Techniques for managing interaction of web services and applications
First Claim
1. A method for handling requests for web services, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
- receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of a client application, a request for information, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular web service from which said particular instance wants said requested information, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by said particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service;
in response to receiving said request, the web services brokeraccessing, based on said identification of said particular web service,transformation information that specifies,how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, andhow to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service;
providing said second input data from said first input data, wherein providing the second input data includes supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; and
invoking, in said manner required by said particular web service, said particular web service to obtain said requested information from said particular web service;
wherein said requested information is obtained from said particular web service by providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter;
wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A web service broker transforms, at runtime, output data from client applications to the input data form required by various web services. Such transformations are based on data and/or parameter mappings that are accessible to the broker. Further, the broker accesses and invokes particular web services in the manner required by the web services. Such invocations are based on information regarding the access style, such as RPC style of communication, and encoding, such as SOAP, associated with respective web services. The broker provides a generic framework in that it is capable of supporting transformation of different data and data forms from many different applications to respective data that many different respective web services can use.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method for handling requests for web services, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
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receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of a client application, a request for information, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular web service from which said particular instance wants said requested information, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by said particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service; in response to receiving said request, the web services broker accessing, based on said identification of said particular web service, transformation information that specifies, how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, and how to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; providing said second input data from said first input data, wherein providing the second input data includes supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; and invoking, in said manner required by said particular web service, said particular web service to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; wherein said requested information is obtained from said particular web service by providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 24, 25, 53)
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7. A method for handling requests for web services, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:
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receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of a client application, a request for information, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular instance of said client application, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by a particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service; in response to receiving said request, based on said identification of said particular instance of said client application, the web services broker accessing transformation information; wherein said transformation information includes a mapping between said identification of said particular instance of said client application and an identification of said particular web service, the mapping indicating that said particular instance prefers said particular web service to service requests from said particular instance for said requested information; wherein said transformation information specifies how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, and how to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; based on said transformation information, the web services broker providing said second input data from said first input data, wherein providing the second input data includes supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; the web services broker invoking, in said manner required by said particular web service, said particular web service to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; wherein said requested information is obtained from said particular web service by the web services broker providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 51, 54)
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22. A system for handling requests for web services, the system comprising:
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means for receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of a client application, a request for information from a particular web service, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular web service from which said particular instance wants said requested information, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by said particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service; means for the web services broker accessing, in response to receiving said request, based on said identification of said particular web service, transformation information that specifies how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, and how to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; means for the web services broker providing, in response to receiving said request, based on said transformation information, said second input data from said first input data, wherein the means for providing the second input data includes means for supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; means for the web services broker invoking, in response to receiving said request, based on said transformation information, said particular web service in said manner required by said particular web service to obtain said requested information; wherein the means for the web services broker invoking includes means for obtaining said requested information from said particular web service by providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter. - View Dependent Claims (49, 55)
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23. A system for handling requests for web services, the system comprising:
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means for receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of said client application, a request for information, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular instance of said client application, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by a particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service; means for the web services broker accessing transformation information in response to receiving said request and based on said identification of said particular instance of said client application; wherein said transformation information includes a mapping between said identification of said particular instance of said client application and an identification of said particular web service, the mapping indicating that said particular instance prefers said particular web service to service requests from said particular instance for said requested information; wherein said transformation information specifies how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, and how to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; means for the web services broker providing said second input data from said first input data based on said transformation information, wherein the means for providing the second input data includes means for supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; means for the web services broker invoking, in response to receiving said request, based on said transformation information, said particular web service in said manner required by said particular web service to obtain said requested information; wherein the means for the web services broker invoking includes means for obtaining said requested information from said particular web service by providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter. - View Dependent Claims (50, 56)
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26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for handling requests for web services, the instructions, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform the computer-implemented steps of:
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receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of a client application, a request for information, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular web service from which said particular instance wants said requested information, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by said particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service; in response to receiving said request, the web services broker accessing, based on said identification of said particular web service, transformation information that specifies, how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, and how to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; providing said second input data from said first input data, wherein providing the second input data includes supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; and invoking, in said manner required by said particular web service, said particular web service to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; wherein said requested information is obtained from said particular web service by providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 47, 48, 57)
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32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for handling requests for web services, the instructions, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause the one or more computing devices to perform the computer-implemented steps of:
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receiving at a web services broker, from a particular instance of a client application, a request for information, wherein said request includes an identification of a particular instance of said client application, the request having first input data, the first input data being in a form that cannot be used by a particular web service to service requests for said information at least in part because said first input data does not include any value for a first parameter required by the particular web service; in response to receiving said request, based on said identification of said particular instance of said client application, the web services broker accessing transformation information; wherein said transformation information includes a mapping between said identification of said particular instance of said client application and an identification of said particular web service, the mapping indicating that said particular instance prefers said particular web service to service requests from said particular instance for said requested information; wherein said transformation information specifies how to provide, from said first input data associated with said request, second input data that said particular web service can use to service requests for said requested information, and how to invoke said particular web service in a manner required by said particular web service, to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; based on said transformation information, the web services broker providing said second input data from said first input data, wherein providing the second input data includes supplementing the first input data with a first value for said first parameter required by the particular web service; the web services broker invoking, in said manner required by said particular web service, said particular web service to obtain said requested information from said particular web service; wherein said requested information is obtained from said particular web service by the web services broker providing the first value to the particular web service as a value for said first parameter. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 52, 58)
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Specification