Providing remote services to legacy applications

• US 7,945,949 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2007
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Johnson, Bruce E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Moazzami; Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEWIS, LISA C
• Application Number:
  US11/687,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20080235782A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,520 Days
• Field of Search: 726/2, 726/5
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2876 Pairs of inter-processing entities at each side of the network, e.g. split proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561

Abstract

A developer can provide complex services to existing legacy applications using one or more components configured to tap into a service abstraction framework. In one implementation, for example, a developer of a remote service provider adds one or more authentication attributes to the remote service provider, and further creates a local client driver that incorporates a client proxy. When a legacy application generates a function request (e.g., to print, send a text message, initiate a voice communication), the client proxy intercepts the request through an appropriate communication subsystem, and relays the request to the server proxy. The server proxy determines the extent to which authentication measures may be required. If required, the client proxy can initiate out-of-band processing with various authentication managers to validate/process the request at the remote service provider.

Claims

1. At a client computer device in a computerized environment including one or more legacy applications in communication with one or more service provider subsystems and one or more device drivers, a method of executing one or more legacy application requests through one or more remote services using a service abstraction framework, comprising the acts of:

sending one or more application program requests, wherein the one or more application program requests are directed to a service provider remote from the client computer device, the remote service provider being configured to handle the one or more requests;

initiating, via communication between a client proxy and a higher level security layer, one or more local authentication managers, wherein the client proxy and the one or more local authentication managers are on the client computer device and operate in different sessions, and wherein the client proxy is hosted through a legacy application program on the client computer device, the legacy application program being limited to awareness of only local computing resources on the client computer device;

establishing a communication channel between the client proxy and the one or more local authentication managers; and

receiving from the remote service provider one or more indicators that the one or more application program requests have been accepted.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising an act of receiving one or more failure messages from the remote service provider with respect to the one or more requests.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the act of initiating occurs after an act of receiving the one or more failure messages from the remote service provider.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the higher level security layer is a kernel mode layer.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the act of initiating the one or more local authentication managers comprise an act of sending one or more requests to a kernel layer component to identify if any of the one or more local authentication managers is running.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising an act of, upon receiving one or more indications that the one or more local authentication managers is not running, sending one or more requests to initiate the one or more local authentication managers.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, further comprising an act of receiving connection information from the kernel layer component, wherein the connection information comprises a handle.

8. The method as recited in claim 7, wherein the act of establishing the communication channel further can comprise an act of initiating an RPC connection with the initiated one or more local authentication managers using the received handle.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the local authentication managers further include one or more metering engines configured to process the one or more requests in light of a policy document dictating a usage policy for the service provider.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising an act of the one or more local authentication managers identifying authentication information for the one or more requests.

11. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the authentication information comprises a product license key for the legacy application program or for the remote service provider.

12. The method as recited in claim 10, further comprising an act of passing the identified authentication information to a remote authentication manager associated with the remote service provider.

13. The method as recited in claim 10, wherein the act of identifying authentication information includes an act of the local authentication manager generating one or more prompts through a separate device for authentication information.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the one or more prompts include a user interface requesting billing information.

15. At a server in a computerized environment having one or more server proxies for receiving requests from one or more client computer devices, a method of processing one or more device requests using a service abstraction framework, comprising the acts of:

receiving from a client computer device via a server proxy one or more device requests to be processed by a service provider, one or more device requests being received at a server remote from a client computer system, and wherein the server proxy and the service provider are remote relative to the client computer device;

identifying from one or more attributes associated with the remote service provider that one or more authentication measures are required to process the one or more device requests;

sending one or more authentication requests to an authentication manager that is remote relative to the client computer device, the remote authentication manager being in communication with an authentication manager on the client computer device, wherein the client proxy is hosted through a legacy application program on the client computer device, the legacy application program being limited to awareness of only local computing resources on the client computer device; and

sending one or more responses to the client computer device that the one or more requests have been accepted.

16. The method as recited in claim 15, wherein the one or more authentication measures include one or more requirements for billing information in order to process the one or more device requests.

17. The method as recited in claim 15, further comprising the acts of:

identifying that there is no authentication present for the one or more device requests; and

sending one or more failure messages to the client computer device.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, further comprising an act of receiving the authentication for the one or more device requests from the remote authentication manager.

19. At a client computer device in a computerized environment including one or more legacy applications in communication with one or more service provider subsystems and one or more device drivers, a computer program storage device having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause one or more processors at the client computer device to perform a method comprising the acts of:

sending one or more application program requests, wherein the one or more application program requests are directed to a service provider remote from the client computer device, the remote service provider being configured to handle the one or more requests;

initiating, via communication between a client proxy and a higher level security layer, one or more local authentication managers, wherein the client proxy and the one or more local authentication managers are on the client computer device and operate in different sessions, and wherein the client proxy is hosted through a legacy application program on the client computer device, the legacy application program being limited to awareness of only local computing resources on the client computer device;

establishing a communication channel between the client proxy and the one or more local authentication managers; and

receiving from the remote service provider one or more indicators that the one or more application program requests have been accepted.

20. The computer program storage device recited in claim 19, wherein:

the client proxy is configured to initiate various out-of-band communications and transactions within a generalized service abstraction framework;

the legacy application program accesses the service abstraction framework only for use of the service provider; and

the client proxy interfaces with a device driver on one end, and the service abstraction framework on the other, the client proxy being configured to expose core functional elements of a device.