System and method for building and execution of platform-neutral generic services' client applications

• US 7,555,538 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Issued: 06/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Shenfield, Michael, Vitanov, Kamen B., Goring, Bryan R., Bibr, Viera, Fritsch, Brindusa L., Kline, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Pwu; Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bruckart; Benjamin R
• Application Number:
  US10/745,120
• Publication Number:
  US 20040215700A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,016 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709227-229, 717114-118, 717168-178
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A system and method of building component applications are provided. Component applications are executed on terminal devices, which communicate with a schema-based service via a network and the Internet. The component applications comprise data components, presentation components, and message components, which are written a structured definition language such as XML code. The component applications further comprise workflow components which can be written as a series of instructions such as in a subset of ECMAScript, and are embedded in the XML code.

Claims

1. A method of interacting with a schema-defined service by a terminal device over a network, the method comprising:

sending a request network message for establishing communication between the service and the terminal device;

receiving in response to the request network message a component application program comprising a plurality of components, a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language defining configuration information of the component application program and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors defining a workflow of the component application program the workflow comprising a workflow component for defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the terminal device, the components being configured for provisioning by a runtime environment of the terminal device, the runtime environment using a template-based execution model or a metadata-based execution model, to produce an executable version of the component application program configuring the terminal device as a client of the service;

wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the network between the service and the terminal device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the runtime environment provides an interface for the executable version to the functionality of a processor and an associated operating system of an infrastructure of the device.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the runtime environment is configured for implementing capabilities comprising any of;

provide communications for sending a network message to the service, provide data input by a user of the device for supplying data content for a network message associated with the service, provide data presentation in response to a network message associated with the service, provide data storage services for maintaining local client data in a memory of the device, and/or provide an execution environment for a programming language for coordinating operation of the components in the executable version.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the runtime environment is configured as a portion of the operating system.

5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of dynamically generating the component descriptors for client application messages and associated data from metadata defined for the service.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the service is a generic schema-defined service comprising;

a web service, a database service, or a IDL based CORBA service.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of comprising a data component in the first set of component definitions, the data components for describing a format of the data entities used by the program.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of comprising at least one message component in the first set of component definitions, each message component describing a format of the messages used by the program to communicate over the network with the service.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the data component definitions and message component definitions are platform neutral for accommodating a variety of different runtime environments.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising the step of comprising a presentation component in the first set of components, the presentation components for defining the appearance and behavior of the component application program as presented on a user interface of the device.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of specifying a client type of the device in the request network message for providing the presentation component as platform specific for a predefined runtime environment.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the workflow component in the second set of components defines processing that occurs when an action is to be performed as specified by one of the first set of components.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising the step of sending a network message initiated by interaction of a user of the device with a user interface element, the network message comprising data entities created by the workflow component corresponding to the user interface element.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the network message is configured according to the message component for comprising the data entities based on the structured definition language.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of receiving a response network message comprising message data related to the data entities, the response network message configured for subsequent presentation of the message data on a user interface of the device, wherein the message data is formatted based on the structured definition language.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the device comprises any of;

a personal computer, a wireless device, a PDA, a self-service kiosk, and/or a desktop terminal.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein the workflow component defines application flow through a set of rules for operations on the first set of components.

18. The method according to claim 8, wherein each message component uniquely maps to a message described by the schema-definition of the service.

19. The method according to claim 7, wherein the workflow component supports a correlation between messages.

20. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of executing the executable version in native code by the template based execution model, the model employing a number of predefined templates configured for populating with the metadata descriptors of the components, wherein the predefined templates are provided for the plurality of components comprising any of;

data components, message components, and/or presentation components.

21. The method according to claim 20, further comprising the step of populating the predefined templates with metadata defined parameters associated with the metadata descriptors and using the populated templates for building the executable version in the native code.

22. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of executing the executable version by the metadata based execution model, the model configured for keeping the metadata definitions in the structured definition language for parsing during execution.

23. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of executing the executable version by the metadata based execution model, the model configured for using a native representation of structured definition language nodes during execution.

24. The method according to claim 2 wherein the runtime environment is provided by a component framework providing a set of common services to component applications.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the set of common services include one or more of:

a communication service;

a presentation service;

a persistence service;

an access service;

a provisioning service; and

an utility service.

26. The method according claim 2, wherein the executable version of the component application executes in an application container, which is a part of component framework.

27. A terminal device configured for interacting over a network with a schema based service using an executable version of a component application program comprising a plurality of components, the terminal device comprising:

a device infrastructure for operating the terminal device comprising a processor and an associated memory for executing the executable version;

a user interface coupled to the device infrastructure having an input device and an output device configured for communication with the executable version;

a network connection interface coupled to the device infrastructure and configured for communicating with the network; and

a runtime environment for processing the component application program to generate the executable version. using a template-based execution model or a metadata-based execution model, for configuring the device as a client of the service, the runtime environment configured for processing a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the component application program and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining a workflow of the component application program, the workflow component defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the terminal device;

wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the network between the service and the terminal device.

28. The terminal device according to claim 27, wherein the runtime environment provides an interface for the executable version to the functionality of the processor and an associated operating system of the infrastructure of the device.

29. The terminal device according to claim 28, wherein the runtime environment is configured for implementing capabilities comprising any of;

provide communications for sending a network message to the service, provide data input by a user of the device for supplying data content for a network message associated with the service, provide data presentation in response to a network message associated with the service, provide data storage services for maintaining local client data in a memory of the device, and/or provide an execution environment for a programming language for coordinating operation of the components in the executable version.

