Mechanism for achieving transparent network computing

• US 6,446,253 B1
• Filed: 03/19/1999
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Mellmer, Joseph Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Khatri, Anil
• Application Number:
  US09/272,522
• Time in Patent Office: 1,264 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/217, 709/230, 709/300, 709/304, 717/1, 717/100, 717/108, 717/116, 717/165, 717/104, 717/102, 717/103, 707/203, 707/10, 707/200, 707/230, 707/250
• US Class Current: 717/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]

Abstract

A program framework for use in a networked system includes an abstract, protocol-independent storage system in which data sources are stored. The storage system is abstract because it includes data stored anywhere in the networked system, yet references to the data appear to the user as references to a local storage system. Associated with each data source is one or more views, where a view is a user defined logical interface for accessing the data source. The view is mapped to an implementation which identifies either or both of a communication protocol for accessing the data source and one or more tasks to be performed on the data source. As such, the logical interface to the data source is separated from the methods for implementing accessing or operating the resource. A programmer accesses data using one of the available views of the data. The functionality of the system may be easily expanded by adding different views to the data sources. In addition, because any program may access a data source using any of the available views, information can be seamlessly transferred between programs, thereby significantly reducing inter-program communication difficulties.

Claims

1. A method of transparently transferring data between a plurality of different resources, wherein each of the plurality of resources is physically accessed using a different protocol, the method comprising the steps of:

for each of the resources, providing a module associated with an implementation of the protocol associated with the resource; and

for each of the resources, providing a logical identifier associated with a user interface to the resource, wherein the logical identifier is mapped to the module associated with the implementation of the protocol, and wherein a user can indicate that one of the resources should be accessed using only a respective one of the logical identifiers such that the implementation of the protocol associated with the resource is maintained separately from the user interface.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

providing a data structure each of the plurality of resources;

providing a name for each of the plurality of the resources, each name providing the logical interface to the resource and including a pointer to the data structure associated with the resource and a mapping to a protocol for implementing the retrieval of the data structure; and

referencing each resource by invoking the name associated with the resource, wherein the invoking of the name results in an implementation of the protocol for accessing data at the each resource.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a plurality of names associated with a plurality of references are grouped into a namespace, wherein the namespace is a data structure referenced by a namespace name, and wherein a step of invoking the namespace name results in an iterative retrieval of names in the namespace.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein, for each retrieval of a name from the namespace, the data structure indicated by the pointer associated with the name is retrieved from the abstract storage system.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resources include menu items, views, program code, protocols and data sources.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a combination of the plurality of resources provides an abstract storage system, and wherein references to each of the plurality of resources are made by referencing the abstract storage system.

7. A method of generating a program for operation in a program framework comprising the steps of:

identifying a data source to be accessed by the program, the data source conceptually represented by a model;

generating at least one view of the model, wherein the view provides a logical interface for referencing the model, is mapped to a handler for implementing a retrieval of the data source represented by the model and provides an interface for viewing the data source; and

mapping the view to the model, wherein the view and the model are combined to generate the program.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of adding functionality to the program by modifying the view of model, wherein the modified view includes at least one method incorporating the added functionality of the program.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of integrating a new program into the program framework by generating a new view of the model, wherein the new view of the model includes at least one method associated with the a new task to be performed by the new program.

10. Program stored on a computer readable medium, the program comprising:

a hierarchically ordered plurality of namespaces, each space associated with at least one group of resources available to a program, each namespace comprising a plurality of names, each one of the plurality of names providing a logical interface to one of the resources in the at least one group, wherein each name is a data structure including a pointer to an object associated with the one of the resources in the at least one group and a mapping to a routine for implementing the retrieval of the associated object from an abstract storage system, and wherein each namespace may comprise names mapped to different routines for implementing object retrieval such that the routines are transparent to a user.

11. A program framework comprising:

a data storage system;

a logical interface to the data storage system;

a physical interface to the data storage system, wherein the logical interface is mapped to the physical interface; and

a graphical user interface for providing access to the data storage system using only the logical interface, wherein the physical interface is transparent to a user and a common and consistent interface to the data storage system is provided to a user.

12. The program framework according to claim 11, wherein the program framework is implemented on a system, and wherein the data storage system is an abstract hierarchical storage system comprising code modules and data from one or more resources associated with the system.

13. The program framework according to claim 12, wherein the system is coupled to a network including at least one device, and wherein the data storage system comprises code modules and data from one or more sources associated with the system and from the at least one device.

14. The program framework according to claim 12, further comprising a replicated version of the data storage system, the replicated version of the data storage system being stored on the network.

15. The program framework according to claim 11, wherein the logical interface to the data storage system includes at least one namespace, the namespace comprising a plurality of names, each one of the plurality of names including a pointer to a different object, with each of the different objects are associated with a resource in the data storage system and including at least one method for implementing the physical interface to the resource.

16. The program framework according to claim 11, wherein the logical interface comprises a name of an object in the data storage system, and wherein the graphical user interface provides at least one view of the object, with the at least one view including a task to be performed on the object.

17. The program framework according to claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface includes a notification component.

18. The program framework according to claim 11, wherein the graphical user interface includes a context component.

19. The program framework according to claim 18, wherein the graphical user interface includes a navigation component for displaying available resources in response to a state of the context component.

20. A program framework comprising:

at least one data storage system;

for each of the at least one data storage systems, an implementation of at least one of an access protocol and a task for the data storage system;

for each of the at least one data storage systems, a logical interface to the data storage system, wherein the logical interface is mapped to the implementation but is otherwise separated from the data storage system; and

a graphical user interface associated with the logical interface for each data storage systems and otherwise separated from the implementation for each of the at least one data storage systems, wherein the graphical user interface provides the user with common and consistent access to each of the at least one data storage systems.