ADAPTIVE WRITE-BACK AND WRITE-THROUGH CACHING FOR OFF-LINE DATA

• US 20100318640A1
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Divilly, Colm, Mehta, Nikunj R., Swart, Garret, Motivala, Ashish
• Granted Patent: US 8,868,707 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0884 by delegation of authentication, e.g. a proxy authenticates an entity to be authenticated on behalf of this entity vis-à-vis an authentication entity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A method for facilitating communication between an application and a server is provided. An intermediary sits between an application and a server. The intermediary intercepts and responds to communications on behalf of the intended recipient of the communication.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of using an intermediary to facilitate communication between an application and a first server, the method comprising:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from the application running on a first computing device, a first request, wherein the first request is a request to remove, update or store data on the server, wherein the first request conforms to a first protocol; and

relaying the first request to the first server using the first protocol;

receiving a response from the first server;

responding to the first request with the response obtained from the server; and

updating the local store with;

data obtained from the first response; and

data implied by the first protocol and determined by the first request;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the request should be relayed to the server based on one or more policy criteria.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the policy criteria includes criteria related to one or more of:

time;

power consumption;

communication privacy;

network usage cost;

network availability;

conflicts caused by server contention;

or

user expressed preferences.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediary is executed within the same process as the application or a user agent.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

intercepting first authentication information from the application;

wherein the response to the second request is sent after verifying the first authentication information;

wherein the step of verifying the first authentication information comprises matching the first authentication information with second authentication information captured, by the intermediary, from a previous communication session between the application and the server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from a second application running on the first computing device, a second request, wherein the second request is a request to update, remove, or store data at a second server, wherein the second request conforms to a second protocol.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first computing device is a mobile computing device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediary is a browser plugin.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the protocol comprises:

resources that are capable of network representations;

access methods for obtaining network representations of resources including containers and lists;

update methods for manipulating individual and container resources; and

query mechanisms to identify criteria for locating resources.

10. A computer-implemented method of using an intermediary to facilitate communication between an application and a server, the method comprising:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from the application running on a first computing device, a first request, wherein the first request is a request to remove, update, or store data on the server, wherein the first request conforms to a first protocol; and

storing the first request along with sequence identifying information; and

without sending the first request to the server, locally processing the first request in a manner conforming to the first protocol;

updating the local store with the results of locally processing the first request;

responding with a first response to the first request using the results of locally processing the first request, wherein the first response to the first request specifies to the application that the first request has been honored; and

after responding to the first request, forwarding the first request to the server using the first protocol;

receiving a second response from the server, wherein the second response is a response to the first request;

updating the local store with;

data obtained from the second response; and

data implied by the first protocol and determined by the first request;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of forwarding the first request to the server using the first protocol is performed at a particular time, wherein the particular time is based on policy criteria.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the request should be stored or relayed to the server based on one or more policy criteria.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the policy criteria includes criteria related to one or more of:

time;

power consumption;

communication privacy;

network usage cost;

network availability;

conflicts caused by server contention;

or

user expressed preferences.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the intermediary is executed within the same process as the application or a user agent.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the protocol comprises:

resources that are capable of network representations;

access methods for obtaining network representations of resources including containers and lists;

update methods for manipulating individual and container resources; and

query mechanisms to identify criteria for locating resources.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the policy criteria includes criteria related to one or more of:

time;

power consumption;

communication privacy;

network usage cost;

network availability;

conflicts caused by server contention;

or

user expressed preferences.

16. A computer-implemented method of using an intermediary to facilitate communication between an application and a server, the method comprising:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from the application running on a first computing device, a first request, wherein the first request is a request to access data on the server, wherein the first request conforms to a first protocol; and

without sending the first request to the server, responding to the first request using the data available in the local store, wherein the response to the first request specifies to the application that the first request has been honored;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining that the request should be responded to using the data available in the local store based on policy criteria.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the intermediary is executed within the same process as the application or a user agent.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the communication protocol comprises:

resources that are capable of network representations;

access methods for obtaining network representations of resources including containers and lists;

update methods for manipulating individual and container resources; and

query mechanisms to identify criteria for locating resources.

21. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for facilitating communication between an application and a first server which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from the application running on a first computing device, a first request, wherein the first request is a request to remove, update or store data on the server, wherein the first request conforms to a first protocol; and

relaying the first request to the first server using the first protocol;

receiving a response from the first server;

responding to the first request with the response obtained from the server; and

updating the local store with;

data obtained from the first response; and

data implied by the first protocol and determined by the first request;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

determining that the request should be relayed to the server based on one or more policy criteria.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the policy criteria includes criteria related to one or more of:

time;

power consumption;

communication privacy;

network usage cost;

network availability;

conflicts caused by server contention;

or

user expressed preferences.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the intermediary is executed within the same process as the application or a user agent.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

intercepting first authentication information from the application;

wherein the response to the second request is sent after verifying the first authentication information;

wherein the step of verifying the first authentication information comprises matching the first authentication information with second authentication information captured, by the intermediary, from a previous communication session between the application and the server.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, further comprising instructions for:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from a second application running on the first computing device, a second request, wherein the second request is a request to update, remove, or store data at a second server, wherein the second request conforms to a second protocol.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the first computing device is a mobile computing device.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the intermediary is a browser plugin.

29. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the protocol comprises:

resources that are capable of network representations;

access methods for obtaining network representations of resources including containers and lists;

update methods for manipulating individual and container resources; and

query mechanisms to identify criteria for locating resources.

30. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for facilitating communication between an application and a server which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from the application running on a first computing device, a first request, wherein the first request is a request to remove, update, or store data on the server, wherein the first request conforms to a first protocol; and

storing the first request along with sequence identifying information; and

without sending the first request to the server, locally processing the first request in a manner conforming to the first protocol;

updating the local store with the results of locally processing the first request;

responding with a first response to the first request using the results of locally processing the first request, wherein the first response to the first request specifies to the application that the first request has been honored; and

after responding to the first request, forwarding the first request to the server using the first protocol;

receiving a second response from the server, wherein the second response is a response to the first request;

updating the local store with;

data obtained from the second response; and

data implied by the first protocol and determined by the first request;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the step of forwarding the first request to the server using the first protocol is performed at a particular time, wherein the particular time is based on policy criteria.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, further comprising instructions for:

determining that the request should be stored or relayed to the server based on one or more policy criteria.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the policy criteria includes criteria related to one or more of:

time;

power consumption;

communication privacy;

network usage cost;

network availability;

conflicts caused by server contention;

or

user expressed preferences.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the intermediary is executed within the same process as the application or a user agent.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the protocol comprises:

resources that are capable of network representations;

access methods for obtaining network representations of resources including containers and lists;

update methods for manipulating individual and container resources; and

query mechanisms to identify criteria for locating resources.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the policy criteria includes criteria related to one or more of:

time;

power consumption;

communication privacy;

network usage cost;

network availability;

conflicts caused by server contention;

or

user expressed preferences.

36. A computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for facilitating communication between an application and a server which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform:

intercepting, at the intermediary, from the application running on a first computing device, a first request, wherein the first request is a request to access data on the server, wherein the first request conforms to a first protocol; and

without sending the first request to the server, responding to the first request using the data available in the local store, wherein the response to the first request specifies to the application that the first request has been honored;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, further comprising instructions for:

determining that the request should be responded to using the data available in the local store based on policy criteria.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the intermediary is executed within the same process as the application or a user agent.

40. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 36, wherein the communication protocol comprises:

resources that are capable of network representations;

access methods for obtaining network representations of resources including containers and lists;

update methods for manipulating individual and container resources; and

query mechanisms to identify criteria for locating resources.