier.

29. The system of claim 20 wherein the content controller component includes a content output interface configured for providing one of an object representing the content, and at least one data structure based on the determined MIME type and corresponding to the content.

30. The system of claim 20 wherein the content controller component includes a set of common functions associated with a MIME type, wherein the set of common functions include at least one of a display function, a storage function, an edit function, and a delete function, and wherein the content controller component is configured for receiving from the recipient an instruction to apply at least one common function of the set of common functions against the data item, and for applying the at least one common function against the data item pursuant to the instruction, wherein the recipient is not required to process the data item.

31. The system of claim 20 wherein the content controller component includes a content output interface configured for determining at least one of whether the recipient is allowed to receive the data item, and whether the data item is a threat to the electronic device.

32. The system of claim 20 wherein the communication stack component includes an application communication layer, wherein the MIME type communication layer is between the application communication layer and the physical communication layer, and wherein the content controller component is configured for receiving via the application communication layer a second data item and a communication endpoint identifier associated with a sender of the second data item, for determining whether the second data item is compatible with an element of the determined MIME type associated with the content controller component, for generating content including the second data item, the content compatible with the determined MIME type when the second data item is determined to be compatible with the element of the determined MIME type, and for providing the content and the communication endpoint identifier associated with the sender of the second data item to the physical communication layer of the communication stack.

33. A computer readable medium containing a computer program, executable by a machine, for managing communication protocol data in a communication stack of an electronic device, the computer program comprising executable instructions for:

receiving by a MIME type communication layer in a communication stack of an electronic device a protocol frame that includes content in a payload, and an endpoint identifier associated with a recipient of the content;

determining by the MIME type communication layer a MIME type associated with the content;

identifying by the MIME type communication layer an element of the determined MIME type by parsing the content of the protocol frame based on the determined MIME type;

determining by the MIME type communication layer a data item in the content corresponding to the identified element of the determined MIME type; and

providing by the MIME type communication layer the data item to the recipient asociated with the endpoint identifier, wherein the recipient receives the data item without parsing the content of the protocol frame.

34. A computer readable medium containing a computer program, executable by a machine, for managing communication protocol data in a communication stack of an electronic device, the computer program comprising executable instructions for:

receiving by a MIME type communication layer in a communication stack of an electronic device a data item for association with an element of a specified MIME type, and a communication endpoint identifier associated with a sender of the data item;

determining by the MIME type communication layer whether the data item is compatible with the element of the specified MIME type;

generating by the MIME type communication layer content including the data item, the content compatible with the specified MIME type when the data item is determined to be compatible with the element of the specified MIME type; and

providing the content and the communication endpoint identifier to an underlying communication layer of the communication stack.