Mechanism and apparatus for using messages to look up documents stored in spaces in a distributed computing environment
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- a client sending a lookup message to a network-addressable location of a space, wherein the space is operable to store one or more advertisements expressed in a data representation language, wherein each advertisement comprises information which is usable by the client to access a particular content or service over a network, and wherein the lookup message specifies desired advertisement characteristics;
finding a set of discovered advertisements, wherein the discovered advertisements comprise zero or more of the stored advertisements which meet the desired characteristics; and
the space sending a lookup response message to the client, wherein the lookup response message comprises the set of discovered advertisements.
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Abstract
A system and method for searching for documents within spaces in a distributed computing environment are provided. A client sends a lookup message to a space which stores documents. The lookup message may specify desired characteristics, such as a name or partial XML schema, of the stored documents. The documents may include XML service advertisements and XML device advertisements as well as general-purpose XML documents. A set of zero or more documents which match the lookup message are discovered. In one embodiment, the lookup message may include a desired name. If the lookup message includes both a desired name and a desired schema, the set of discovered documents may include both discovered documents having a name that matches the desired name and discovered documents having a schema that matches the desired schema. If the lookup message includes neither a desired name nor a desired schema, the set of discovered documents may include substantially all the documents stored in the space. After the matching documents are found, the space may send a lookup response message to the client. For each discovered document, the lookup response message may include a name and an advertisement. Each advertisement may include information which is usable by the client to obtain the respective discovered document or access the resource (e.g., a service) that the document advertises. The advertisements and messages may be expressed in a data representation language such as XML.
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Citations
46 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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a client sending a lookup message to a network-addressable location of a space, wherein the space is operable to store one or more advertisements expressed in a data representation language, wherein each advertisement comprises information which is usable by the client to access a particular content or service over a network, and wherein the lookup message specifies desired advertisement characteristics;
finding a set of discovered advertisements, wherein the discovered advertisements comprise zero or more of the stored advertisements which meet the desired characteristics; and
the space sending a lookup response message to the client, wherein the lookup response message comprises the set of discovered advertisements. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
wherein each advertisement comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) at which the respective content or service is accessible. -
3. The method of claim 1,
wherein at least one of the discovered advertisements comprises an advertisement for a service. -
4. The method of claim 3,
wherein the advertisement for the service comprises a schema, wherein the schema specifies one or more messages usable to invoke one or more functions of the service. -
5. The method of claim 1,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name, wherein each of the discovered advertisements comprises a name that matches the desired name, and wherein each name identifies the respective discovered advertisement within space. -
6. The method of claim 5,
wherein the desired name comprises a wildcard. -
7. The method of claim 1,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired schema which is expressed in the data representation language, and wherein each of the discovered advertisements comprises a schema that matches the desired schema. -
8. The method of claim 1,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name and a desired schema, wherein the set of discovered advertisements comprises discovered advertisements having a name that matches the desired name and discovered advertisements having a schema that matches the desired schema. -
9. The method of claim 1,
wherein the lookup message comprises a request for all advertisements in the space, and wherein the set of discovered advertisements includes substantially all the stored advertisements. -
10. The method of claim 1,
wherein the data representation language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML). -
11. The method of claim 1,
wherein the lookup message and the lookup response message are expressed in the data representation language.
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12. A system, comprising:
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a client; and
a space which is communicatively coupled to the client, wherein the space is operable to store one or more advertisements expressed in a data representation language, wherein each advertisement comprises information which is usable by the client to access a particular content or service over a network;
wherein the client is operable to send a lookup message to the space, and wherein the lookup message specifies desired advertisement characteristics; and
wherein the space is operable to;
find a set of discovered advertisements, wherein the discovered advertisements comprise zero or more of the stored advertisements which meet the desired characteristics; and
send a lookup response message to the client, wherein the lookup response message comprises the set of discovered advertisements. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
wherein each advertisement comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) at which the respective content or service is accessible. -
14. The system of claim 12, further comprising:
a service which is communicatively coupled to the client, wherein at least one of the discovered advertisements comprises an advertisement for the service.
