Methods and apparatus for exposing members of an object class through class signature interfaces
First Claim
1. A method of exposing object class information of an object in an object oriented software system, said method comprising the steps of:
- providing, in said object oriented system, a class signature interface for an object class, wherein said object class, defined by an object model, includes at least one member; and
exposing, in said object oriented software system, said member of said object class by exposing access information to said member in said class signature interface.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A class signature interface exposes members of an object class in an object oriented software system by exposing access information to the member. The class signature interface has application for use with object models that require client objects to utilize the functionality of server objects through interfaces, such as required by the Component Object Model (COM). Class signature interfaces expose interfaces supported by the object class to provide time constant access to the interfaces of the object class. The class signature interfaces also expose attributes and methods, defined directly on the class level. The class signature interface has further application for use in an object oriented software system to add additional class members to an object class without adding the class members to a separate interface. The class signature interfaces are implicitly generated in an interface definition language (IDL) compiler, or a user specifies the class signature interfaces through the IDL syntax, and the IDL compiler generates the class signature interfaces in accordance with the IDL syntax specified.
63 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method of exposing object class information of an object in an object oriented software system, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing, in said object oriented system, a class signature interface for an object class, wherein said object class, defined by an object model, includes at least one member; and exposing, in said object oriented software system, said member of said object class by exposing access information to said member in said class signature interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method for adding members to an object class in an object oriented software system, said method comprising the steps of:
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providing, in an object oriented software system, a means for defining a class signature interface for an object class, wherein said class signature interface provides access methods to at least one member of said object class; receiving at least one member for addition of said member to said object class; and exposing, in said object oriented software system, said member through said class signature interface. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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13. A method for exposing class information of an object in an object oriented software system, said method comprising the steps of:
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accessing, in an object oriented environment, at least one object class, wherein said object class, defined by an object model, includes at least one member; and generating, for said object class, a class signature interface comprising access information to access said member of said object class. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instruction, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:
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providing, in an object oriented system, a class signature interface for an object class, wherein said object class, defined by an object model, includes at least one member; and exposing, in said object oriented software system, said member of said object class by exposing access information to said member in said class signature interface. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:
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providing, in an object oriented software system, a means for defining a class signature interface for an object class, wherein said class signature interface provides access methods to at least one member of said object class; receiving at least one member for addition of said member to said object class; and exposing, in said object oriented software system, said member through said class signature interface. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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34. A computer readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of:
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accessing, in an object oriented environment, at least one object class, wherein said object class, defined by an object model, includes at least one member; and generating, for said object class, a class signature interface comprising access information to access said member of said object class. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A computer system comprising:
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memory for storing object oriented system software; and a processor unit coupled to said memory for executing said object oriented software, to provide a class signature interface for an object class, wherein said object class, defined by an object model, includes at least one member, and to expose, in said object oriented system software, said member of said object class by exposing access information to said member in said class signature interface.
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Specification