Service Mediation Framework

• US 20130019282A1
• Filed: 07/12/2011
• Published: 01/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Rice, Joseph Allen, Castagna, Brandon Matthew
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0272 Virtual private networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/18 Multiprotocol handlers, e.g. single devices capable of handling multiple protocols

Abstract

A service mediation framework may allow each component within a computer network to perform common service processing tasks driven by standardized service policies stored within a centralized repository. In particular, an enhanced service domain name system (DNS) server, an enhanced service router, and/or an enhanced service gateway within the network may each access relevant service policies stored within an enhanced service repository to implement tasks such as security, content-based routing, logging, message format translation, and protocol bridging for each service request processed by the network. In addition, each network component may communicate through standardized formats, such as Extensible Markup Language (XML), to realize the end-to-end network solution.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform:

(a) receiving, from a client device, a service request associated with a service;

(b) accessing a plurality of policy metadata related to the service request from a metadata repository, wherein the plurality of policy metadata includes entitlement policy metadata, routing policy metadata, and protocol bridging policy metadata;

(c) analyzing the entitlement policy metadata to determine if the client device has a predetermined identity credential, wherein the entitlement policy metadata specifies the predetermined identity credential;

(d) when the client device has the predetermined identity credential,

(i) analyzing the protocol bridging policy metadata to determine how to change information within the service request from a first protocol used by the client device to a second protocol used by a service provider of the service;

(ii) changing the information within the service request from the first protocol to the second protocol;

(iii) analyzing the routing policy metadata to determine how to route the service request to the service provider; and

(iv) based on the analysis of the routing policy metadata, routing the service request to the service provider.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first protocol is Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the second protocol is File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the service request is chosen from the group consisting of:

opening a bank account, registering for a credit card, and applying for a loan.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first protocol is File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and the second protocol is Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first protocol is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the second protocol is File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of policy metadata further include workload management policy metadata that define a number of network components that are needed to respond to the service request.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of policy metadata further include logging policy metadata that define logging of data to measure an amount of time taken to respond to the service request.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of policy metadata further include filtering policy metadata that define when to strip away data that is not needed in a service transaction related to the service request.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the processor further performs:

stripping away confidential information from the service request after analyzing the filtering policy metadata.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the entitlement policy metadata is further analyzed to determine if the service request employs an approved encryption algorithm.

11. A computer-assisted method comprising:

receiving a service request associated with a service from a client device through a communication module associated with the computer;

requesting access to a plurality of policy metadata related to the service request from a metadata repository through the communication module, wherein the plurality of policy metadata includes entitlement policy metadata, routing policy metadata, logging policy metadata, and workload management policy metadata;

in response to the request for access to the plurality of policy metadata, receiving an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file with the plurality of policy metadata;

using a processor associated with the computer, analyzing the entitlement policy metadata in the XML file to determine if the client device is authorized for a privileged resource specified in the service request;

when the client device is authorized for the privileged resource,

(i) using the processor, analyzing the logging policy metadata to determine how to log a granting of access to the privileged resource;

(ii) using the processor, logging the granting of access to the privileged resource;

(iii) using the processor, analyzing the workload management policy metadata to determine which of a plurality of network components are needed to respond to the service request;

(iv) using the processor, analyzing the routing policy metadata to determine how to route the service request to a first of the plurality of network components;

(v) routing the service request to the first of the plurality of network components through the communication module;

(vi) receiving a first response from the first of the plurality of network components through the communication module;

(vii) repeating steps (iv)-(vi) for each of the plurality of network components needed to respond to the service request; and

(viii) routing a final response from a last of the plurality of network devices to the client device through the communication module.

12. The computer-assisted method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of policy metadata further include filtering policy metadata that define when to strip away data that is not needed in a service transaction related to the service request.

13. The computer-assisted method of claim 12, further comprising:

using a style sheet filter stored in a memory of the computer, stripping away confidential information from the service request after analyzing the filtering policy metadata.

14. The computer-assisted method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of policy metadata further include protocol bridging policy metadata that define how to change information within the service request from a first protocol used by the client device to a second protocol used by a service provider of the service;

15. The computer-assisted method of claim 14, wherein the first protocol is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and the second protocol is Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

16. A system comprising:

a service repository configured to store a plurality of service policy metadata associated with a plurality of service processing tasks, wherein the plurality of service processing tasks include entitlement, routing, workload management, logging, protocol bridging, format translation, filtering, and business process management, wherein the plurality of service policy metadata are periodically updated when a new service comes online and older service policy information becomes obsolete;

a service router configured to route a service request from a client device to a predetermined service gateway after accessing the plurality of service policy metadata related to routing; and

the predetermined service gateway configured to process the service request by implementing at least one of the plurality of service processing tasks after accessing a latest version of the plurality of service policy metadata stored within the service repository, wherein the service gateway is configured to communicate with the service router and the service repository through Extensible Markup Language (XML) messages.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the service gateway comprises a server appliance.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the server appliance is configured to employ Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLT) to communicate with the service router and the service repository.

19. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a service domain name system (DNS) server configured to access the service repository for information related to translating a service uniform resource locator (URL) into a service address.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the service DNS server is further configured to:

communicate with the service router to route the service request to the predetermined service gateway located at the service address.