30. The terminal device according to claim 28, wherein the runtime environment is configured as a portion of the operating system.

31. The terminal device according to claim 28, wherein the component descriptors are dynamically generated for client application messages and associated data from metadata defined for the service.

32. The terminal device according to claim 31, wherein the service is a generic schema-defined service comprising;

a web service, a database service, or a IDL based CORBA service.

33. The terminal device according to claim 28, further comprising a data component in the first set of component definitions, the data component for describing a format of the data entities used by the program.

34. The terminal device according to claim 33, further comprising at least one message component in the first set of component definitions, each message component of the at least one message components for describing a format of the messages used by the program to communicate over the network with the service.

35. The terminal device according to claim 34, wherein the data component definitions and message component definitions are platform neutral for accommodating a variety of different runtime environments.

36. The terminal device according to claim 34, further comprising a presentation component in the first set of components, the presentation component for defining the appearance of the component application program as presented on a user interface of the device.

37. The terminal device according to claim 36, wherein a client type of the device specified in the request network message provides for the presentation component as platform specific for a predefined runtime environment.

38. The terminal device according to claim 36, wherein the workflow component defines processing that occurs when an action is to be performed as specified by one of the first set of components.

39. The terminal device according to claim 38, wherein the workflow component supports a correlation between messages.

40. The terminal device according to claim 38, wherein the workflow component defines application flow through a set of rules for operations on the first set of components.

41. The terminal device according to claim 40, wherein the executable version is configured for sending a network message initiated by interaction of a user of the device with a user interface element, the network message comprising data entities created by the workflow component corresponding to the user interface element.

42. The terminal device according to claim 41, wherein the network message is configured according to the message component for comprising the data entities based on the structured definition language.

43. The terminal device according to claim 42, wherein the executable version is configured for receiving a response network message comprising message data related to the data entities, the response network message configured for subsequent presentation of the message data on a user interface of the device, wherein the message data is formatted based on the structured definition language.

44. The terminal device according to claim 43, wherein the device comprises any of;

a personal computer, a wireless device, a PDA, a self-service kiosk, and/or a desktop terminal.

45. The terminal device according to claim 34, wherein each message component of the at least one message components uniquely maps to a message described by the schema-definition of the service.

46. The terminal device according to claim 38, wherein the template based execution model is used for executing the executable version in native code, the model employing a number of predefined templates configured for populating with the metadata descriptors of the components, wherein the predefined templates are provided for the plurality of components comprising any of;

data components, message components, and/or presentation components.

47. The terminal device according to claim 46, wherein the predefined templates are populated with metadata defined parameters associated with the metadata descriptors using the populated templates for building the executable version in the native code.

48. The terminal device according to claim 38, wherein the metadata based execution model is used for executing the executable version, the model configured for keeping the metadata definitions in the structured definition language for parsing during execution.

49. The terminal device according to claim 38, wherein the metadata based execution model is used for executing the executable version, the model configured for using a native representation of structured definition language nodes during execution.

50. The terminal device according to claim 28, wherein the runtime environment is provided by a component frame-work providing a set of common services to component applications.

51. The terminal device according to claim 28, wherein the executable version of the component application executes in an application container, which is part of the component frame-work.

52. The terminal device according to claim 51, wherein the application container is responsible for one or more of:

a communication service;

a presentation service;

a persistence service;

an access service;

a provisioning service; and

an utility service.

53. A computer program product for configuring a terminal device for interacting over a network with a schema-based service using an executable version of a component application including a plurality of components, the computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium;

a runtime environment module stored on the computer readable medium for coordinating execution of the executable version for configuring the device as a client of the service, the runtime environment configured for interaction with a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the component application program and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining a workflow of the component application program, the workflow comprising a workflow component for defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the terminal device, the components being configured for provisioning by a runtime environment of the device, the runtime environment using a template-based execution model or a metadata-based execution model, to produce an executable version of the component application program configuring the device as a client of the service;

wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the network between the service and the device.

54. A server configured for providing a schema-based service for interacting with a terminal device over a network, the server comprising:

a network interface for receiving a request network message to establish communication between the service and the device;

a component application program coupled to the network interface for sending in response to the request network message, the component application program including a plurality of components, a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the component application program and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining a workflow of the component application program, the workflow-comprising a workflow component for defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the terminal device, the components being configured for provisioning by a runtime environment of the device, the runtime environment using a template-based execution model or a metadata-based execution model, to produce an executable version of the component application program configuring the device as a client of the service;

wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the network between the service and the device.

55. A terminal device configured for interacting over a network with a schema-based service using an executable version of a component application program including a plurality of components, the device comprising;

an infrastructure means for operating the device to execute the executable version;

a user interface means coupled to the infrastructure means configured for communication with the executable version;

a network interface coupled to the device infrastructure and configured for communicating with the network; and

a runtime means for coordinating execution of the executable version for configuring the device as a client of the service, the runtime means configured for interaction with a first set of the components having metadata descriptors expressed in a structured definition language for defining configuration information of the component application program and a second set of the components being expressed as a series of scripted instructions coupled to the metadata descriptors for defining a workflow of the component application program, the workflow-comprising a workflow component for defining an action to be performed when messages arrive at the terminal device, the components being configured for provisioning by a runtime environment of the device, the runtime environment using a template-based execution model or a metadata-based execution model, to produce an executable version of the component application program configuring the device as a client of the service;

wherein the execution of the executable version facilitates a subsequent exchange of data over the network between the service and the device.