System for sharing server sessions across multiple clients

• US 6,138,120 A
• Filed: 06/19/1998
• Issued: 10/24/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Weidong, Gongwer, Richard Scott, Lyon, Geoff Fred, Lai, Catherine M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T.
• Application Number:
  US09/100,387
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 707/8, 707/9, 707/10, 707/202-204, 709/103-104, 709/203, 709/223, 709/226, 709/229, 709/303
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A session context on a server can be shared between multiple, independent clients by employing many-to-one mapping of sessions to session context. Once a session context is established on the server, the originating client associated with that context can share the context with other clients. The server can provide the client with a certificate identifying the session context. The client, in turn, can pass the certificate to other clients. By initiating a server session with the certificate, the server assigns the pre-existing session context to a new session for a new client. A plurality of clients can thereby interact with a shared session context. This allows the clients to cooperate in a groupware fashion.

Claims

1. On a server computer having resources allocable for private use by clients, a method of sharing a resource on the server computer between a plurality of clients, comprising:

assigning a respective client identifier to a plurality of clients interacting with the server computer;

allocating a private resource having a private resource identifier to a first client having a first client identifier;

mapping the first client identifier to the private resource identifier to facilitate communication between the first client and the private resource; and

in response to a receipt of the private resource identifier from a second client having a second client identifier, mapping the second client identifier to the private resource identifier to facilitate communication between the second client and the private resource.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning a client identifier comprises assigning a unique handle for each client session on the server computer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning a client identifier comprises selecting a client identifier from a pool of identifiers.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the private resource includes data.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the private resource is shared between the first and second clients.

6. The method of claim 1 father comprising exposing the resource identifier to the first client in response to a request from the first client.

7. On a server computer having resources allocable for private use by clients, a method of sharing a resource on the server computer between a plurality of clients, comprising:

assigning a first session identifier to a first client interacting with a first resource on a server;

assigning a first resource identifier to identify the first resource on the server;

interacting with the first client using the first session identifier to access the first resource;

providing a certificate identifying the first resource to the first client;

assigning a second session identifier to a second client, the second client providing the server with a copy of the certificate;

mapping the second session identifier to the first resource using the first resource identifier derived from the certificate; and

interacting with the second client using the second session identifier to access the first resource.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein assigning session identifiers comprises assigning a unique handle for each client sessions on the server computer.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein assigning session identifiers comprises selecting a session identifier from a pool of session identifiers.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein assigning the first resource identifier comprises selecting the first resource identifier from a pool of resource identifiers.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein interacting with the first client comprises modifying data values retrieved from a database.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein interacting with the second client comprises modifying the retrieved data values.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein the first and second clients are application programs executing on respective client computers.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the client computers interact with the server computer using respective communication protocols.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein providing the certificate is responsive to a command from the fast client to mark the first resource as sharable.

16. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

terminating the first session, and

after the termination, maintaining the fist resource for access by the second session.

17. The method of claim 7 further comprising, in response to an interaction from the second client while the first session is active, destroying the first resource.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising notifying the second client of the destruction of the first resource.

19. The method of claim 7 further comprising queuing the interactions from the first and second clients for serial access to the first resource.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the interactions are queued in order of arrival at the server computer.

21. The method of claim 7 further comprising, before mapping, authenticating the second client.

22. The method of claim 7 wherein the first resource includes a state and the method further comprises interrogating the state of the first resource.

23. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium;

a computer-implemented method embodied in the machine-readable medium to a share resource on a server computer having resources allocable for private use by clients between a plurality of clients, the method comprising;

assigning a respective client identifier to a plurality of clients interacting with the server computer;

allocating a private resource having a private resource identifier to a first client having a first client identifier;

mapping the first client identifier to the private resource identifier to facilitate communication between the first client and the private resource; and

in response to a receipt of the private resource identifier from a second client having a second client identifier, mapping the second client identifier to the private resource identifier to facilitate communication between the second client and the private resource.

