System and method of remotely managing and loading artifacts

• US 7,720,931 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Hua, Brown, Michael W., Mei, Xiaochun, Zhao, Hai Y., Chen, Gang, Huang, Xin, Claussen, Christopher S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomas; Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): FABBRI, ANTHONY E
• Application Number:
  US11/549,623
• Publication Number:
  US 20080091792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,313 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 709/217, 709/219, 707/6, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

A system and method of remotely loading artifacts is disclosed. The method involves storing and indexing a plurality of artifacts in a centralized location. A query is received from a client to locate an artifact, and the artifact is located within the central location. A reply is then returned to the client, wherein the reply includes a location of the artifact. In one embodiment, the method of remotely loading artifacts further involves the artifacts being previously extracted from an application during the installation of the application.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

store a plurality of artifacts in a centralized location, each artifact having been previously extracted from an application during the installation of the application, wherein to execute a process the application requests an artifact for execution;

share the plurality of artifacts among a plurality of applications having different artifacts that use an identical target namespace, the plurality of artifacts further being indexed;

receive a query from a client to locate the artifact, wherein a criteria that includes a target namespace and one application is specified in the query;

search the centralized location for a matching artifact in response to receiving the query, wherein the target namespace is an abstract container that provides a context for any artifact that the abstract container holds, wherein the target namespace is unique within the application in which the target namespace is created;

locate the matching artifact within the centralized location based on the criteria specified in the query; and

transmit a location of the matching artifact to the client, wherein a remote server module is searched first for the artifact, and wherein if the remote server module does not define the artifact that includes the target namespace specified in the query, a local server module is queried.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the artifact includes metadata, and wherein a client module corresponding to the client is configured in a dynamic configuration.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the artifact includes an Extensible Markup Language schema.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the plurality of artifacts are further indexed according to at least one of the target namespace, application identifier and type.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein artifacts are extracted from a tree structure and stored in a flat file structure.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the location of the artifact is identified with a Uniform Resource Locator.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the centralized location is a database.

8. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the centralized location is a directory structure.

9. A method comprising:

storing a plurality of artifacts in a centralized location, each artifact having been previously extracted from an application during the installation of the application, wherein to execute a process the application requests an artifact for execution;

sharing the plurality of artifacts among a plurality of applications having different artifacts that use an identical target namespace, the plurality of artifacts further being indexed;

receiving a query from a client to locate the artifact, wherein a criteria that includes a target namespace and one application is specified in the query;

searching the centralized location for a matching artifact in response to receiving the query, wherein the target namespace is an abstract container that provides a context for any artifact that the abstract container holds, wherein the target namespace is unique within the application in which the target namespace is created;

locating the matching artifact within the centralized location based on the criteria specified in the query; and

returning a location of the matching artifact to the client, wherein a remote server module is searched first for the artifact, and wherein if the remote server module does not define the artifact that includes the target namespace specified in the query, a local server module is queried.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the artifact includes metadata, and wherein a client module corresponding to the client is configured in a dynamic configuration.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the artifact includes Extensible Markup Language schema.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the artifacts are indexed according to the target namespace.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the artifacts are further indexed according to application.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein artifacts are further indexed according to type.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein artifacts are extracted from a tree structure and stored in a flat file structure.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein the location of the artifact is a Uniform Resource Locator.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the centralized location is a directory structure.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the client is in communication with the application.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the query includes at least one of a target namespace, application identifier, and type.

20. A system comprising:

a communication module configured to receive a query for an artifact and return a location of the artifact matching criteria specified in the query, wherein the criteria specified in the query includes a target namespace and one application;

a centralized storage associated with the communication module, the centralized storage having a plurality of artifacts stored therein, each of the plurality of artifacts having been previously extracted from an application during installation of the application, wherein to execute a process the application requests the artifact for execution and wherein the system is configured to;

share the plurality of artifacts among a plurality of applications having different artifacts that use an identical target namespace, the plurality of artifacts further being indexed;

receive a query from a client to locate the artifact, wherein a criteria that includes a target namespace and one application is specified in the query; and

search the centralized storage for a matching artifact in response to receiving the query, wherein the target namespace is an abstract container that provides a context for any artifact that the abstract container holds, wherein the target namespace is unique within the application in which the target namespace is created;

a locator module for searching the centralized storage and identifying the artifact matching criteria specified in the query, the locator module further configured to return the location of the matching artifact to the communication module; and

a remote server module and a local server module, wherein the remote server module is searched first for the matching artifact, and wherein if the remote server module does not define the artifact that includes the target namespace specified in the query, the local server module is queried.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a client module, the client module being in communication with an application requesting an artifact, and configured to send a query for the artifact to the communication module.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein the client module is configured by an administrator to query a specific communication module and associated centralized storage.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein the client module is configured to programmatically query one or more specific communication modules and each associated centralized storage.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the artifact includes metadata, and wherein a client module corresponding to the client is configured in a dynamic configuration.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein the artifact includes Extensible Markup Language schema.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein the artifacts are further indexed according to at least one of an application name and type.