Providing Interoperability in Software Identifier Standards

• US 20090049200A1
• Filed: 08/14/2007
• Published: 02/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Wilcox, Mark Edward, Lin, David Cheng-Fang
• Granted Patent: US 7,970,943 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database

Abstract

A system manages information exchanges between components of the system so that information is provided in a format expected by each particular component. In a specific implementation, a translation service provider intercepts information exchanges between client and data sources or data services and translates of converts software identifiers (e.g., UUIDs or GUIDs) as needed so that the client or data source can properly process the data. For example, a client may use GUIDs in a first format, and when information is requested is presented using a GUID in a second format, different from the first, the translation service provider translates a GUID to the first format. The translation service provider may be transparent to the other components of the system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

intercepting a request from a client for data stored at a first data source;

determining a data source where the data resides, where the data does not necessarily reside at the first data source;

retrieving the data from a second data source, different from the first data source;

determining if a first identifier format of a first identifier associated with the data from the second data source is different from a second identifier format expected by the client; and

if the first identifier format is different from the second identifier format, converting the first identifier into the second identifier format.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

after converting the first identifier into the second identifier format, sending the data and associated first identifier in the second identifier format to the client.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising:

accessing a map indicating an identifier format associated with each data source in a system.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising:

accessing a map indicating an identifier format associated with each client in a system.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first identifier format is a string of i hexadecimal characters, the second identifier format is a string of j hexadecimal characters including k separator characters, where j is greater than i, and the converting the first identifier into the second identifier format comprises:

inserting the separator characters at j different positions in the first identifier in the first identifier format.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first identifier format is a string of i hexadecimal characters including j separator characters, the second identifier format is a string of k hexadecimal characters, where i is greater than k, and the converting the first identifier into the second identifier format comprises:

removing the j separator characters from the first identifier in the first identifier format.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the converting the first identifier into the second identifier format comprises:

dividing a n-bit value of a first identifier in the first format into m first bytes, where each first byte has p bits;

type casting each first byte into an integer;

performing a logical AND operation on each first byte with 0xFF to obtain resulting second bytes;

converting each second byte into two hexadecimal characters; and

concatenating the hexadecimal characters into a string of hexadecimal characters.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the converting the first identifier into the second identifier format comprises:

dividing n characters of hexadecimal string into n/2 pairs of two-hexadecimal substrings;

converting each of the two-hexadecimal substrings to an integer;

converting each integer into a byte value; and

forming a (n/2)-byte value with the n/2 converted bytes.

9. A system comprising:

a client, expecting data using a first software format;

a first data source, providing data using the first software format;

a second data source, providing data using a second software format, different from the first software format; and

a translation service provider, receiving requests from the client for data which resides on the first or second data source,

wherein the translation service determines whether the data resides on the first or second data source, and when the data resides on the second data source, converting data retrieved from the second data source into the first software format.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the first and second data sources are databases.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the first and second data source are different directory services.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the translation service provider is a service provided by a virtual directory program.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein requests by the client are directed to the first data source and such requests are intercepted by the translation service provider, without knowledge of the client.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the first software format is a first format for a GUID and the second software format is a second format for a GUID, and the second format for a GUID is different from the first format for a GUID.

15. A computer program product stored on a computer-readable medium comprising:

code for receiving from a first data source a first unique identifier in a first format;

code for translating the first unique identifier to a second format; and

code for sending the translated first unique identifier to a first client.

16. The product of claim 15 comprising:

code for receiving from a second data source a second unique identifier in a third format;

code for translating the second unique identifier to a fourth format; and

code for sending the translated second unique identifier to a second client.

17. The product of claim 15 wherein the code for translating the first unique identifier to a second format comprise code for inserting separator characters into the first unique identifier in the first format.

18. The product of claim 15 wherein the first unique identifier is a GUID.

19. The product of claim 15 wherein the first data source is a database.

20. The product of claim 15 wherein the code for translating the first unique identifier to the second format is stored at the first data source.