24. The article of claim 23 wherein assigning a client identifier comprises assigning a unique handle for each client session on the server computer.

25. The article of claim 23 wherein assigning a client identifier comprises selecting a client identifier from a pool of identifiers.

26. The article of claim 23 wherein the private resource includes data.

27. The article of claim 23 wherein the private resource is shared between the first and second clients.

28. The article of claim 23 wherein the method further comprises exposing the resource identifier to the first client in response to a request from the first client.

29. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a machine-readable medium;

a computer-implemented method embodied in the machine-readable medium to share a resource on a server computer having resources allocable for private use by clients between a plurality of clients, the method comprising;

assigning a first session identifier to a first client interacting with a first resource on a server;

assigning a first resource identifier to identify the first resource on the server;

interacting with the first client using the first session identifier to access the first resource;

providing a certificate identifying the first resource to the first client;

assigning a second session identifier to a second client, the second client providing the server with a copy of the certificate;

mapping the second session identifier to the first resource using the first resource identifier derived from the certificate; and

interacting with the second client using the second session identifier to access the first resource.

30. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method of assigning session identifiers comprises assigning a unique handle for each client sessions on the server computer.

31. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method of assigning session identifiers comprises selecting a session identifier from a pool of session identifiers.

32. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method of assigning the first resource identifier comprises selecting the first resource identifier from a pool of resource identifiers.

33. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method of interacting with the first client comprises modifying data values retrieved from a database.

34. The article of claim 33 wherein the computer-implemented method of interacting with the second client comprises modifying the retrieved data values.

35. The article of claim 29 wherein the first and second clients are application programs executing on respective client computers.

36. The article of claim 35 wherein the client computers interact with the server computer using respective communication protocols.

37. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method of providing the certificate is responsive to a command from the first client to mark the first resource as sharable.

38. The auricle of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises:

terminating the first session; and

after the termination, maintaining the first resource for access by the second session.

39. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises, in response to an interaction from the second client while the first session is active, destroying the first resource.

40. The article of claim 39 wherein The computer-implemented method further comprises notifying the second client of the destruction of the first resource.

41. The article of claim 29 further comprises queuing the interactions from the first and second clients for serial access to the first resource.

42. The article of claim 41 wherein the interactions are queued in order of arrival at the server computer.

43. The article of claim 29 wherein the computer-implemented method further comprises, before mapping, authenticating the second client.

44. The article of claim 29 wherein the first resource includes a state and the method further comprises interrogating the state of the first resource.

45. On a server computer having resources allocable for private use by clients, a system for sharing a resource on the server computer between a plurality of clients, comprising:

a first session identifier assigned to a first client interacting with a first resource on a server;

a first resource identifier assigned to identify the first resource on the server;

a first mechanism managing use of the first session identifier by the first client to access the first resource;

a certificate identifying the first resource to the first client;

a second session identifier assigned to a second client, the second client providing the server with a copy of the certificate;

a map of the second session identifier to the first resource based on the first resource identifier derived from the certificate; and

the first mechanism managing use of the second client using the second session identifier by the second client to access the first resource.

46. The system of claim 45 wherein the session identifiers comprise a unique handle for each client sessions on the server computer.

47. The system of claim 45 further comprises a pool of session identifiers.

48. The system of claim 45 further comprises a pool of resource identifiers.

49. The system of claim 45 wherein the first and second clients are application programs executing on respective client computers.

50. The system of claim 49 wherein the client computers interact with the server computer using respective communication protocols.

51. The system of claim 45 wherein the certificate is provided in response to a command from the first client to mark the first resource as sharable.

52. The system of claim 45 further comprising:

a second mechanism to maintain the first resource for access by the second session after termination of the first session.

53. The system of claim 45 further comprising a queue of interactions from the first and second clients for serial access to the first resource.

54. The system of claim 53 wherein the interactions are queued in order of arrival at the server computer.