Computer System

• US 20160171065A1
• Filed: 12/12/2014
• Published: 06/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Kumar, Namendra, Skuratovich, Uladzimir A., Narayanan, Sankaran, Nair, Abhilash C., Dalvi, Adit A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,881,070 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2291 User-Defined Types; Storage management thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4493 Object persistence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/38 Telephone uniform resource identifier [URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1089 by adding media; by removing media
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1093 by adding participants; by removing participants
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]

Abstract

A service is delivered by a computer system comprising a processor, a memory accessible to the processor and computer storage. The memory holds code which defines service object classes. The service object classes are configured to provide service functions, and the service object classes are instantiated to create service objects which implement the service functions. For each service object, an associated service object identifier is generated in the memory which distinguishes that service object from any other service object. The service objects are serialized to generate serialized data, the serialized data comprising a representation of each service object, and the representation comprising that service object'"'"'s service object identifier, that service object'"'"'s associated state data and the service object identifier of any other service object referenced by that service object. Following deactivation, the service objects can be recreated by following the chain of references.

Claims

1. A method for delivering a service, the method implemented by a computer system comprising a processor, a memory accessible to the processor and computer storage, the memory holding code which defines service object classes, the service object classes configured to provide service functions, the method comprising:

receiving at least one service instigation message;

responsive to the at least one service instigation message, instantiating the service object classes to create service objects, the service objects implementing the service functions to deliver the service, each service object having associated state data held in the memory, at least some of the service objects referencing other service objects;

for each service object, generating an associated service object identifier in the memory which distinguishes that service object from any other service object;

serializing the service objects to generate serialized data, the serialized data comprising a representation of each service object, the representation comprising that service object'"'"'s service object identifier, that service object'"'"'s associated state data and the service object identifier of any other service object referenced by that service object;

storing the serialized data stored in the computer storage;

when the service objects have been deactivated;

receiving a service reactivation message identifying a service object to be reactivated; and

performing a reactivation process for the identified service object, the reactivation process comprising;

reactivating the identified service object from its representation in the serialized data, and

if the identified service object references at least one service object which is needed to implement a service function, repeating the reactivation process for the referenced at least one service object, thereby creating a replacement set of service objects to replace at least some of the deactivated service objects.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the method is for establishing communication events between endpoints of a communication network and for managing established communication events, wherein the service request message is a communication event establishment request and the service objects are created to establish a communication event, wherein the service reactivation message requests an action pertaining to the established communication event, and the replacement set of service objects effect the requested action.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein the action is:

terminating the communication event;

adding or removing a participant to/from the communication event;

muting or unmuting a participant of the communication event;

placing the communication event on hold;

or

adding or removing a media modality to/from the communication event.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the communication event is a call.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the code defines a corresponding factory object class for each service object class, each factory object class configured to provide a service object reactivation function for creating service objects of that service object class from the representations in the serialized data, the method comprising:

for each service object class, instantiating the corresponding factory object class to generate a corresponding factory object configured to implement the service object reactivation function provided by that factory object class;

for each factory object, generating an associated factory object identifier in the memory which distinguishes that factory object from any other factory object;

wherein the representation of each service object further comprises the factory object identifier of the factory object corresponding to that service object'"'"'s service object class;

wherein the service reactivation message identifies the factory object corresponding to the identified service object'"'"'s service object class, wherein performing the reactivation process for the identified service object comprises;

the identified corresponding factory object implementing its service object reactivation function on the identified service object'"'"'s representation in the serialized data to reactivate the identified service object.

6. A method according to claim 1 wherein the code defines a reference object class configured to provide a get object function, and the method comprises:

for each service object;

instantiating the persisted object reference class to generate a corresponding reference object, the corresponding reference object having associated state data held in the memory which does not include any memory pointer to any location in the memory but which does comprise the service object identifier of that service object;

wherein the reactivation process for the at least one service object is performed when the reference objects have been deactivated and comprises;

reactivating the reference object corresponding to the at least one service object using the service object identifier in the representation of the at least one service object;

wherein the get object function is configured, when invoked on the reactivated reference object, to reactivate the at least one service object from the representation of the at least one service object, and the at least one service object is reactivated by invoking the get object function on the reactivated reference object.

7. A method according to claim 6 wherein the get object function is configured, when invoked again on the reactivated reference object before the at least one service object has been deactivated, to return a memory pointer to the reactivated at least one service object, whereby only a single replacement service object is created to replace the at least one service object.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein, for each of at least some of the service objects, an associated network address is generated which comprises that service object'"'"'s associated service object identifier, wherein the service reactivation message is received at the network address associated with the service object to be reactivated, the service object to be reactivated identified from the network address.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein each network address is a URI, and the method comprises parsing the URI associated with the service object to be reactivated to identify the service to be reactivated.

