EFFICIENT FILE TRANSFER ON WEB SERVICE-ENABLED IMAGE FORMING DEVICE

• US 20100332677A1
• Filed: 06/24/2009
• Published: 12/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Tian, Lifen
• Granted Patent: US 8,195,830 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/233
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Techniques are provided for efficiently transferring documents (or files) between a client device and a WS-enabled device. A document is divided into a plurality of distinct chunks. Each chunk is packaged in a separate SOAP message. Each SOAP message includes a document identifier and a data transmission serial number (DTSN). The DTSN uniquely identifies a particular chunk of the document relative to the other chunks of the document. After one or more chunks of the document are transferred, the size of one or more subsequent chunks is adjusted based on changes in the client device, the WS-enabled device, and/or the network connection. Thereafter, each of the one or more subsequent chunks of the document is either larger or smaller than the one or more chunks that were already transferred.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring data, over a network, between a client process executing on a client device and a Web service executing on the apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more storage devices storing instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, cause;

receiving, from the client process, a request message that indicates a request for a service provided by the Web service;

in response to receiving the request message, determining a first size for a portion of a file to be transferred between the client process and the Web service, wherein the portion of the file is less than all of the file;

after determining the first size, processing a first Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message that includes a first portion of the file, a file identifier that identifies the file, and a first data transmission serial number that identifies the first portion relative to other portions of the file, wherein the size of the first portion is equal to the first size;

after the first SOAP message has been transferred between the client process and the Web service, determining, based on one or more criteria, a second size for a different portion of the file, wherein the second size is different than the first size; and

after determining the second size, processing a second SOAP message that includes a second portion of the file, the file identifier, and a second data transmission serial number that identifies the second portion relative to other portions of the file, wherein the size of the second portion is equal to the second size.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein processing the first SOAP message comprises generating the first SOAP message and sending the first SOAP message to the client process.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the instructions include additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, further cause:

generating and sending, to the client process, a third SOAP message that includes a third portion of the file, the file identifier, and a third data transmission serial number that identifies the third portion relative to other portions of the file;

determining that the client process may not have received the third SOAP message; and

in response to determining that the client process may not have received the third SOAP message, resending the third SOAP message to the client process without resending any SOAP messages that included other portions of the file and that were sent before the third SOAP message.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein processing the first SOAP message comprises receiving the first SOAP message from the client process.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the instructions include additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, further cause:

receiving a third SOAP message that includes a third portion of the file, the file identifier, and a third data transmission serial number that identifies the third portion relative to other portions of the file;

determining, based at least in part on the third data transmission serial number, that another portion of the file, that has not yet been received, should have been received before the third portion of the file; and

in response to determining that another portion of the file, that has not yet been received, should have been received before the third portion of the file, sending, to the client process, the data transmission serial number associated with the most recent SOAP message before the third SOAP message.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the client process generates and maintains a client identifier that is different than an IP address of the client device;

the SOAP message includes the client identifier; and

the instructions include additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, further cause;

determining, based on the client identifier, whether access to network history information about previous network communications with the client process or client device is available;

if access to the network history information is available, then the first size is based at least in part upon the network history information.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions include additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, further cause:

determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message; and

in response to determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message, prioritizing the client process by (a) allocating more resources to process the request than are allocated relative to other client processes or (b) processing the request before one or more other requests that were received at the Web service-enabled device before the request.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria include one or more of the following:

a change in resource constraints of the apparatus;

a change in resource constraints of the client device;

or

a change in the network communication between the client process and the Web service.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the instructions include additional instructions which, when processed by the one or more processors, further cause:

determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message; and

in response to determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message, generating data, based on one or more portions of the file, at a reduced size.

20. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein generating data, based on one or more portions of the file, at a reduced size includes at least one of:

compressing the one or more portions of the file;

generating the data at a resolution that is lower than the resolution specified in the request message;

or

generating the data in black and white instead of in color as specified in the request message.

10. A computer-implemented method for transferring data, over a network, between a client process executing on a client device and a Web service executing on a Web service-enabled device, the computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from the client process, a request message that indicates a request for a service provided by the Web service;

in response to receiving the request message, determining a first size for a portion of a file to be transferred between the client process and the Web service, wherein the portion of the file is less than all of the file;

after determining the first size, processing a first Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message that includes a first portion of the file, a file identifier that identifies the file, and a first data transmission serial number that identifies the first portion relative to other portions of the file, wherein the size of the first portion is equal to the first size;

after the first SOAP message has been transferred between the client process and the Web service, determining, based on one or more criteria, a second size for a different portion of the file, wherein the second size is different than the first size; and

after determining the second size, processing a second SOAP message that includes a second portion of the file, the file identifier, and a second data transmission serial number that identifies the second portion relative to other portions of the file, wherein the size of the second portion is equal to the second size.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein processing the first SOAP message comprises generating the first SOAP message and sending the first SOAP message to the client process.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating and sending, to the client process, a third SOAP message that includes a third portion of the file, the file identifier, and a third data transmission serial number that identifies the third portion relative to other portions of the file;

determining that the client process may not have received the third SOAP message; and

in response to determining that the client process may not have received the third SOAP message, resending the third SOAP message to the client process without resending any SOAP messages that included other portions of the file and that were sent before the third SOAP message.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein processing the first SOAP message comprises receiving the first SOAP message from the client process.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a third SOAP message that includes a third portion of the file, the file identifier, and a third data transmission serial number that identifies the third portion relative to other portions of the file;

determining, based at least in part on the third data transmission serial number, that another portion of the file, that has not yet been received, should have been received before the third portion of the file; and

in response to determining that another portion of the file, that has not yet been received, should have been received before the third portion of the file, sending, to the client process, the data transmission serial number associated with the most recent SOAP message before the third SOAP message.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein:

the client process generates and maintains a client identifier that is different than an IP address of the client device;

the SOAP message includes the client identifier; and

the computer-implemented method further comprising;

determining, based on the client identifier, whether access to network history information about previous network communications with the client process or client device is available;

if access to the network history information is available, then the first size is based at least in part upon the network history information.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message; and

in response to determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message, prioritizing the client process by (a) allocating more resources to process the request than are allocated relative to other client processes or (b) processing the request before one or more other requests that were received at the Web service-enabled device before the request.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the one or more criteria include one or more of the following:

a change in resource constraints of the Web service-enabled device;

a change in resource constraints of the client device;

or

a change in the network communication between the client process and the Web service.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message; and

in response to determining that the client process is likely to become unavailable during transmission of one or more SOAP messages that are related to the first SOAP message, generating data, based on one or more portions of the file, at a reduced size.

19. One or more storage media storing instructions for transferring data, over a network, between a client process executing on a client device and a Web service executing on a Web service-enabled device, wherein the instructions, when processed by one or more processors, cause:

receiving, from the client process, a request message that indicates a request for a service provided by the Web service;

in response to receiving the request message, determining a first size for a portion of a file to be transferred between the client process and the Web service, wherein the portion of the file is less than all of the file;

after determining the first size, processing a first Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) message that includes a first portion of the file, a file identifier that identifies the file, and a first data transmission serial number that identifies the first portion relative to other portions of the file, wherein the size of the first portion is equal to the first size;

after the first SOAP message has been transferred between the client process and the Web service, determining, based on one or more criteria, a second size for a different portion of the file, wherein the second size is different than the first size; and

after determining the second size, processing a second SOAP message that includes a second portion of the file, the file identifier, and a second data transmission serial number that identifies the second portion relative to other portions of the file, wherein the size of the second portion is equal to the second size.