Extended environment data structure for distributed digital assets over a multi-tier computer network

• US 7,752,214 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2001
• Issued: 07/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Op40 Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: OP40 Incorporated
• Inventors: Bobick, Mark, Pace, Charles P., Pizzorni, Paolo R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo; James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Black; Linh
• Application Number:
  US09/947,140
• Publication Number:
  US 20030131084A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,227 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1-1041, 707/736, 707/756
• US Class Current: 707/756
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/549 Remote execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/15 Synchronised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/60 Software deployment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/288 Distributed intermediate devices, i.e. intermediate devices for interaction with other intermediate devices on the same level
• 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 67/564 : Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 : Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 : Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 : Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 : Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 : for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 : Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

An extended environment data structure that is part of a digital asset that is transmittable over one or more multi-tiered networks. The data structure has one or more common descriptors to provide a unique identification of the digital asset on the networks; one or more asset dependency descriptors to identify one or more associated digital assets, associated digital assets are associated with the digital asset by a joint membership as parts of a whole; and has one or more target server dependencies descriptors to identify a base execution environment on one or more target computers. In an alternative exemplary embodiment and/or exemplary method, one or more EIS server dependencies descriptors are included to identify an EIS execution environment on the respective EIS from which the asset resides. In still other exemplary embodiments and/or exemplary methods, other descriptors are included in the extended environment data structure.

Claims

1. A computer program product comprising an extended environment data structure that is part of a digital asset tangibly stored on a storage medium in a source computer, having a memory and a processor and at least one network connection, of a Component Distribution Server system that improves the distribution of the digital asset over one or more multi-tiered networks, the data structure comprising said computer program product including:

one or more common descriptors to provide a unique identification of the digital asset on the multi-tiered networks, wherein the digital asset is a component of an application and has an asset type defined by an asset boundary and at least two asset layers including a logic/data layer having information that includes a function of the asset and an extended environment layer comprising said extended environment data structure to support the logic/data layer function on the source computer;

one or more base environment descriptors to identify a required base execution environment on one or more target computers, the base execution environment being required to execute the digital asset on a respective target computer that has at least one of a different computer hardware, software, or operating environment, wherein the base execution environment includes one or more other digital assets effective to create the base environment on the target computer deployed to the respective target computer from one or more Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) on the source computer; and

one or more transform descriptors to enable on the source computer translation and change processes of the digital asset to transform the digital asset from a digital asset that performs the asset function that is included in the logic/data layer thereof on an EIS execution environment on the source computer into a processed digital asset, having a processed extended environment including a processed extended environment data structure, that performs the asset function on the target base execution environment on the target computer upon distribution thereto in the Component Distribution Service system;

wherein the digital asset is organized with at least one other digital asset transformed in the EIS environment on the source computer as at least one distributable package according to a package boundary determined by the asset boundary of at least one of the digital assets.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the common descriptors include at least one of:

a digital asset name of the digital asset, a unique fully qualified name of the digital asset, an address of the digital asset, a size of the digital asset, a volatility descriptor of the digital asset, a common runnable descriptor of the digital asset, a user type descriptor of the digital asset, a security descriptor of the digital asset, a price descriptor of the digital asset, an independent deployment of the digital asset, and a priority of the digital asset.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the base execution environment includes at least one of:

one or more DBMS, one or more application servers, one or more Web servers, one or more JMS implementations, one or more J2EE application servers, one or more browsers, one or more Java Virtual Machine (JVM) instantiations, one or more operating systems, systems, sub-systems, applications, sub-applications, components, modules, and functions.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein a whole data structure of the digital asset is defined by at least one of:

a graph, a containment graph, a tube graph, a call graph, or a pure representation expressible as a graph.

8. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein one or more EIS server dependencies descriptors identify an EIS execution environment on a respective EIS from which the digital asset is transformed into a neutral environment form.

9. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein one or more EIS server dependencies descriptors identify an EIS execution environment on a respective EIS from which the digital asset is prepared for transformation into a neutral environment.

10. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein one or more EIS server dependencies identified by one or more of the EIS server dependencies descriptors include at least one of:

EIS operating systems, EIS database management systems (DBMS), EIS servers, EIS application servers, EIS web application servers, one or more general business applications, one or more accounting applications, customer relationship management systems (CRM), business to business (B2B) systems, supply chain management systems, business to customer (B2C) system, order fulfillment systems, electronic shopping systems, one or more Enterprise Application Integration systems, one or more legacy interfaces, one or more Java Connector Framework (JCF) connectors, one or more JCF connectors for legacy interfaces, and message oriented middleware applications.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the EIS server dependencies include at least one of:

one or more DBMS products, one or more Oracle DBMS, one or more Sybase DBMS, and one or more DB2 DBMS.

