Data transformation architecture
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system, comprising:
- a communications interface module which transmits data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication, and also includes non-reserved addresses;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) modifies data in ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program.
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Abstract
An architecture in which data outputs from an application program into a communication interface are diverted, by changing their address to a reserved address, and then are processed further by an added program which is invisible to the application program. The added program can provide authentication, privacy, data reformatting, or other such desired features to the data outputs without requiring it to be integrated with the application program.
86 Citations
112 Claims
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1. A system, comprising:
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a communications interface module which transmits data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication, and also includes non-reserved addresses;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) modifies data in ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system, comprising:
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a communications interface module which transmits data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes non-reserved addresses and also one or more reserved loopback addresses which are not freely available for external communication, and which echoes back data addressed to one of said reserved addresses;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved loopback addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) modifies data in ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A system, comprising:
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a communications interface module which transmits data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication, and also includes non-reserved addresses;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) modifies data content portions thereof but not protocol-related header portions thereof, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A system, comprising:
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a communications interface module which transmits data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication, and also includes non-reserved addresses;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) modifies data in ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b); and
which alsod) intercepts and modifies at least some incoming transmissions directed to said active program;
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A system, comprising:
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a communications interface module which transmits data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication, and also includes non-reserved addresses;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) selectively modifies data in only some ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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71. A computer, comprising:
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a network interface module which transmits and receives data over a communication channel according to an addressing protocol which includes non-reserved addresses and also one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication;
at least one active program, running on a CPU of said computer, which sends first communications into said channel through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module, running on a CPU of said computer, which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) modifies data in ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80)
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81. A macro-system, comprising:
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multiple complex systems executing respective instruction streams; and
at least one network linking said multiple complex systems;
wherein multiple ones of said complex systems each comprise;
a communications interface module which transmits data over said network according to an addressing protocol which includes non-reserved addresses and also one or more reserved addresses which are not freely available for external communication;
at least one active program which sends first communications into said network through said interface module, using non-reserved addresses, and which also sends second communications through said interface module using ones of said reserved addresses; and
an additional module which a) detects ones of said second communications, b) transforming data in ones of said second communications, and c) transmits results of said operation b);
wherein said operations a), b), and c) by said additional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90)
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91. A modular expandable software architecture stored in a storage medium, comprising:
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an application program which performs at least one class of interface operations by looking up, in a configuration file, a network address which is used for said interface operations;
said configuration file containing a reserved address, which does not correspond to any externally routable address, in place of the network address expected by said application program; and
a functional module which, when said application program attempts to send data to said reserved address, performs data translation on said data, and retransmits said data, as modified by said data translation, to an externally routable network address;
wherein said operations by said functional module are transparent to said active program. - View Dependent Claims (92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99)
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100. A method, comprising the steps of:
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(a.) from an application program, sending out a packet, which is intended for a real destination, to a first reserved address which cannot correspond to any real destination; and
(b.) in a translation program, looking up a second address, corresponding to said real destination in a table in memory, and transforming the data of said packet, and rerouting said packet thereafter to said second address;
wherein said operations by said translation program are transparent to said application program. - View Dependent Claims (101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108)
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109. A method for adding a data conversion function to a third-party software program, comprising the steps of:
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in a configuration file, replacing at least one target address with a respective non-routable address; and
adding a functional module which, when the third-party program attempts to send a packet to said non-routable address, performs data translation on the content of the packet according to stored algorithms, and retransmits the content, as modified by said data translation, to an externally routable address;
wherein said operations by said functional module are transparent to said third-party software program. - View Dependent Claims (110)
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111. A method for adding data translation functions to a third-party e-mail program, comprising the steps of:
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in a configuration file, substituting a reserved address, which does not correspond to any externally routable address, for a correct e-mail upload address; and
adding a functional module which, when the e-mail program attempts to send a packet to said reserved address, performs data translation on the content of the packet according to stored algorithms, and retransmits the translated content to the correct e-mail upload address;
wherein said operations by said functional module are transparent to said third-party software program. - View Dependent Claims (112)
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Specification