Method and apparatus for providing web services in a collaborative computing system
First Claim
1. A method for providing access over a network to data and services available within a collaborative computer system, the collaborative system comprising a plurality of collaborative clients, the method comprising:
- a) maintaining, by each collaborative client, data based on user interactions with the collaborative system, the maintaining comprising, for each collaborative client, having a local copy of collaborative data and forwarding data change requests to other collaborative clients and using data change requests in modifying the local copy;
b) providing access to the collaborative data in response to a request message from a non-native client, the non-native client accessing the collaborative data other than through the collaborative system, the request message containing information identifying the non-native client;
c) receiving the request message in a server connected to the non-native client, extracting from the request message the information identifying the non-native client and modifying the request message by replacing the information identifying the non-collaborative client with information identifying a queue in the server, the queue being associated with the non-native client and the server;
d) sending the modified request message to a collaborative client of the plurality of collaborative clients via the network, wherein the request message specifies collaborative data to update or return, and the collaborative client provides a response message based on the request message;
e) sending the response message to the server queue identified in the modified request message, andf) using the information in the server identifying the non-native client to forward the response message from the server queue to the non-collaborative client.
3 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
An API development framework uses a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) protocol to provide access to a collaborative client from a remote user that does not have access to the collaborative software. A WSAP server acts as a bridge between the native collaborative environment and any non-native environment or application that can process SOAP commands and allows the two entities to communicate regardless of firewalls and other security software. The non-native environment can be either local (on the same machine as the collaborative client program) or physically remote (on a different machine). In addition to the server, the illustrative framework includes client side support that is comprised of a SOAP proxy component and remote interfaces to collaborative system objects and platform tools.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method for providing access over a network to data and services available within a collaborative computer system, the collaborative system comprising a plurality of collaborative clients, the method comprising:
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a) maintaining, by each collaborative client, data based on user interactions with the collaborative system, the maintaining comprising, for each collaborative client, having a local copy of collaborative data and forwarding data change requests to other collaborative clients and using data change requests in modifying the local copy; b) providing access to the collaborative data in response to a request message from a non-native client, the non-native client accessing the collaborative data other than through the collaborative system, the request message containing information identifying the non-native client; c) receiving the request message in a server connected to the non-native client, extracting from the request message the information identifying the non-native client and modifying the request message by replacing the information identifying the non-collaborative client with information identifying a queue in the server, the queue being associated with the non-native client and the server; d) sending the modified request message to a collaborative client of the plurality of collaborative clients via the network, wherein the request message specifies collaborative data to update or return, and the collaborative client provides a response message based on the request message; e) sending the response message to the server queue identified in the modified request message, and f) using the information in the server identifying the non-native client to forward the response message from the server queue to the non-collaborative client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. Apparatus for providing access over a network to data and services, the apparatus comprising:
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a collaborative system comprising a plurality of collaborative clients, each collaborative client having a local copy of collaborative data and being adapted to forward data change requests to other collaborative clients and use data change requests in modifying the local copy; an external client, the external client being external to the collaborative system and being adapted to send a request message, the request message containing information identifying the external client, wherein the collaborative system is adapted to provide access to the collaborative data in response to the request message; a server connected to the external client, including means for receiving the request message, means for extracting from the request message the information identifying the external client and means for modifying the request message by replacing the information identifying the external client with information identifying a queue in the server, the queue being associated with the external client and the server; a first communication mechanism for sending the modified request message to a collaborative client of the plurality of collaborative clients via the network, wherein the collaborative client provides a response message containing the data and services requested; a second communication mechanism for storing the response message in the server queue identified in the modified request message, the queue being associated with the external client, and a contact mechanism responsive to the information in the server identifying the external client for forwarding the response message from the server queue to the external client. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer program product for providing access over a network to data and services available within a collaborative computer system, the collaborative system comprising a plurality of collaborative clients, the computer program product comprising a tangible computer usable medium having computer readable program code thereon, including:
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program code for maintaining, by each collaborative client, data based on user interactions with the collaborative system, the maintaining comprising, for each collaborative client, having a local copy of collaborative data and forwarding data change requests to other collaborative clients and using data change requests in modifying the local copy; program code for providing access to the collaborative data in response to a request message from a non-native client the non-native client accessing the collaborative data other than through the collaborative system, the request containing information identifying the non-native client; program code for receiving the request message in a server connected to the non-native client, extracting from the request message the information identifying the non-native client and modifying the request message by replacing the information identifying the non-native client with information identifying a queue in the server; program code for sending the modified request message to a collaborative client in the collaborative computer system via the network, wherein the collaborative client provides a response message containing the data and services requested from the collaborative system; program code for sending the response message to the server queue identified in the modified request message, and program code for using the information in the server identifying the non-native client to forward the response message from the server queue to the non-native client, the queue being associated with the non-native client and the server.
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Specification