ADAPTIVE GATEWAY FOR SWITCHING TRANSACTIONS AND DATA ON UNRELIABLE NETWORKS USING CONTEXT-BASED RULES

• US 20110047294A1
• Filed: 06/24/2010
• Published: 02/24/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa USA, Inc. (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carlson, Mark, Singh, Kamlakar, Singh, Thakur, Manansala, Rosauro E., Garrison, Sara K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,639,846 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• 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 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

Application level switching of transactions at a gateway is provided. The gateway is configured to switch the transaction based on the application level content, a current state of a transport environment, and/or dynamic rules for switching transactions. For example, several possible service providers can be selected for the type of transaction, and the gateway can monitor not only the round-trip time through the network(s) to different possible service providers, but also the time required to complete the transaction at the application level and return a response. The application is chosen on the sending side of the network, and application level formatting is done on the sending side as well. The gateway uses modular code and data, and separate instances of processing code to allow dynamic updating. Rules for application service selection can be selectively uploaded to the gateway from a client. The rules for different available application services can be distributed across different gateways.

Claims

1-29. -29. (canceled)

30. A method comprising:

receiving a transaction in a first format from a client at a gateway;

determining application level information for the transaction;

determining a rule based on the application level information;

applying the rule to the application level information;

determining a service for the transaction based on the application of the rule to the application level information;

translating the transaction from the first format into a second format;

processing the transaction in the second format using the service; and

sending the processed transaction to the client.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein determining the rule further comprises determining the client from the application level data.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein determining the rule further comprises determining client-specific rules based on one or more client subscriptions to services associated with the client.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein determining the service for the transaction further comprises determining a service provider based on the client or the client-specific rules.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein processing the transaction in the second format using the service further comprises sending the transaction in the second format to the service provider.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the service provider is a software application in the gateway.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the software application is provided by a transaction processor.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein the service provider is a transaction processor connected to the gateway via the network.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the second format is specified by the transaction processor.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein the external transaction processer is financial transaction service provider.

40. The method of claim 30 wherein the second format is a canonical format that can be processed by software applications in the gateway.

41. A gateway comprising:

a request handler connected to a client to receive transactions comprising application level information from a client in a first format;

a message stream passer connected to the request handler to convert the transaction in the first format to a second format;

an adaptive route handler connected to the message stream passer to determine application level data from the transaction in the second format;

a rules database connected to the adaptive route handler;

wherein the adaptive route handler accesses the rules data base to determine rules specified by the client and to determine services for the transaction based on the determined rules and the application level information and further to route the transaction to a service provider that can provide the determined service; and

a flow handler connected to the adaptive route handler to send the transaction in the second format to the service provider.

42. The gateway of claim 41 wherein the second format is a canonical format that can be processed by the service provider.

43. The gateway of claim 42 further comprising a plurality of software applications wherein at least one functions as the service provider.

44. The gateway of claim 43 wherein each of the plurality of software applications is provided by one or more transaction processors and can process transactions in the canonical format.

45. The gateway of claim 41 wherein the second format is specific to the service provider.

46. The gateway of claim 45 wherein the service provider is a transaction processor.

47. The gateway of claim 46 wherein the service provider is connected to the gateway via a network and is selected from the group consisting of issuers, acquirers, merchants, and credit card transaction processor.

48. A method comprising:

receiving a service creation request for a service from a service provider at a gateway;

receiving a service specification for the service from the service provider at the gateway;

verifying the service provider using the gateway;

registering the service with the gateway; and

publishing the service to one or more clients.

49. The method of claim 48 wherein the service is a transaction service.

50. The method of claim 49 wherein the service specification comprises rules for the service from the service provider and further comprising loading the rules in a rules database.

51. The method of claim 50 further comprising receiving a subscription request for the service from a client.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the client is a merchant.