APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INTER-OBJECT COMMUNICATION

• US 20110041139A1
• Filed: 10/28/2010
• Published: 02/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: DeNatale, Richard J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,852 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/315
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/463 Naming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99957 Garbage collection

Abstract

A partnership object is created to manage interactions between objects in an object oriented computing environment. An interaction license is issued by a licensing framework executing on a computing device to each of a group of objects indicating that the group of objects is authorized to form partnerships, where the group of objects interact by requesting formation of the partnerships using the provided interaction licenses. A first object requests to interact with a second object. A partnership object is created and each of the first and second objects is provided with a reference to the partnership object. The request from the first object may include identifiers of licenses associated with the first and second object and the partnership object may be created only if both licenses are validated. The first object then is able to interact with the second object by using the reference to the partnership object.

Claims

1. A method of managing interactions between objects in an object oriented computing environment, comprising:

receiving, at a licensing framework executing on a computing device, a first request for forming a partnership between a first object and a second object from the second object, where the first request comprises an identifier of a first license issued to the first object and a second license issued to the second object by the licensing framework;

determining whether the first license and the second license are valid;

responsive to determining that both the first license and the second license are valid, generating a first partnership object that manages an interaction between the first object and the second object, where the first partnership object comprises a first partnership between the first object and the second object; and

providing a reference to the first partnership object to the first object and the second object, where the first object and the second object communicate via the first partnership object.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring for lapse events associated with partnership objects;

responsive to determining that a lapse event for the first partnership object has not been posted;

processing messages between the first object and the second object using the reference to the first partnership object; and

responsive to determining that the lapse event for the first partnership object has been posted;

determining the first partnership of the lapsed first partnership object;

identifying the first object and the second object as partner objects of the first partnership of the lapsed first partnership object;

informing the first object or the second object of the lapse event using the reference to the first partnership object; and

tearing down the lapsed first partnership object, where the first object and the second object reclaim system resources that were used during the first partnership in response to the tearing down of the lapsed first partnership object.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising posting the lapse event in response to an event selected from a group consisting of:

execution of one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership being stopped;

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership dissolving the first partnership;

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership surrendering its issued license; and

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership being garbage collected from a memory associated with the computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, where one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership dissolving the first partnership comprises the one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership invoking a dissolve( ) function on the first partnership.

5. The method of claim 3, where one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership surrendering its issued license comprises the one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership invoking a surrender( ) function on its issued license.

6. The method of claim 1, where generating a first partnership object that manages an interaction between the first object and the second object comprises generating the first partnership object as a data structure within a memory associated with the computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, where the first object and the second object comprise two objects of a plurality of objects, and further comprising:

issuing, via the licensing framework executing on the computing device, licenses to each of the plurality of objects, where the first license and the second license comprise two of the issued licenses;

generating partnership objects for each requested partnership between objects of the plurality of objects in response to determining that each object associated with each requested partnership has a valid license;

providing a reference to each generated partnership object to the objects associated with each requested partnership; and

tearing down lapsed partnership objects.

8. An apparatus for managing interactions between objects in an object oriented computing environment, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor programmed to;

receive a first request for forming a partnership between a first object and a second object from the second object, where the first request comprises an identifier of a first license issued to the first object and a second license issued to the second object;

determine whether the first license and the second license are valid;

responsive to determining that both the first license and the second license are valid, generate a first partnership object that manages an interaction between the first object and the second object, where the first partnership object comprises a first partnership between the first object and the second object; and

provide a reference to the first partnership object to the first object and the second object, where the first object and the second object communicate via the first partnership object.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, where the processor is further programmed to:

monitor for lapse events associated with partnership objects;

responsive to determining that a lapse event for the first partnership object has not been posted;

process messages between the first object and the second object using the reference to the first partnership object; and

responsive to determining that the lapse event for the first partnership object has been posted;

determine the first partnership of the lapsed first partnership object;

identify the first object and the second object as partner objects of the first partnership of the lapsed first partnership object;

inform the first object or the second object of the lapse event using the reference to the first partnership object; and

tear down the lapsed first partnership object, where the first object and the second object reclaim system resources that were used during the first partnership in response to the tearing down of the lapsed first partnership object.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, where the processor is further programmed to post the lapse event in response to an event selected from a group consisting of:

execution of one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership being stopped;

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership dissolving the first partnership;

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership surrendering its issued license; and

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership being garbage collected from the memory.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, where one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership dissolving the first partnership comprises the one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership invoking a dissolve( ) function on the first partnership.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, where one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership surrendering its issued license comprises the one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership invoking a surrender( ) function on its issued license.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, where, in being programmed to generate a first partnership object that manages an interaction between the first object and the second object, the processor is programmed to generate the first partnership object as a data structure within the memory.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, where the first object and the second object comprise two objects of a plurality of objects, and the processor is programmed to:

issue licenses to each of the plurality of objects, where the first license and the second license comprise two of the issued licenses;

generate partnership objects for each requested partnership between objects of the plurality of objects in response to determining that each object associated with each requested partnership has a valid license;

provide a reference to each generated partnership object to the objects associated with each requested partnership; and

tear down lapsed partnership objects.

15. A computer program product for managing interactions between objects in an object oriented computing environment comprising a computer readable storage medium including computer readable program code, where the computer readable program code when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a first request for forming a partnership between a first object and a second object from the second object, where the first request comprises an identifier of a first license issued to the first object and a second license issued to the second object;

determine whether the first license and the second license are valid;

responsive to determining that both the first license and the second license are valid, generate a first partnership object that manages an interaction between the first object and the second object, where the first partnership object comprises a first partnership between the first object and the second object; and

provide a reference to the first partnership object to the first object and the second object, where the first object and the second object communicate via the first partnership object.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, where the computer readable program code when executed on the computer further causes the computer to:

monitor for lapse events associated with partnership objects;

responsive to determining that a lapse event for the first partnership object has not been posted;

process messages between the first object and the second object using the reference to the first partnership object; and

responsive to determining that the lapse event for the first partnership object has been posted;

determine the first partnership of the lapsed first partnership object;

identify the first object and the second object as partner objects of the first partnership of the lapsed first partnership object;

inform the first object or the second object of the lapse event using the reference to the first partnership object; and

tear down the lapsed first partnership object, where the first object and the second object reclaim system resources that were used during the first partnership in response to the tearing down of the lapsed first partnership object.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, where the computer readable program code when executed on the computer further causes the computer post the lapse event in response to an event selected from a group consisting of:

execution of one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership being stopped;

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership dissolving the first partnership;

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership surrendering its issued license; and

one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership being garbage collected from a memory.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, where one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership dissolving the first partnership comprises the one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership invoking a dissolve( ) function on the first partnership.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, where one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership surrendering its issued license comprises the one of the first object and the second object of the first partnership invoking a surrender( ) function on its issued license.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, where, in causing the computer to generate a first partnership object that manages an interaction between the first object and the second object, the computer readable program code when executed on the computer causes the computer to generate the first partnership object as a data structure.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, where the first object and the second object comprise two objects of a plurality of objects, and the computer readable program code when executed on the computer further causes the computer to:

issue licenses to each of the plurality of objects, where the first license and the second license comprise two of the issued licenses;

generate partnership objects for each requested partnership between objects of the plurality of objects in response to determining that each object associated with each requested partnership has a valid license;

provide a reference to each generated partnership object to the objects associated with each requested partnership; and

tear down lapsed partnership objects.