Event interface for a carrier manager system

• US 6,873,978 B1
• Filed: 10/01/1997
• Issued: 03/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Pitney Bowes Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Boucher, Glenn, Hasbani, Jacques E., Karbowski, Kenneth, Carroll, Terri A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosimano, Edward R.
• Application Number:
  US08/942,261
• Time in Patent Office: 2,736 Days
• Field of Search: 705/400, 705/401, 705/402, 705/410
• US Class Current: 705/401
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 17/00024 Physical or organizational aspects of franking systems

Abstract

A carrier management module in a carrier management system with a first application and a second application is configured to broker carrier rating requests from the second application to the first application through an event interface. The carrier, management module also loads carrier rate modules, programmed to rate items for carriers, so that both applications can call rating routines in the carrier rate modules to rate an item for the associated carrier. Specifically, the carrier management module accesses a system registry of supported carriers to determine whether to dispatch an event to the first application to rate an item for a carrier not supported by the carrier rate module.

Claims

1. A carrier management system, comprising:

(a) a first application configured to rate items for a first carrier; and

(b) a carrier management module configured to load one or more carrier rate modules for rating items for one or more supported carriers;

(c) a second application configured to send a request to the carrier management module for rating an item for a selected carrier;

wherein the carrier management module is configured, in response to the second application, to;

(i) determine whether the selected carrier is supported by one of the carrier rate modules;

(ii) if the selected carrier is supported by one of the carrier rate modules, then enable rating of the item for the selected carrier by the one carrier rate module; and

(iii) if the selected carrier is not supported by one of the carrier rate modules, then cause the first application to rate the item for the selected carrier.

2. The carrier management system of claim 1, wherein the first application is further configured to load the carrier management module into the executable space of the first application.

3. The carrier management system of claim 2, wherein the second application is further configured to bind to a loaded instance of the carrier management module.

4. The carrier management system of claim 1, wherein the carrier management module further is configured to dispatch an event to the first application for rating the selected item.

5. The carrier management system of claim 1, wherein the carrier management module is further configured to:

(a) access a registry recording carrier identifiers indicative of carriers and associated module identifiers indicative of loading carrier rate modules;

(b) load the carrier rate module based on the accessed module identifier indicative of loading the carrier rate module;

(c) determine whether there exists a carrier identifier recorded in the registry indicative of a carrier specified by the second application; and

(d) if there does not exists a carrier identifier recorded in the registry indicative of the specified carrier, then

(i) dispatch an event to the first application for rating the selected item to produce a rating result and

(ii) return the rating result to the second application.

6. A method of coordinating a request to rate an item for a carrier supported by a first application, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) receiving the request through a first interface as a function call from a second application;

(b) dispatching the request through a second interface as an event to the first application;

(c) receiving a rating result from the first application; and

(d) returning the rating result to the second application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of receiving the request through a first interface as a function from a second application includes the step receiving the request through a dynamic, function call interface from the second application.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of dispatching the request through a second interface to the first application includes the step of enqueuing an event indicative of the request in an event queue of the first application.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) loading a carrier management module into the executable space of a first application; and

(b) determining, in said second application, whether a carrier management module is loaded by another application and, if loaded, binding to the loaded carrier management module.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of determining whether a carrier manager module is loaded by another application includes the steps of:

(a) accessing a running object table recording which modules have been loaded; and

(b) determining whether information about the carrier management module is recorded in the running object table.

11. A method of coordinating a request to rate an item for a carrier, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) loading a plurality of carrier rate modules into the executable space of an application;

(b) receiving the request to rate the item for the carrier;

(c) determining whether one of the a carrier rate modules is configured to rate the item for the carrier;

(d) if there is a carrier rate module configured to rate the item for the carrier, then enabling rating of the item by the carrier rate module; and

(e) if there is not a carrier rate module configured to rate the item for the carrier, then

(i) dispatching an event indicative of the request to the application, and

(ii) receiving a rating result indicative of rating the item for the carrier from the application.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step (c) includes the steps of:

(a) accessing a registry recording carrier identifiers indicative of carriers and associated module identifiers indicative of loading carrier rate modules; and

(b) determining whether the carrier is recorded in the registry.

13. A computer-readable medium bearing a carrier management module including sequences of instructions, which when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform the steps of:

(a) receiving the request through a first interface as a function call from a second application;

(b) dispatching the request through a second interface as an event to (the first application;

(c) receiving a rating result from the first application; and

(d) returning the rating result to the second application.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the step of receiving the request through a first interface as a function call from a second application includes the step receiving the request through a dynamic, function call interface from the second application.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the step dispatching the request through a second interface to the first application includes the step of enqueuing an event indicative of the request in an event queue of the first application.

16. A computer-readable medium bearing a carrier management module including sequences of instructions, which when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform the steps of:

(a) loading a plurality of carrier rate modules into the executable space of an application;

(b) receiving the request to rate the item for the carrier;

(c) determining whether one of the a carrier rate modules is configured to rate the item for the carrier;

(d) if there is a carrier rate module configured to rate the item for the carrier, then enabling rating of the item by the carrier rate module; and

(e) if there is not a carrier rate module configured to rate the item for the carrier, then

(i) dispatching an event indicative of the request to the application; and

(ii) receiving a rating result indicative of rating the item for the carrier from the application.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the step (c) includes the steps of:

(a) accessing a registry recording carrier identifiers indicative of carriers and associated module identifiers indicative of loading carrier rate modules; and

(b) determining whether the carrier is recorded in the registry.