10. A method according to claim 1 comprising caching a respective memory pointer to each reactivated service object, wherein if the reactivation process is performed for a service object which has already been reactivated and before the already-reactivated service object has been deactivated, the reactivation process returns the memory pointer to the already-reactivated service object, whereby only a single respective replacement service object is created to replace each reactivated service object.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the service instigation message is received by an instance of the code, wherein the instance performs the steps of receiving, instantiating, generating, serializing and storing;

wherein the service reactivation message is received by another instance of the code, and that instance performs the reactivation process.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the service reactivation message is received by an instance of the code, and the instance accesses a database to determine whether it contains a valid ownership entry which identifies another instance of the code as currently owning the serialized data and:

if so, the instance forwards the service reactivation message to the other instance so that the other instance performs the reactivation process, and

if not, the instance creates a valid ownership entry in the database identifying the instance as currently owning the serialized state data, and the instance performs the reactivation process.

13. A method according to claim 12 wherein each ownership entry becomes invalid when a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since that ownership entry was created.

14. A method according to claim 13, wherein each instance is configured to periodically write to the database a valid heartbeat message which identifies that instance as currently being alive, each heartbeat message becoming invalid when another predetermined amount of time has elapsed since that heartbeat message was created, wherein each ownership entry is valid only if the instance which it identifies is also identified as being alive by a valid heartbeat message so that the service reactivation message is forwarded to the other instance only if the other instance is identified as being alive by a valid heartbeat message.

15. A method according to claim 1 wherein the serialized data is generated in the memory, and is written from the memory to the computer storage by performing a single write operation when all of the service objects have been serialized.

16. A method according to claim 1 wherein responsive to receiving the reactivation message, all of the state data needed to create the replacement set of service objects is loaded, in the memory or another memory accessible to another processor of the computer system, from the computer storage by performing a single write operation, and the replacement set is created from the serialized data loaded in the or the other memory.

17. A computer system comprising:

an input configured to receive messages;

computer storage;

a processor;

a memory accessible to the processor;

the memory holding code which defines service object classes, the service object classes configured to provide service functions;

wherein the processor is configured, responsive to at least one service instigation message, to;

instantiate the service object classes to create service objects, the service objects implementing the service functions to deliver the service, each service object having associated state data held in the memory, at least some of the service objects referencing other service objects;

for each service object, generate an associated service object identifier in the memory which distinguishes that service object from any other service object;

serialize the service objects to generate serialized data, the serialized data comprising a representation of each service object, the representation comprising that service object'"'"'s service object identifier, that service object'"'"'s associated state data and the service object identifier of any other service object referenced by that service object; and

store the serialized data stored in the computer storage;

wherein the or another processor of the computer system is configured, when the service objects have been deactivated and responsive to a service reactivation message identifying a service object to be reactivated, to;

perform a reactivation process for the identified service object, the reactivation process comprising;

reactivating the identified service object from its representation in the serialized data, and

if the identified service object references at least one service object which is needed to implement a service function, repeating the reactivation process for the referenced at least one service object, thereby creating a replacement set of service objects to replace at least some of the deactivated service objects.

18. A computer system according to claim 17, which is a cloud platform, whereby the and the other processor is each configured to run a plurality of virtual machines, wherein an instance of the code runs on each of the plurality of virtual machines.

19. A computer system according to claim 18, wherein the code is configured to implement a call controller for establishing communication events between endpoints of a communication network and for managing established communication events, wherein the service request message is a communication event establishment request and the service objects are created by an instance of the call controller to establish a communication event;

wherein;

either the service reactivation message is received by the or another instance of the call controller;

or the code is further configured to implement a media controller for managing a media modality of the established communication event, and the service reactivation message is received by an instance of the media controller; and

wherein the service reactivation message requests an action pertaining to the established communication event, and the replacement set of service objects effect the requested action.

20. A computer program product comprising code for delivering a service, the code stored on a computer readable storage medium, wherein the code defines service object classes, the service object classes configured to provide service functions, wherein the code is configured when executed by a computer system comprising a processor, to which a memory accessible is accessible, to:

receive at least one service instigation message;

responsive to the at least one service instigation message, instantiate the service object classes to create service objects, the service objects implementing the service functions to deliver the service, each service object having associated state data held in the memory, at least some of the service objects referencing other service objects;

for each service object, generate an associated service object identifier in the memory which distinguishes that service object from any other service object;

serialize the service objects to generate serialized data, the serialized data comprising a representation of each service object, the representation comprising that service object'"'"'s service object identifier, that service object'"'"'s associated state data and the service object identifier of any other service object referenced by that service object;

store the serialized data stored in computer storage;

when the service objects have been deactivated;

receive a service reactivation message identifying a service object to be reactivated; and

perform a reactivation process for the identified service object, the reactivation process comprising;

reactivating the identified service object from its representation in the serialized data, and

if the identified service object references at least one service object which is needed to implement a service function, repeating the reactivation process for the referenced at least one service object, thereby creating a replacement set of service objects to replace at least some of the deactivated service objects.