Method and Apparatus for Client-Side Aggregation of Asynchronous Fragmented Requests

• US 20090063618A1
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Moldenhauer, Maxima A., Howard, Curtiss J., Kaplinger, Todd E., Koonce, Erinn E., Chetuparambil, Madhu K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,032,587 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

The Asynchronous Aggregator shifts the burden of retrieving and aggregating asynchronous responses by replacing asynchronous requests in an original request thread with placcholders with a unique identifier, creating new threads for each asynchronous request, writing a script to request the asynchronous request output, and returning the original request and the script to the client. Each of the new threads run independently and when completed, place the output in the server store. The script then requests each output from the server store as the output becomes available to fill the placeholders.

Claims

1. A computer implemented process for asynchronously executing requests, the computer implemented process comprising:

receiving an original request thread from a client at an application server;

executing the original request;

replacing an asynchronous component in the original request with a placeholder;

starting a new thread for the asynchronous component having a unique identifier;

registering the unique identifier at a server store;

writing a script for retrieving the new thread output from the sever store;

sending the new thread output to the server store;

returning the original request thread with the script to the client; and

when the new thread output is received at the server store, using the script to retrieve the new thread output from the server store and replacing the placeholder in the original request with the new thread output.

2. The computer implemented process of claim 1 further comprising:

creating a first copy of a request object and a second copy of a response object from the original thread.

3. The computer implemented process of claim 1 wherein the asynchronous component is an async include.

4. An apparatus for asynchronously executing requests, the apparatus comprising:

a processor;

a memory connected to the processor;

a service in the computer memory;

a program in the memory operable to;

receive an original request thread from a client at an application server;

execute the original request;

replace an asynchronous component of the original request with a placeholder;

start a new thread for the asynchronous component having a unique identifier;

register the unique identifier at a server store;

write a script for retrieving a new thread output from the sever store;

send the new thread output to the server store;

return the original request thread with the script to the client;

wherein when the new thread output is received at the server store, the script will retrieve the new thread output from the server store for the client and replace the placeholder in the original request thread with the new thread output.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the program further comprises:

creating a first copy of a request object and a second copy of a response object from the original thread.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the asynchronous component is an async include.

7. A computer program product containing a plurality of instructions encoded on a computer readable medium to cause a computer to asynchronously execute requests, the plurality of instructions comprising:

first instructions to receive an original request thread from a client at an application server;

second instructions to execute the original request;

third instructions to replace an asynchronous component of the original request with a placeholder;

fourth instructions to start a new thread for the asynchronous component having a unique identifier;

fifth instructions to register the unique identifier at a server store;

sixth instructions to write a script for retrieving a new thread output from the sever store;

seventh instructions to send the new thread output to the server store; and

eighth instructions to return the original request thread with the script to the client;

wherein when the new thread output is received at the server store, the script retrieves the new thread output from the server store and replace the placeholder in the original request thread with the new thread output.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 further comprising:

ninth instructions to create a copy of a request object and tenth instructions to create a copy of a response object from the original thread.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the asynchronous component is an async include.