Method and apparatus for supporting service enablers via service request composition

• US 7,873,716 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Maes, Stephane H.
• Primary Examiner(s): BATES, KEVIN T
• Application Number:
  US10/856,588
• Publication Number:
  US 20050021670A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,426 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/223, 709/227, 709/228
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor

Abstract

A computer system includes a composition enabler configured to enforce an execution policy associated with a responder in response to a request from a requestor, configured to send the request to the responder, and configured to compose a response with a function from the group: a function that must be executed before the request reaches the responder, a function that must be executed after a response from the responder.

Claims

1. A system for enforcing execution policies for target functions, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a request from a requestor for a target function;

determine a list of providers being configured to provide the requested first target function;

determine an execution policy for the request, the execution policy specifying at least one supporting function for the request, and logic for combining each supporting function, such that the specified supporting functions and respective other functions are discoverable by the requestor;

dynamically composing, by a composing enabler, a plurality of function requests for each of the specified supporting functions and respective other functions;

selecting one of the providers from the list of providers to provide the requested first function;

binding, by the composing enable, the first function with the specified plurality of supporting functions and the plurality of respective other functions;

generate at least one composed request corresponding to a logic of at least one request for the specified at least one supporting function and sending the composed request to the at least one corresponding supporting function;

enable each supporting function to execute and return responses that are composed as a composed response; and

if all supporting functions are satisfied according to the logic of the composed request, pass an intended service request to the target function and pass a response from the target function back to the requestor,

wherein the execution policy is able to specify that a composition of at least one of the supporting functions is executed after the response from the target function is generated.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the request to the target function includes information about the requestor, and the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to send to the requestor a list of discoverable services.

3. The system of claim 1 enabled to further register a list of discoverable services resulting from the compositions executed by the execution policies.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the discovery data includes an interface description and an address.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the discovery data includes meta-data that describes how a requestor should address a composition of functions that the execution policies generate when the requestor tries sending a request to a selected target function.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the requestor prompts for additional data when required by the logic for combining each supporting function.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the target function comprises a composition of functions defined in the execution policy.

7. A method for enforcing execution policies for target functions, comprising:

receiving a request for a first target function from a requestor;

determining a list of providers being configured to provide the requested first target function,

determining an execution policy associated with the first target function, the execution policy specifying a plurality of supporting functions, a plurality of respective other functions, and a composition logic, such that the specified supporting functions and respective other functions are discoverable by the requestor;

dynamically composing, by a composing enabler, a plurality of function requests for each of the specified supporting functions and respective other functions;

selecting one of the providers from the list of providers to provide the requested first function;

binding, by the composing enable, the first function with the specified plurality of supporting functions and the plurality of respective other functions;

in response to the binding, providing the plurality of supporting function requests, a specification of the plurality of respective other functions, and the composition logic to the requestor;

receiving each of the plurality of supporting function requests and respective other requests, in order, from the requestor; and

if all the supporting function requests are satisfied, passing a first function request to one of the other functions for the first function and passing a response from the one of the other functions back to the requestor,

wherein the execution policy is able to specify that at least one of the supporting function requests is ordered to be executed after the response from the one of the other functions is generated.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein before receiving the request for the first function, the method further comprises:

receiving from the requestor a request to discover target functions; and

providing a specification of the first target function to the requestor.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the plurality of function requests comprises a first set of composed supporting function requests and a composed first target function request;

the first set of composed supporting function requests being requested before the composed first target function request as specified by the composition logic in the execution policy.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the first set of composed supporting function requests comprises service requests selected from a group consisting of authentication services, authorization services, accounting services, integrity validation services, certification services, personalization services, and service discovery services.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the first set of composed target function requests further comprises service requests selected from a group consisting of session management services, user services, encryption services, and decryption services.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the plurality of target function requests also comprises a second set of composed supporting and target function requests, the second set of composed supporting and target function requests being requested after the composed first target function request as specified by the composition logic in the execution policy, the second set of composed supporting and target function requests comprising service requests selected from a group consisting of optimization services, routing services, composition services, coordination services, and aggregation services.

13. The method of claim 9

wherein the plurality of target function requests also comprises a second set of supporting and target function requests;

and

wherein the second set of composed supporting and target function requests are requested after the composed first service request as specified by the composition logic in the execution policy.

14. A system for enforcing execution policies for target functions, comprising:

component for receiving a request for a first target function from a requestor;

component for determining a list of providers being configured to provide the requested first target function;

component for determining an execution policy associated with the first target function, the execution policy specifying a plurality of supporting functions, a plurality of respective other functions, and a composition logic, such that the specified supporting functions and respective other functions are discoverable by the requestor;

component for dynamically composing, by a composing enabler, a plurality of function requests for each of the specified supporting functions and respective other functions component for selecting one of the providers from the list of providers to provide the requested first function;

component for binding, by the composing enable, the first function with the specified plurality of supporting functions and the plurality of respective other functions;

in response to the binding, component for providing the plurality of supporting function requests, a specification of the plurality of respective other functions, and the composition logic to the requestor;

receiving each of the plurality of Supporting function requests and respective other requests, in order, from the requestor; and

component for if all the supporting function requests are satisfied, passing a first function request to one of the other functions for the first function and passing a response from the one of the other functions back to the requestor,

wherein the execution policy is able to specify that at least one of the supporting function requests is ordered to be executed after the response from the one of the other functions is generated.