NON-BLOCKING COMMUNICATION BETWEEN AN APPLICATION AND A SERVER

• US 20110029595A1
• Filed: 07/31/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Walls, Jeffrey J., Fisher, Jerald C., THAYER, Karen E.
• Granted Patent: US 9,442,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/541 Client-server
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication

Abstract

A system and method for providing non-blocking communication with a communications server are disclosed herein. A computer system includes one or more processors and a software system executable by the processor. When executed, the software system provides an application thread and additionally provides a server communication thread configured to provide non-blocking communication between the application thread and a communication server. The server communication thread is configured to process commands based on requests for communication server services generated by the application thread. The server communication thread is further configured to communicate with the communication server based on the commands and to block pending a server response. The application thread is configured to execute unimpeded by the communication.

Claims

1. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a software system that when executed by the one or more processors provides;

an application thread; and

a server communication thread configured to provide non-blocking communication between the application thread and a communication server;

wherein the server communication thread is configured to process commands based on requests for communication server services generated by the application thread;

wherein the communication thread is configured to communicate with the communication server based on the commands and to block pending a server response, and the application thread is configured to execute unimpeded by the communication.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the application thread comprises:

an application logic module; and

a communication server gateway module;

wherein the application logic module, when executed, causes the one or more processors to generate a request for information stored on the communication server;

wherein the communication server gateway module, when executed, causes the one or more processors to receive the information request and to generate a service command, based on the information request, the service command being configured for processing by the server communication thread.

3. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the communication thread further comprises a gateway worker module configured to process information received from the communication server and to provide the information to the application logic module.

4. The computer system of claim 2, wherein the software system further comprises a command storage structure configured to provide information transfer between the application thread and the communication thread by storing and providing exclusive access to:

the service command generated by the communication server gateway module for processing by the server communication thread and

a command status response passing from the server communication thread to the communication server gateway module.

5. The computer system of claim 4, wherein the server communication thread is configured to determine the presence of a command in the command storage structure based on periodic polling of the command storage structure by the server communication thread and to determine the presence of information provided by the communication server based on polling a message queue configured to receive communication server provided information.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the server is a Microsoft Office Communications Server and the server communication thread comprises a Microsoft Office Communications Server client.

7. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the software system when executed by the one or more processors provides a plurality of server communication threads each configured to provide non-blocking communication between the application thread and one of a plurality of communication servers;

and wherein the application thread is configured to provide a communication session based on presence information received from the plurality of communication servers.

8. A method, comprising:

generating, by one or more processors, via execution of an application program in a primary thread, a request for a server to provide information;

generating, by the one or more processors, via execution of a server client program in a secondary thread, a query to the server based on the request;

receiving a response, by the one or more processors, via execution of the secondary thread, from the server based on the query;

wherein the execution of the primary thread continues uninterrupted while the secondary thread generates the query and waits for the response.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising converting, by the one or more processors, the request to a command executable by the client program executing in the secondary thread.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising storing, by the one or more processors, the command in a command storage structure providing mutually exclusive access and accessible to the primary thread and the secondary thread.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing in the command storage structure, by the one or more processors, a status response based on the execution of the command by the client program in the secondary thread.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

polling, by the one or more processors, via execution of the client program in the secondary thread, the command storage structure for the presence of a command, and a server response queue for the presence of response to the query; and

providing, by the one or more processors, the response from the server received by the client in the secondary thread to the application program in the primary thread.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

launching, by the one or more processors, via execution of the primary thread, a plurality of secondary threads, each secondary thread configured to communicate with one of a plurality of servers; and

initiating, by the one or more processors, via execution of the application program, a communication session based on presence information received from the plurality of servers.

14. A computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program comprising:

instructions that when executed cause one or more processors to generate, via execution of an application program in a primary thread, a request for a server to provide information;

instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to generate, via execution of a server client program in a secondary thread, a query to the server based on the request;

instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to receive a response to the query, via execution of the secondary thread, from the server;

instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to provide uninterrupted execution of the primary thread while the secondary thread generates the query and waits for the response.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to convert the request to a command executable by the client executing in the secondary thread.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to store the command in a command storage structure accessible to the primary thread and the secondary thread.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to store in the command storage structure a status response based on the execution of the command by the client in the secondary thread.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to poll, via execution of the client in the secondary thread, the command storage structure for the presence of a command, and a server response queue for the presence of a response to the query.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to provide the response from the server received by the client in the secondary thread to the application program in the primary thread.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 14, further comprising:

instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to launch a plurality of secondary threads each secondary thread configured to communicate with one of a plurality of servers; and

instructions that when executed cause the one or more processors to initiate a communication session based on presence information received from the plurality of servers.