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15. The system of claim 14,
wherein the advertisement for the service comprises a schema, wherein the schema specifies one or more messages usable to invoke one or more functions of the service. -
16. The system of claim 12,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name, wherein each of the discovered advertisements comprises a name that matches the desired name, and wherein each name identifies the respective discovered advertisements within the space. -
17. The system of claim 16,
wherein the desired name comprises a wildcard. -
18. The system of claim 12,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired schema which is expressed in the data representation language, and wherein each of the discovered advertisements comprises a schema that matches the desired schema. -
19. The system of claim 12,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name and a desired schema, wherein the set of discovered advertisements comprises discovered advertisements having a name that matches the desired name and discovered advertisements having a schema that matches the desired schema. -
20. The system of claim 12,
wherein the lookup message comprises a request for all advertisements in the space, and wherein the set of discovered advertisements includes substantially all the stored advertisements. -
21. The system of claim 12,
wherein the data representation language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML). -
22. The system of claim 12,
wherein the lookup message and the lookup response message are expressed in the data representation language.
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23. A carrier medium comprising program instructions, wherein
the program instructions are computer-executable to implement: -
a client sending a lookup message to a network-addressable location of a space, wherein the space is operable to store one or more advertisements expressed in a data representation language, wherein each advertisement comprises information which is usable by the client to access a particular content or service over a network, and wherein the lookup message specifies desired advertisement characteristics;
finding a set of discovered advertisements, wherein the discovered advertisements comprise zero or more of the stored advertisements which meet the desired characteristics; and
the space sending a lookup response message to the client, wherein the lookup response message comprises the set of discovered advertisements. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
wherein each advertisement comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) at which the respective content or service is accessible. -
25. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein at least one of the discovered advertisements comprises an advertisement for a service. -
26. The carrier medium of claim 25,
wherein the advertisement for the service comprises a schema, wherein the schema specifies one or more messages usable to invoke one or more functions of the service. -
27. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name, wherein each of the discovered advertisements comprises a name that matches the desired name, and wherein each name identifies the respective discovered advertisements within the space. -
28. The carrier medium of claim 27,
wherein the desired name comprises a wildcard. -
29. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired schema which is expressed in the data representation language, and wherein each of the discovered advertisements comprises a schema that matches the desired schema. -
30. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name and a desired schema, wherein the set of discovered advertisements comprises discovered advertisements having a name that matches the desired name and discovered advertisements having a schema that matches the desired schema. -
31. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein the lookup message comprises a request for all advertisements in the space, and wherein the set of discovered advertisements includes substantially all the stored advertisements. -
32. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein the data representation language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML). -
33. The carrier medium of claim 23,
wherein the lookup message and the lookup response message are expressed in the data representation language.
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34. A method, comprising:
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a client sending a lookup message to a space, wherein the lookup message is expressed in a data representation language, wherein the space is operable to store one or more documents expressed in the data representation language, and wherein the lookup message specifies desired characteristics of the stored documents;
finding a set of discovered documents, wherein the discovered documents comprise zero or more of the stored documents which meet the desired characteristics; and
the space sending a lookup response message to the client, wherein the lookup response message is expressed in the data representation language and comprises the set of discovered documents. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
wherein each of the discovered documents comprises information usable by the client to access a respective content or service. -
36. The method of claim 35,
wherein the information usable by the client to access a respective content or service comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) at which the respective content or service is accessible. -
37. The method of claim 35,
wherein at least one of the discovered documents comprises information for accessing a service. -
38. The method of claim 37,
wherein the information for accessing a service comprises a schema, wherein the schema specifies one or more messages usable to invoke one or more functions of the service. -
39. The method of claim 34,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name, wherein each of the discovered documents comprises a name that matches the desired name, and wherein each name identifies the respective discovered document within the space. -
40. The method of claim 39,
wherein the desired name comprises a wildcard. -
41. The method of claim 34,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired schema which is expressed in the data representation language, and wherein each of the discovered documents comprises a schema that matches the desired schema. -
42. The method of claim 34,
wherein the lookup message comprises a desired name and a desired schema, wherein the set of discovered documents comprises discovered documents having a name that matches the desired name and discovered documents having a schema that matches the desired schema. -
43. The method of claim 34,
wherein the lookup message comprises a request for all documents in the space, and wherein the set of discovered documents includes substantially all the stored documents. -
44. The method of claim 34,
wherein the data representation language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML). -
45. The method of claim 34, further comprising:
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the client sending an event subscription message to the space, wherein the event subscription message indicates a desired document for which the client is requesting to receive notification if the desired document is added to or removed from the space; and
the space sending an event notification message to the client when a document matching the desired document is added to or removed from the space.
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46. The method of claim 45, wherein the event subscription message and the event notification message are expressed in the data representation language.
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Specification