12. The computer program product of claim 1, 5 or 7 wherein the transform of the digital asset includes a transformation of data in a logic/data section of the digital asset.

13. The computer program product of claim 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more reference descriptors.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the reference descriptors include at least one of:

a reference link descriptor, a reference file descriptor, and a reference directory descriptor.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the reference link descriptor provides a world-wide-web (WWW) address having contents used for processing of the digital asset.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the reference link descriptor provides a world-wide-web (WWW) address having contents used during execution of the digital asset.

17. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the reference file descriptor is a unique fully qualified name of a file required for reference by the digital asset.

18. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the reference directory descriptor provides an additional address information for locating one or more of the associated digital assets.

19. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein the transform descriptor includes a properties descriptor to provide information required for use of the digital asset on an operating system of the base execution environment.

20. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein the transform descriptor includes a registry descriptor to provide information required for use of the digital asset on a Windows operating system of the base execution environment.

21. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein the transform descriptor includes a registry descriptor to provide information required for use of the digital asset on a Windows operating system on the base execution environment.

22. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more asset type descriptors.

23. The computer program product of claim 22, wherein the asset type descriptors include at least one of:

static content (SC), dynamic content (DC), enterprise Java beans (EJB), reference data (RD), session bean (SB), entity bean (EB), entity data (ED), Java class (JC), Java beans (JB), Java Connector Framework (JCF), and Java applet (JA).

24. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more asset category descriptors.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the asset category descriptors include at least one of:

a presentational descriptor, a transactional descriptor, an integration connector descriptor, and a relational data descriptor.

26. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein the asset category descriptors include at least one of:

a content descriptor, a presentational component descriptor, a transactional component descriptor, an integration connector component descriptor, an object data descriptor, and a relational data descriptor.

27. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more asset class descriptors.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, wherein the asset class descriptors include at least one of:

base, Java, non-Java, language, and non-language.

29. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more package relationship descriptors representing a part-whole relationship between the digital asset and one or more packages containing the digital asset.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein the package relationship descriptors represent at least the following three relationships in the part-whole relationship:

a mandatory part-whole relationship, a shared part-whole relationship, and a root part-whole relationship.

31. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more security descriptors.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the security descriptors include at least one of the following functions:

encryption, authentication, authorization, and access control.

33. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more runnable descriptors.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising one or more of the runnable descriptors that include a neutral format to enable deferment of an assignment to a target execution environment for the digital asset.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising one or more of the runnable descriptors that include a target execution environment for the digital asset.

36. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising one or more of the runnable descriptors that include an EIS execution environment and a target execution environment for the digital asset.

37. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more non-runnable descriptors.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising one or more non-runnable descriptors that include a description of the base execution environment for the digital asset.

39. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising one or more of the non-runnable descriptors that include a neutral format to enable deferment of an assignment to a target execution environment for the digital asset.

40. The computer program product of claim 37, further comprising one or more non-runnable descriptors that include description of the EIS execution environment and the base execution environment for the digital asset.

41. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more personalization descriptors to enable the digital asset to be customized upon delivery to one or more of the base execution environments.

42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the personalization descriptors include one or more data keys, being derived from a directory service, to establish a linkage among data elements in the EIS execution environment.

43. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein the directory service is one or more of the following in combination or a federated hierarchy:

an LDAP server, Single- Sign-On service, and/or JNDI service.

44. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein a linkage of data elements resolve to a DBMS query in which one or more EIS databases are partitionable specifically for the needs of one or more target environments.

45. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein a linkage of data elements resolve to one or more content related assets that are partitionable specifically for the needs of one or more target environments.

46. The computer program product of claim 42, wherein a linkage of data elements resolve to one or more application related assets that are partitionable specifically for the needs of one or more target environments.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the application related assets include at least one of:

presentational components and transactional components.

48. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein the application related assets include at least one of:

JSP, Java Servlet, and Java EJB.

49. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the personalization descriptors include one or more data keys to establish a linkage among data elements in an EIS execution environment.

50. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein the personalization descriptors include one or more data keys to establish a linkage among logic elements in an EIS execution environment.

51. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more pricing descriptors.

52. The computer program product of claim 51, wherein the pricing descriptors describe information about at least one of:

a price, a price scheme, a subscription price scheme, a pay to own price scheme, a pay to use price scheme, a one time payment price scheme, a payment detail, payment method, a check description, a credit card description, and a credit card number.

53. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more target information descriptors.

54. The computer program product of claim 53, wherein the target information descriptors describe at least one of:

a well known user, an anonymous user, one or more user groups, an entire user group, a target machine, an identifiable segment of target machines a collection of target machines, an internet protocol address mask, and a group of target computers in a node collection structure.

55. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more schema descriptors.

56. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein the schema descriptors provide information to describe at least one of:

database table names and definitions, database column names and definitions, database key identifiers and value ranges, database view names and definitions, and other well known database schema elements.

57. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more metadata descriptors.

58. The computer program product of claim 57, wherein the metadata descriptors provide information to describe any or more of:

repository object definitions, scope object definitions, module object definitions, operation object definitions, exception object definitions, constant object definitions, properties object definitions, attribute object definitions, relationship object definitions, type object definitions, and other well known metadata object definitions.

59. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, further comprising one or more distribution logic descriptors, each having one or more transactions rules and one or more concurrency rules.

60. The computer program product of claim 59, wherein the transactions rules specify any of a number and a frequency of times that the digital asset is distributable to one or more of the target computers.

61. The computer program product of claim 60, wherein the concurrency rules specify whether there are any restrictions on distribution of the digital asset with respect to the distribution of one or more other digital assets.

62. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein the data structure is received from one or more network connections.

63. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein the data structure is sent over one or more network connections.

64. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein the data structure is stored on one or more memories.

65. The computer program product of claims 1, 5 or 7, wherein information in the data structure is modified at one or more locations on one or more of the multi-tiered networks as the digital asset is distributed over the multi-tiered networks.

5. A computer program product comprising an extended environment data structure that is part of a digital asset tangibly stored on a storage medium in a source computer, having a memory and a processor and at least one network connection, of a Component Distribution Server system that improves the distribution of the digital asset over one or more multi-tiered networks, the data structure comprising said computer program product including:

one or more common descriptors to provide a unique identification of the digital asset on the multi-tiered networks, wherein the digital asset is a component of an application containing static and dynamic content and has an asset type defined by an asset boundary and at least two asset layers including a logic/data layer having information that includes a function of the asset and an extended environment layer comprising said extended environment data structure to support the logic/data layer function on the source computer;

one or more asset dependency descriptors to identify one or more associated digital assets, the associated digital assets being associated with the digital asset by a joint membership as parts of a whole comprising at least one package;

one or more base environment descriptors to identify a required base execution environment on one or more target computers, the base execution environment being required to execute the digital asset on a respective target computer that has at least one of a different computer hardware, software, or operating environment, wherein the base execution environment includes one or more other digital assets effective to create the base environment on the target computer deployed to the respective target computer from one or more Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) on the source computer; and

one or more transform descriptors to enable on the source computer translation and change processes of the digital asset to transform the digital asset from a digital asset that performs the asset function that is included in the logic/data layer thereof on an EIS execution environment on the source computer into a processed digital asset, having a processed extended environment including a processed extended environment data structure, that performs the asset function on the target base execution environment on the target computer upon distribution thereto in the Component Distribution Service system;

wherein the digital asset is organized with at least one other digital asset transformed in the EIS environment on the source computer as at least one distributable package according to a package boundary determined by the asset boundary of at least one of the digital assets.

6. The computer program product of claim 5, wherein the asset dependency descriptors include at least one of:

one or more names of other digital assets on which the digital asset is dependent, an asset identifier, and one or more unique fully qualified names of other digital assets on which the digital asset is dependent.

7. A computer program product comprising an extended environment data structure that is part of a digital asset tangibly stored on a storage medium in a source computer, having a memory and a processor and at least one network connection, of a Component Distribution Server system that improves the distribution of the digital asset over one or more multi-tiered networks, the data structure comprising said computer program product including:

one or more common descriptors to provide a unique identification of the digital asset on the multi-tiered networks, wherein the digital asset is a component of an application and has an asset type defined by an asset boundary and at least two asset layers including a logic/data layer having information that includes a function of the asset and an extended environment layer comprising said extended environment data structure to support the logic/data layer function on the source computer;

one or more asset dependency descriptors to identify one or more associated digital assets, the associated digital assets being associated with the digital asset by a joint membership as parts of a whole comprising at least one package;

one or more base environment descriptors to identify a required base execution environment on one or more target computers, the base execution environment being required to execute the digital asset on a respective target computer that has at least one of a different computer hardware, software, or operating environment, wherein the base execution environment includes one or more other digital assets effective to create the base environment on the target computer deployed to the respective target computer from one or more Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) on the source computer;

one or more EIS server dependencies descriptors to identify an EIS execution environment on a respective EIS on which the digital asset and associated digital asset(s) reside; and

one or more transform descriptors to enable on the source computer translation and change processes of the digital asset to transform the digital asset from a digital asset that performs the asset function that is included in the logic/data layer thereof on an EIS execution environment on the source computer into a processed digital asset, having a processed extended environment including a processed extended environment data structure, that performs the asset function on the target base execution environment on the target computer upon distribution thereto in the Component Distribution Service system;

wherein the digital asset is organized with at least one other digital asset transformed in the EIS environment on the source computer as at least one distributable package according to a package boundary determined by the asset boundary of at least one of the digital assets.