METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING AND USING SESSIONS AS RESTful WEB SERVICES

• US 20110302316A1
• Filed: 12/27/2010
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: CHOU, WU, LI, LI
• Granted Patent: US 9,509,776 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for managing and using sessions as RESTful web services. A session is exposed as a resource having an associated Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), and the session is composed with other services. For example, a client sends an HTTP POST request to a web server to create a session, an HTTP GET request to retrieve a representation of the session, an HTTP PUT request to update the representation of the session, and an HTTP DELETE request to delete the session so that resources within the session are reclaimed. Since the sessions are resources, the resources can be shared among clients, and the web servers knows the client states while still being stateless, making them robust and scalable. Composing web services with the common RESTful session service reduces complexity and enhances interoperability.

Claims

1. A method of managing and using a session as a web service, the method comprising a data processor of an origin server on the Internet executing computer instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to perform the steps of:

(a) responding to a user agent request to create a session by allocating data storage of the origin server to a representation of the session for storing session state information of the session, the representation of the session having an associated Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

(b) responding to a user agent request to update session state information by finding that the user agent request to update a session includes the associated URI, and upon finding that the user agent request to update session state information includes the associated URI, updating session state information in the data storage allocated to the representation of the session created in step (a);

(c) responding to a user agent request to retrieve session state information by finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information includes the associated URI, and upon finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information includes the associated URI, retrieving session state information from the data storage allocated to the representation of the session created in step (a); and

(d) terminating the session by de-allocating the data storage having been allocated to the representation of the session in step (a).

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein steps (a), (b), (c), and (d) are compliant with all constraints of Representational State Transfer (REST).

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user agent request to create a session is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST request, and step (a) includes finding that the POST request includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) identifying a session factory service of the origin server, and creating the session upon finding that the POST request includes the URI identifying the session factory service of the origin server.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (b) includes finding that the user agent request to update a session is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT request including the associated URI, and wherein step (c) includes finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT request including the associated URI.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (b) includes updating session state information to set an event listener for the session and for a user agent having originated the user agent request to update session state information, and step (d) further includes sending a notification of a session terminated event to the user agent having originated the user agent request to update session state information.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (d) is performed in response to a user agent request to delete a session upon finding that the user agent request to delete a session includings the associated URI.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein step (d) is performed in response to expiration of a session timer for the session created in step (a).

8. A system for managing and using a session as a web service, the system comprising an origin server on the Internet, the origin server having a data processor and non-transitory computer readable storage medium coupled to the data processor and storing computer instructions that when executed by the data processor perform the steps of:

(a) responding to a user agent request to create a session by allocating data storage of the origin server to a representation of the session for storing session state information of the session, the representation of the session having an associated Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

(b) responding to a user agent request to update session state information by finding that the user agent request to update a session includes the associated URI, and upon finding that the user agent request to update session state information includes the associated URI, updating session state information in the data storage allocated to the representation of the session created in step (a);

(c) responding to a user agent request to retrieve session state information by finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information includes the associated URI, and upon finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information includes the associated URI, retrieving session state information from the data storage allocated to the representation of the session created in step (a); and

(d) terminating the session by de-allocating the data storage having been allocated to the representation of the session in step (a).

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein steps (a), (b), (c), and (d) are compliant with all constraints of Representational State Transfer (REST).

10. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the user agent request to create a session is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST request, and step (a) includes finding that the POST request includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) identifying a session factory service of the origin server, and creating the session upon finding that the POST request includes the URI identifying the session factory service of the origin server.

11. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein step (b) includes finding that the user agent request to update a session is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT request including the associated URI, and wherein step (c) includes finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT request including the associated URI.

12. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein step (b) includes updating session state information to set an event listener for the session and for a user agent having originated the user agent request to update session state information, and step (d) further includes sending a notification of a session terminated event to the user agent having originated the user agent request to update session state information.

13. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein step (d) is performed in response to a user agent request to delete a session upon finding that the user agent request to delete a session includings the associated URI.

14. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein step (d) is performed in response to expiration of a session timer for the session created in step (a).

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions that, when executed by a data processor of an origin server on the Internet, perform management of a session as a web service by the steps of:

(a) responding to a user agent request to create a session by allocating data storage of the origin server to a representation of the session for storing session state information of the session, the representation of the session having an associated Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

(b) responding to a user agent request to update session state information by finding that the user agent request to update a session includes the associated URI, and upon finding that the user agent request to update session state information includes the associated URI, updating session state information in the data storage allocated to the representation of the session created in step (a);

(c) responding to a user agent request to retrieve session state information by finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information includes the associated URI, and upon finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information includes the associated URI, retrieving session state information from the data storage allocated to the representation of the session created in step (a); and

(d) terminating the session by de-allocating the data storage having been allocated to the representation of the session in step (a).

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein steps (a), (b), (c), and (d) are compliant with all constraints of Representational State Transfer (REST).

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein the user agent request to create a session is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST request, and step (a) includes finding that the POST request includes a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) identifying a session factory service of the origin server, and creating the session upon finding that the POST request includes the URI identifying the session factory service of the origin server.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein step (b) includes finding that the user agent request to update a session is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT request including the associated URI, and wherein step (c) includes finding that the user agent request to retrieve session state information is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) PUT request including the associated URI.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein step (b) includes updating session state information to set an event listener for the session and for a user agent having originated the user agent request to update session state information, and step (d) further includes sending a notification of a session terminated event to the user agent having originated the user agent request to update session state information.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim 15, wherein step (d) is performed in response to a user agent request to delete a session upon finding that the user agent request to delete a session includings the associated URI.