Interprocess communication mechanism for heterogeneous computer processes

• US 6,874,151 B1
• Filed: 07/14/1997
• Issued: 03/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dean, Dawson F.
• Primary Examiner(s): BULLOCK JR, LEWIS ALEXANDER
• Application Number:
  US08/897,217
• Time in Patent Office: 2,815 Days
• Field of Search: 719/330, 719/320, 709201-203, 709/219, 709/304, 709/300, 709/310, 709/313, 709/330, 707/500, 707/501, 707/10
• US Class Current: 719/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45

Abstract

An applet which executes in isolation within an applet viewer builds and sends remote procedure calls by encoding remote procedure calling (RPC) requests as requests for documents in a known, standard document request format, such as a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) universal resource locator (URL). A portion of the name space for documents which can be retrieved according to HTTP is reserved for RPC requests. The applet process encodes an RPC request as a request to receive a document in the portion of the name space reserved for RPC requests and sends the URL to an RPC process. The RPC process receives the URL and determines that the URL specifies a document in the name space portion reserved for RPC requests and parses the RPC request from the URL and services the RPC request. In addition, the RPC process places any results produced by servicing the RPC request into a document which is then sent to the applet. In addition, the applet sends an HTTP URL which indicates the applet is ready to process RPC requests from the RPC process. In response, the RPC process sends RPC requests as portions of a virtual document which is sent to the applet in response to the HTTP URL. The applet receives the portions of the virtual document, parses the RPC requests therefrom, and processes the parsed RPC requests.

Claims

1. A method for serving remote procedure calls from an applet which executes within an applet viewer which in turn executes in a computer system that is serving said remote procedure calls, the method comprising:

receiving from the applet which executes in the same computer system that serves said remote procedure calls, a request for a document according to a document retrieval protocol implemented on a computer network;

determining that the request specifies a function which is defined within a computer process executing independently of the applet and applet viewer and which includes one or more computer instructions, execution of which performs a task which is unrelated to both generation and retrieval of any document specified in the request; and

executing the function in the same computer system that is executing said applet and applet viewer to thereby cause execution of the one or more computer instructions in response to receipt of the request.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining comprises:

determining that the request includes a document specification which is in a portion of a name space reserved for function requests.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

returning to the applet result data produced by execution of the function.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the step of returning comprises:

forming a document which includes the data; and

sending the document to the applet.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the document retrieval protocol is HTTP.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the function further comprises a Remote Procedure Call.

7. A computer readable medium useful in association with a computer system which includes a processor and a memory, the computer readable medium including computer instructions which are configured to cause the computer to serve remote procedure calls from an applet, which executes within an applet viewer which in turn executes in the computer system that is serving said remote procedure calls, by performing the steps of:

receiving from the applet which executes in the same computer system that serves said procedure calls, a request for a document according to a document retrieval protocol implemented on a computer network;

determining that the request specifies a function which is defined within a computer process executing independently of the applet and applet viewer and which includes one or more selected computer instructions, execution of which performs a task which is unrelated to both generation and retrieval of any document specified in the request; and

executing the function in the same computer system that is executing said applet and applet viewer to thereby cause execution of the one or more selected computer instructions in response to receipt of the request.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7 wherein the step of determining comprises:

determining that the request includes a document specification which is in a portion of a name space reserved for function requests.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 7 where the computer instructions are further configured to cause the computer to serve remote procedure calls by further performing the step of:

returning to the applet result data produced by execution of the function.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9 wherein the step of returning comprises:

forming a document which includes the result data; and

sending the document to the applet.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 7 wherein the document retrieval protocol is HTTP.

12. A computer system comprising:

a processor;

a memory operatively coupled to the processor; and

a computer process which executes in the processor from the memory and which, when executed, serves remote procedure calls received from an applet which executes within an applet viewer which in turn executes in the processor from the memory concurrently and independently from the computer process, wherein the computer process serves the remote procedure calls by performing the steps of;

receiving from the applet which executes in the same computer system that serves remote procedure calls, a request for a document according to a document retrieval protocol implemented on a computer network;

determining that the request specifies a function which is defined within the computer process and which includes one or more computer instructions, execution of which performs a task which is unrelated to both generation and retrieval of any document specified in the request; and

executing the function in the same computer system that is executing said applet and applet viewer to thereby cause execution of the one or more computer instructions in response to receipt of the request.

13. The computer system of claim 12 wherein the step of determining comprises:

determining that the request includes a document specification which is in a portion of a name space reserved for function requests.

14. The computer system of claim 12 where the computer process serves remote procedure calls by further performing the step of:

returning to the applet result data produced by execution of the function.

15. The computer system of claim 14 wherein the step of returning comprises:

forming a document which includes the result data; and

sending the document to the applet.

16. The computer system of claim 12 wherein the document retrieval protocol in HTTP.

17. A method for serving remote procedure calls from an applet that executes within an applet viewer which executes in a computer system that serves the remote procedure calls, the method comprising:

receiving from the applet a request for a document according to a document retrieval protocol implemented in the computer system; and

determining that the request for the document specifies a function which is defined within a computer process executing independently of the applet and the applet viewer and which includes computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform a task which is unrelated to both generation and retrieval of any document.

18. A method as recited in claim 17, further comprising executing the function in the computer system to perform the task when receiving of the request for the document.

19. A computer system, comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory component operatively coupled to the processor;

a computer process configured to execute in the one or more processors from the memory and serve remote procedure calls received from an applet that executes within an applet viewer which executes in the processor from the memory concurrently and independently from the computer process, wherein the computer process is further configured to;

receive from the applet a request for a document according to a document retrieval protocol implemented in the computer system;

determine that the request for the document specifies a function which is defined within the computer process and which includes computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform a task which is unrelated to both generation and retrieval of any document.

20. A computer system as recited in claim 19, wherein the computer process is further configured to execute the function in the computer system to perform the task in an event that the request for the document is received.