Mechanism and apparatus for accessing and addressing services in a distributed computing environment

• US 8,135,796 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2000
• Issued: 03/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Slaughter, Gregory L., Saulpaugh, Thomas E., Traversat, Bernard A., Abdelaziz, Mohamed M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chankong, Dohm
• Application Number:
  US09/660,563
• Time in Patent Office: 4,200 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709201-203, 709/206, 709/208, 709/213, 709216-219, 709/224, 709230-235, 709/237, 709227-229, 709/225, 709/226, 707/10, 707/100
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5061 characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
• 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 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

In a distributed computing environment, a service advertisement may include information for a client to access a particular service. A service may publish the service advertisement in a space which stores documents such as eXtensible Markup Language (XML) documents. The advertisement may include a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and an XML schema for the service that specifies XML messages which are usable to invoke functions of the service. A client may access the space and read the advertisement to construct a gate for access to the service. The client may send a first XML message to the service at the URI, wherein the first XML message is specified in the XML schema, to invoke one or more functions of the service. The service may send a second message specified in the XML schema (e.g., a message including the results of the invoked function(s)) to the client.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

a client, implemented by a computer on a network, sending a lookup message to a space, wherein the lookup message specifies desired characteristics of documents stored within the space;

the client receiving a lookup response indicating identifiers of discovered documents within the space that, in addition to being stored in the space, match the desired characteristics;

the client obtaining a service advertisement from the space, where the service advertisement is a document expressed in a markup language and is one of the discovered documents listed in the lookup response, wherein the space comprises a network-accessible repository which stores a plurality of service advertisements expressed in the markup language, wherein each of the plurality of service advertisements comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and a markup language schema for a respective service, wherein the URI specifies a network address at which the respective service may be accessed, and wherein the markup language schema defines a message interface for accessing the respective service; and

the client accessing the service according to the service advertisement, wherein

said accessing the service comprises the client sending a first markup language message to the service at the URI specified in the service advertisement, wherein the first message is specified in the markup language schema.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the service sending a second markup language message to the client in response to the service receiving the first markup language message, wherein the second markup language message is specified in the markup language schema.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

invoking one or more functions of the service in response to the first markup language message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the markup language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the URI comprises an Internet address.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the service publishing the service advertisement in the space.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the client accessing a lookup service to find the service advertisement in the space.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the client generating a message gate for accessing the service, wherein the message gate is generated according to the URI and the markup language schema in the service advertisement, and wherein said sending a first markup language message to the service comprises sending the message via the message gate.

9. A system, comprising:

a client implemented by a computer;

a service, implemented by a computer, which is communicatively coupled to the client via a network; and

a space, implemented by a computer, which is communicatively coupled to the client via the network, wherein the space comprises a network-accessible repository which stores a plurality of service advertisements, wherein each service advertisement is a document expressed in a markup language, wherein the space stores a service advertisement for the service, wherein each of the plurality of service advertisements comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and a markup language schema for a respective service, wherein the URI specifies a network address at which the respective service may be accessed, and wherein the markup language schema defines a message interface for accessing the respective service;

wherein the client is operable to;

send a lookup message to the space, wherein the lookup message specifies desired characteristics of documents stored within the space;

receive a lookup response indicating identifiers of discovered documents within the space that, in addition to being stored in the space, match the desired characteristics, wherein the service advertisement is one of the discovered documents listed in the lookup response;

obtain the service advertisement for the service, listed among the discovered documents, from the space; and

access the service according to the service advertisement, wherein, to access the service, the client is operable to send a first markup language message to the service at the URI specified in the service advertisement, and wherein the first message is specified in the markup language schema.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the service is operable to send a second markup language message to the client in response to the first markup language message, wherein the second markup language message is specified in the markup language schema.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein one or more functions of the service are invoked in response to the first markup language message.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the markup language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the URI comprises an Internet address.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the service is operable to publish the service advertisement in the space.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the client is operable to access a lookup service to find the service advertisement in the space.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the client is operable to generate a gate for accessing the service, wherein the message gate is generated according to the URI and the markup language schema in the service advertisement, and wherein, to send a first markup language message to the service, the client is operable to send the message via the message gate.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to implement:

a client sending a lookup message to a space,

wherein the lookup message is in a markup language and specifies in the mark up language desired characteristics of documents stored within the space;

the client receiving a lookup response message in the markup language, wherein the lookup response message indicates identifiers of discovered documents within the space that, in addition to being stored in the space, match the desired characteristics;

the client obtaining a service advertisement from the space, where the service advertisement is a document expressed in the markup language and is one of the discovered documents listed in the lookup response message, wherein the space comprises a network-accessible repository which stores a plurality of service advertisements expressed in the markup language, wherein each of the plurality of service advertisements comprises a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and a markup language schema for a respective service, wherein the URI specifies a network address at which the respective service may be accessed, and wherein the markup language schema defines a message interface for accessing the respective service; and

the client accessing the service according to the service advertisement, wherein said accessing the service comprises the client sending a first markup language message to the service at the URI specified in the service advertisement, and wherein the first message is specified in the specified in the service advertisement schema.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed further cause a computer to implement the service sending a second markup language message to the client in response to the service receiving the first markup language message, wherein the second markup language message is specified in the markup language schema.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed further cause a computer to implement invoking one or more functions of the service in response to the first markup language message.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the markup language comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML).

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the URI comprises an Internet address.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed further cause a computer to implement the service publishing the service advertisement in the space.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed further cause the computer to implement the client accessing a lookup service to find the service advertisement in the space.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the program instructions when executed further cause the a computer to implement the client generating a message gate for accessing the service, wherein the message gate is generated according to the URI and the markup language schema in the service advertisement, and wherein said sending a first markup language message to the service comprises sending the message via the message gate.