Method and apparatus of performing active update notification

• US 6,721,740 B1
• Filed: 06/05/1998
• Issued: 04/13/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Skinner, Brian, McDonnell, Kevin, McDonnell, Vanessa, Turk, Andy Kittridge
• Primary Examiner(s): JUNG, DAVID YIUK
• Application Number:
  US09/092,356
• Time in Patent Office: 2,139 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-206, 705/40, 709/100-316, 395/750, 395/200.8, 717/1-5, 717/168-173, 713/201
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2358 Change logging, detection, and notification replication G06F16/27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

A method and apparatus of performing active update notification. Components of an application are able to specify interest in a data object or set of data objects by registering an interest object with an update management component of the application. The interest object specifies the interested application component, as well as the identity of one or more data objects or an attribute value or range of values to associate with data objects. When modifications are made to data objects corresponding to the registered interest objects, the interested application component or components receive an update notification from the update management component. In one embodiment, active update notification is performed within a multi-tier application. An update management component exists at the application server on the application tier, as well as at each client in the client tier. In the application tier, the update management component maintains, with respect to clients and servers, a registry of interest objects of sufficient depth to determine which clients or other servers may be interested in changes to data objects. Update notifications are then sent only to the interested clients or servers. The interest registry of the update management component in the interested client is used to resolve the interested application component, and to forward the update notification appropriately.

Claims

1. A method for registering an interest in an activity of a resource, comprising:

determining an interest, by an application component of a client, in an activity associated with a resource maintained by a server;

determining interest criteria associated with an interest object corresponding to the resource based on the interest;

registering the application component as an observer of the interest object based on the determined interest criteria and interest object;

registering the interest object with a client update component included in the client; and

registering a server interest object corresponding to the interest object in a server update component included in the server, such that the application component is notified of an activity associated with the resource based on information exchanged between the client and server update components.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein registering the application component as an observer of the interest object includes:

registering a refinement object with the interest object based on a determination that the interest object requires refinement of the interest criteria.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest object is an object configured to receive a notification of a change to the resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest object is a query object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the interest criteria are transformed query criteria associated with a query operation performed by the client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest criteria is one of a specific value and a range of values for one or more data attributes associated with the resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the interest object reflects a union of two or more existing interest objects.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein registering a server interest object includes:

associating the interest criteria with the server interest object.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource is a data object.

10. A method for providing a notification of an activity associated with a resource, comprising:

determining an activity associated with a resource maintained by a server;

creating a change object reflecting the resource and the activity;

applying the change object to the resource to modify the resource based on the activity;

identifying, at an update management component associated with the server, an interested client with a registered interest in the resource;

providing a notification of the activity to an update management component of the interested client; and

providing, by the update management component of the interested client, the notification to an interested component of the client based on an interest registry included in the client.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein applying the change object to the resource to modify the resource based on the activity includes:

providing information included in the change object that reflects the activity to a server management component; and

providing a call from the server management component to a database server to manipulate data stored in a database corresponding to the resource.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying, at an update management component associated with the server, an interested client with a registered interest in the resource includes:

identifying, at the update component associated with the server, an interested server component with a registered interest in the resource.

13. The method of claim 12, further including:

providing, by the update management component associated with the server, a notification of the activity to the interested server component.

14. A system for registering an interest in an activity of a resource, comprising:

means for determining an interest, by an application component of a client, in an activity associated with a resource maintained by a server;

means for determining interest criteria associated with an interest object corresponding to the resource based on the interest;

means for registering the application component as an observer of the interest object based on the determined interest criteria and interest object;

means for registering the interest object with a client update component included in the client; and

means for registering a server interest object corresponding to the interest object in a server update component included in the server, such that the application component is notified of an activity associated with the resource based on information exchanged between the client and server update components.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the means for registering the application component as an observer of the interest object includes:

means for registering a refinement object with the interest object based on a determination that the interest object requires refinement of the interest criteria.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the interest object is an object configured to receive a notification of a change to the resource.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the interest object is a query object.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the interest criteria are transformed query criteria associated with a query operation performed by the client.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the interest criteria is one of a specific value and a range of values for one or more data attributes associated with the resource.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the interest object reflects a union of two or more existing interest objects.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the means for registering a server interest object comprises:

means for associating the interest criteria with the server interest object.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the resource is a data object.

23. A system for providing a notification of an activity associated with a resource, comprising:

means for determining an activity associated with a resource maintained by a server;

means for creating a change object reflecting the resource and the activity;

means for applying the change object to the resource to modify the resource based on the activity;

means for identifying, at an update management component associated with the server, an interested client with a registered interest in the resource;

means for providing a notification of the activity to an update management component of the interested client; and

means for providing, by the update management component of the interested client, the notification to an interested component of the client based on an interest registry included in the client.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the means for applying the change object to the resource to modify the resource based on the activity includes:

means for providing information included in the change object that reflects the activity to a server management component; and

means for providing a call from the server management component to a database server to manipulate data stored in a database corresponding to the resource.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the means for identifying, at an update management component associated with the server, an interested client with a registered interest in the resource includes:

means for identifying, at the update component associated with the server, an interested server component with a registered interest in the resource.

26. The system of claim 25, further including:

means for providing, by the update management component associated with the server, a notification of the activity to the interested server component.

27. A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a process, for registering an interest in an activity of a resource, the method comprising:

determining an interest, by an application component of a client, in an activity associated with a resource maintained by a server;

determining interest criteria associated with an interest object corresponding to the resource based on the interest;

registering the application component as an observer of the interest object based on the determined interest criteria and interest object;

registering the interest object with a client update component included in the client; and

registering a server interest object corresponding to the interest object in a server update component included in the server, such that the application component is notified of an activity associated with the resource based on information exchanged between the client and server update components.

28. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein registering the application component as an observer of the interest object includes:

registering a refinement object with the interest object based on a determination that the interest object requires refinement of the interest criteria.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the interest object is an object configured to receive a notification of a change to the resource.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the interest object is a query object.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 30, wherein the interest criteria are transformed query criteria associated with a query operation performed by the client.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the interest criteria is one of a specific value and a range of values for one or more data attributes associated with the resource.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the interest object reflects a union of two or more existing interest objects.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein registering a server interest object includes:

associating the interest criteria with the server interest object.

35. The computer-readable medium of claim 27, wherein the resource is a data object.

36. A computer-readable medium including instructions for performing a method, when executed by a processor, for providing a notification of an activity associated with a resource, the method comprising:

determining an activity associated with a resource maintained by a server;

creating a change object reflecting the resource and the activity;

applying the change object to the resource to modify the resource based on the activity;

identifying, at an update management component associated with the server, an interested client with a registered interest in the resource;

providing a notification of the activity to an update management component of the interested client; and

providing, by the update management component of the interested client, the notification to an interested component of the client based on an interest registry included in the client.

37. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein applying the change object to the resource to modify the resource based on the activity includes:

providing information included in the change object that reflects the activity to a server management component; and

providing a call from the server management component to a database server to manipulate data stored in a database corresponding to the resource.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 36, wherein identifying, at an update management component associated with the server, an interested client with a registered interest in the resource includes:

identifying, at the update component associated with the server, an interested server component with a registered interest in the resource.

39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, further including:

providing, by the update management component associated with the server, a notification of the activity to the interested server component.