Application Architecture Supporting Multiple Services and Caching

• US 20140280493A1
• Filed: 04/24/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Ortiz Rodriguez, Carlos Omar, Gorski, Filip Jerzy
• Granted Patent: US 9,804,994 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/167 using a common memory, e.g. mailbox
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A service agent provides an interface for the actions that a client application needs to perform against a server. The service agent selects an appropriate service implementation based on configuration information. The service implementation is associated with a particular service version or source. A number of service implementations are available to the service agent. The service agent also creates a cache service instance that is compatible with the service instance. The client application makes data requests through the service agent. The cache service retrieves requested data from a local storage or from a selected service, if the data is not available locally. The cache service stores an expiration value with the data in the cache. The expiration value is retrieved when data is requested from the cache. The cache data is returned only if the expiration value has not exceeded an expiration policy.

Claims

1. A device, comprising:

a service agent coupled to a user interface, the service agent configured to provide data requested by the user interface from a selected service;

a service instance created by the service agent at runtime, the service instance providing an interface to the selected service; and

a cache service instance created by the service agent at runtime, the cache service providing data requested by the service agent.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the cache service configured to obtain requested data from a local storage and to provide the requested data to the service agent.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the cache service is configured to obtain requested data from the selected service if the requested data is not available in a local storage.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the cache service stores the requested data in a local storage after the requested data is obtained from the selected service.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein a plurality of service instances are available to the service agent, each of the plurality of service instances corresponding to a different service, the service agent configured to create a service instance corresponding to the selected service.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

an IndexedDBCache instance created by the cache service, the IndexedDBCache using the IndexedDB standard to store entities.

7. A method of using a service agent to provide data to a user interface, comprising:

creating a service instance by the service agent, the service instance providing an interface for a selected service; and

creating a cache service instance by the service agent, the cache service instance adapted to use the service instance to access the selected service.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

identifying a selected service at an application initialization; and

choosing the service instance at runtime from a plurality of available service instances.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a data request at the service agent, the data request received from a user interface; and

sending the data request to the cache service.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a data request at the cache service, the data request corresponding to a request from a user interface; and

obtaining requested data from a local storage.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving a first data request at the cache service from the service agent;

determining that requested data is not available in a local storage;

sending a second data request from the cache service to a remote service using an interface provided by the service instance.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the requested data at the cache service in response to the second data request; and

forwarding the requested data to the service agent.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the requested data at the cache service in response to the second data request; and

storing the requested data to a local storage.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the selected service provides a demonstration mode without requiring access to a remote service.

15. A method for caching data, comprising:

receiving data to be stored from a service agent;

storing the data to a cache; and

storing an expiration value for the data to the cache.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a request for the data;

retrieving the expiration value from the cache; and

comparing the expiration value to an expiration policy for the cache.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

retrieving the data from the cache, if the expiration value does not exceed the expiration policy; and

returning an empty response to the request for the data, if the expiration value exceeds the expiration policy.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

retrieving new data from a remote service, if the expiration value exceeds the expiration policy;

storing the new data to the cache; and

storing an expiration value for the new data to the cache.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving the data to be stored at a cache service;

sending the data to an IndexedDBCache instance;

storing the data using an IndexedDB standard.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

calculating the expiration value at the IndexedDBCache instance; and

storing the expiration value using the IndexedDB standard.