HIERARCHICAL APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE FOR COMMUNICATION MIDDLEWARE IN PARTIALLY CONNECTED MOBILE AD HOC NETWORKS

• US 20090103461A1
• Filed: 10/21/2008
• Published: 04/23/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tan, Kun, Zhang, Qian, Zhu, Wenwu
• Granted Patent: US 8,332,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An application programming interface and related system is presented for a middleware communication space that provides asynchronous message delivery service for partially connected mobile ad hoc networks. Embodiments of the present invention use mobile devices to bridge separated islands of networks and store and propagate messages. The system and software architecture supports methods for messaging caching, transferring and routing. More specifically, embodiments provide methods and systems that extend a communication space concept into a distributed environment and combine it with the standard Web Services technologies, i.e, SOAP, and WS series protocols. The communication space provides an extension of Web Services to mobile ad hoc networks and provides asynchronous message caching, transferring and routing.

Claims

1. A hierarchical application programming interface (API) embodied on one or more computer readable media configured to allow messaging between disconnected networks using a mobile device, the mobile device connecting to only one network at a time, the application programming interface comprising:

a first set of APIs related to operations of a middleware communication space, the middleware communication space comprising messaging between disconnected networks using a mobile device, the mobile device being independent of simultaneous connection to the disconnected networks;

a second set of APIs related to event registration; and

a third set of APIs related to namespace operations.

2. The hierarchical API of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the first set of APIs related to operations of a middleware communication space further comprises;

a write function that provides for distributed applications to insert metadata into the middleware communication space;

a read function configured to read out metadata and remove data from the middleware communication space, leaving the metadata unchanged;

an enumerate and search function configured to enumerate metadata according to a template of selective criteria;

a second set of APIs related to event registration comprising;

an API directed to registration and deregistration via a register function configured to register a handler of one or more events according to a template configured to filter according to type of event; and

a third set of APIs related to namespace operations comprising;

a space export and import function to configure which (sub-)space should be shared with one or more devices; and

an enumerate sub-space function configured to provide that a sub-space in the middleware communication space can be enumerated according to a template that specifies the selective criteria that sub-spaces associated with the distributed application are to enumerate.

3. The hierarchical API of claim 1, wherein the first set of APIs comprises:

a write function that provides for distributed applications to insert metadata into the middleware communication space; and

a read function configured to read out metadata and remove data from the middleware communication space, leaving the metadata unchanged.

4. The hierarchical API of claim 3, wherein the first set of APIs further comprises:

an enumerate and search function configured to enumerate metadata according to a template of selective criteria.

5. The hierarchical API of claim 1, wherein the second set of APIs includes APIs directed to registration and deregistration via a register function configured to register a handler of one or more events according to a template configured to filter according to type of event.

6. The hierarchical API of claim 1, wherein the third set of APIs is namespace operation APIs including:

a space export and import function to configure which (sub-)space should be shared with one or more devices; and

an enumerate sub-space function configured to provide that a sub-space in the middleware communication space can be enumerated according to a template that specifies the selective criteria that sub-spaces associated with the distributed application are to enumerate.

7. An application programming interface (API) configured to execute on a processor and stored on a computer storage media, the application programming interface configured to:

instantiate a first set of APIs related to operations of a middleware communication space, the middleware communication space allowing messaging between disconnected networks using a mobile device, the mobile device being independent of simultaneous connection to the disconnected networks;

instantiate a second set of APIs related to event registration; and

instantiate a third set of APIs related to namespace operations.

8. The API of claim 7, wherein a hierarchical API comprising the three sets of APIs enables separation of basic operations of a middleware communication space from security related operations.

9. The API of claim 7, wherein the first set of APIs comprises:

a write function that provides for distributed applications to insert metadata into the middleware communication space.

10. The API of claim 9, wherein the first set of APIs further comprises:

a read function configured to read out metadata and remove data from the middleware communication space, leaving the metadata unchanged.

11. The API of claim 10, wherein the first set of APIs further comprises an enumerate and search function configured to enumerate metadata according to a template of selective criteria.

12. The API of claim 7, wherein the second set of APIs includes APIs directed to registration and deregistration via a register function configured to register a handler of one or more events according to a template configured to filter according to type of event.

13. The API of claim 7, wherein the third set of APIs comprises a namespace operation API configured to provide a space export and import function to configure which sub-space should be shared with one or more devices.

14. The API of claim 11, wherein the namespace operation API is further configured to enumerate sub-space function configured to provide that a sub-space in the middleware communication space can be enumerated according to a template that specifies the selective criteria that sub-spaces associated with the distributed application are to enumerate.

15. A hierarchical application programming interface (API) embodied on a computer readable media, the hierarchical API comprising:

a first set of APIs related to operations of a middleware communication space comprising messaging between disconnected networks using a mobile device, the mobile device connecting to one network at a time; and

a second set of APIs related to namespace operations.

16. The hierarchical API of claim 15, wherein the first set of APIs further comprises:

a write function that provides for distributed applications to insert metadata into the middleware communication space; and

a read function configured to read out metadata and remove data from the middleware communication space, leaving the metadata unchanged.

17. The hierarchical API of claim 16, wherein the first set of APIs further comprises an enumerate and search function configured to enumerate metadata according to a template of selective criteria.

18. The hierarchical API of claim 16, wherein the first set of APIs further comprises an API directed to registration and deregistration via a register function configured to register a handler of one or more events according to a template configured to filter according to type of event.

19. The hierarchical API of claim 15, wherein the second set of APIs is a namespace operation API configured to provide a space export and import function to configure which sub-space should be shared with one or more devices.

20. The hierarchical API of claim 19, wherein the namespace operation API is further configured to enumerate a sub-space function configured to provide that a sub-space in the middleware communication space can be enumerated according to a template that specifies the selective criteria that sub-spaces associated with the distributed application are to enumerate.