Method for coordinating activities and sharing information using a data definition language

• US 6,553,402 B1
• Filed: 05/05/1999
• Issued: 04/22/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: NextPage, Inc. (Proofpoint Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: NextPage, Inc. (Proofpoint Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fitzwilson, Robert C., Downs, Heather L., Makarios, Selene K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Dung C.
• Application Number:
  US09/305,427
• Time in Patent Office: 1,448 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/202, 709/203, 709/213, 709/214, 709/215, 709/310, 709/312, 709/313, 709/314, 709/315, 709/316, 709/317, 707/10, 707/100, 707/104.1, 707/501.1, 707/513, 717/114, 717/116, 717/119
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A widely-used data definition language such as the Extensible Markup Language is used to implement a tuple space-based coordination mechanism. Entries and template entries can represent any type of networked or network-proxied resource, object or service. Using this framework, diverse entry spaces can be aggregated and operated upon as though they were a single large entry space. The flexibility and power of XML constructs can be leveraged to make such aggregation straightforward and efficient.

Claims

1. A method of sharing data between a plurality of processors in communication with one another comprising:

using a first computer to generate an entry using an extensible markup language, the entry comprising a plurality of fields, each of the fields having a value;

using a computer to store the entry in an entry universe;

using a second computer to read the entry from the entry universe;

wherein the entry universe comprises;

a plurality of entry spaces; and

a plurality of metaspaces;

wherein each one of a first group of the metaspaces is associated with multiple ones of the plurality of entry spaces and contains a generalized description of entries in its associated entry spaces; and

each one of a second group of the metaspaces is associated with multiple ones of the plurality of first group of metaspaces and contains a generalized description of descriptions in its associated first group metaspaces.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generalized description in each second group metaspace is longer than the generalized description in each of its associated first group metaspaces.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

using a computer to Fourier map generalized descriptions of first group metaspaces associated with a second group metaspace to a spatial frequency domain;

using a computer to sample the mapped descriptions into a smaller range of spatial frequencies than in the mapped description;

using a computer to inverse map the sampled descriptions; and

using a computer to superpose the inverse mapped descriptions to obtain the generalized description of the second group metaspace.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a rate of sampling the mapped descriptions is dynamically determined based on characteristics of the entry universe.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising using a computer to normalize generalized descriptions of the first group of metaspaces associated with the second group metaspace.

6. A method of accessing an entry in an entry universe comprising:

causing a computer to access an entry space in the entry universe using a template;

when the entry space does not contain an entry matching the template, causing a computer to access a first metaspace associated with the entry space and containing generalized descriptions of entry spaces associated therewith;

when the template matches a generalized description in the first metaspace, accessing an entry space corresponding to the generalized description; and

when the template does not match a generalized description in the first metaspace, accessing a second metaspace containing a generalized description of the first metaspace.