ALLOWING INTER-PROCESS COMMUNICATION VIA FILE SYSTEM FILTER

• US 20140109107A1
• Filed: 10/15/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnissa, LLC
• Original Assignee: VMware, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilkinson, Anthony John, Tatum, Erik
• Granted Patent: US 9,027,031 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/313
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method allows an application running in a first process to communicate with a second process. A file system filter driver receives a command from the application for a file. The file system filter driver is configured to process file system commands. The file system filter driver determines that the command is for an inter-process communication with a service running in the second process based on the command being for the file. Then, the file system filter driver sends the command to the service running in the second process where the command is processed by the service. A response from the service is received based on the command being processed by the service and the file system filter driver sends the response to the application.

Claims

1. A method for allowing an application running in a first process to communicate with a second process, the method comprising:

receiving, at a file system filter driver, a command from the application for a file, the file system filter driver configured to process file system commands;

determining, by the file system filter driver, that the command is for an inter-process communication with a service running in the second process based on the command being for the file;

sending, by the file system filter driver, the command to the service running in the second process, wherein the command is processed by the service;

receiving, at the file system filter driver, a response from the service based on the command being processed by the service; and

sending, by the file system filter driver, the response to the application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application running in the first process includes a restriction for the inter-process communication with the second process.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

the restriction on the inter-process communication limits access to a first application programmer interface (API) for inter-process communications by the application, and

the command is received at the file system filter driver through a second API for sending file system commands to the file system filter driver.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the restriction for the inter-process communication restricts an inter-process mechanism that is available to another process running on an operating system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initializing one or more pipes to the service running in the second process;

mapping the file to the one or more pipes;

sending the command to the service through the one or more pipes; and

receiving the response from the service through the one or more pipes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the file is a pre-defined file name in which the file system filter driver is configured to recognize that the application is requesting the inter-process communication by referencing the file name in the command.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is operating in a user mode and the file system filter driver is operating in a kernel mode.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a registering of a type of command from a file system minifilter driver of the file system filter driver, the registering indicating an interest in the type of command for the file system minifilter driver; and

forwarding any commands for the type of command to the file system minifilter driver, wherein the file system minifilter driver sends the commands to other processes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the command is a file system command using file system semantics.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for allowing an application running in a first process to communicate with a second process, the instructions, when executed, for controlling a computer system to be configured for:

receiving, at a file system filter driver, a command from the application for a file, the file system filter driver configured to process file system commands;

determining, by the file system filter driver, that the command is for an inter-process communication with a service running in the second process based on the command being for the file;

sending, by the file system filter driver, the command to the service running in the second process, wherein the command is processed by the service;

receiving, at the file system filter driver, a response from the service based on the command being processed by the service; and

sending, by the file system filter driver, the response to the application.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the application running in the first process includes a restriction for the inter-process communication with the second process.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein:

the restriction on the inter-process communication limits access to a first application programmer interface (API) for inter-process communications by the application, and

the command is received at the file system filter driver through a second API for sending file system commands to the file system filter driver.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the restriction for the inter-process communication restricts an inter-process mechanism that is available to another process running on an operating system.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further configured for:

initializing one or more pipes to the service running in the second process;

mapping the file to the one or more pipes;

sending the command to the service through the one or more pipes; and

receiving the response from the service through the one or more pipes.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the file is a pre-defined file name in which the file system filter driver is configured to recognize that the application is requesting the inter-process communication by referencing the file name in the command.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the application is operating in a user mode and the file system filter driver is operating in a kernel mode.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, further configured for:

receiving a registering of a type of command from a file system minifilter driver of the file system filter driver, the registering indicating an interest in the type of command for the file system minifilter driver; and

forwarding any commands for the type of command to the file system minifilter driver, wherein the file system minifilter driver sends the commands to other processes.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the command is a file system command using file system semantics.

19. An apparatus configured to allow an application running in a first process to communicate with a second process, the apparatus comprising:

one or more computer processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, control the one or more computer processors to be configured for;

receiving, at a file system filter driver, a command from the application for a file, the file system filter driver configured to process file system commands;

determining, by the file system filter driver, that the command is for an inter-process communication with a service running in the second process based on the command being for the file;

sending, by the file system filter driver, the command to the service running in the second process, wherein the command is processed by the service;

receiving, at the file system filter driver, a response from the service based on the command being processed by the service; and

sending, by the file system filter driver, the response to the application.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the application running in the first process includes a restriction for the inter-process communication with the second process.