Encoding/decoding while allowing varying message formats per message

• US 8,145,794 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2008
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jethanandani, Natasha H., Maine, Stephen Jared, Osovetsky, Evgeny, Rangachari, Krishnan R., Vishwanath, Tirunelveli R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Daftuar, Saket K
• Application Number:
  US12/049,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20090234971A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,474 Days
• Field of Search: 709/221, 709/229, 709/230, 709/246, 714/752, 714/758, 714/786, 714/792, 714/801, 713/150, 713/151, 713/152, 713200-201, 375/240.23, 341/50, 341/52, 341/56, 341/63, 341/65, 341/67
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Encoding and/or decoding of messages. On the encoding end, a composite encoder encodes message from an internal format that is used by internal system components into an external format. However, the composite encoder may encode the outgoing messages into different external formats on a per-message basis. For incoming message, a composite decoder decodes incoming messages from any one of a plurality of external formats into the internal format also on a per-message basis. A per-message report mechanism permits internal system components and the encoding/decoding components to communicate information regarding the encoding or decoding on a per message basis. This permits a higher level of collaboration and complexity in the encoding and decoding process.

Claims

1. A method, implemented in a computing environment comprising at least one processor operatively coupled to a memory, for selectively encoding messages formatted with an internal format into a plurality of different external formats on a per-message basis, the method comprising:

receiving a message formatted with an internal format at a composite encoder/decoder that comprises a plurality of constituent encoders and decoders, the encoders configured to encode messages from the internal format to a plurality of different external message formats on a per-message basis, wherein each of the plurality of constituent encoders encodes messages into at least one of the plurality of different external message formats, and wherein the internal format is processable by one or more internal system components;

consulting a per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism that includes encoding/decoding information that comprises selection of an appropriate external message format into which to encode the message as an outgoing message as well as selection of a decoding format corresponding to a response to the outgoing message, wherein the encoding information is written to the per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism by at least one of the one or more internal system components on a per-message basis;

selecting the appropriate external message format based on consulting the per-message encoding report mechanism and the encoding information, wherein selecting the appropriate external message format comprises using a content type corresponding to the message;

selecting an appropriate encoder from among the plurality of constituent encoders based on selecting the appropriate external message format, wherein the appropriate encoder encodes messages into the appropriate external message format; and

encoding the message into the outgoing message with the appropriate encoder, such that the outgoing message is formatted with the external message format.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more internal system components permits a programmer to select the appropriate external message format corresponding to a particular the message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the one or more internal system components permits a programmer to select the decoding format corresponding to the response to the outgoing message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the internal format comprises eXtensible Markup Language (XML) or Infoset format.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of external formats includes at least one of binary, XML or Infoset.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the composite encoder/decoder manages the plurality of constituent encoders, and wherein the composite encoder/decoder is configured to be extensible to include additional constituent encoders.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another message formatted with the internal format;

selecting an different encoder from among the plurality of constituent encoders; and

encoding the another message into another outgoing message formatted with another external message format that is different from the particular external message format, using the different encoder.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more internal system components operate upon messages having the internal message format, while external components operate upon messages having the plurality of external formats.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the appropriate external message format comprises querying at least one of the constituent encoders to determine encoding capabilities.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the encoding/decoding information also includes selection of a particular content type of the message and wherein encoding the message into the outgoing message with the appropriate encoder comprises overriding a default content type of the appropriate encoder, such that the outgoing message is formatted with the external message format and particular content type.

11. A method, implemented within a computing environment comprising at least one processor operatively coupled to a memory, a computer-implemented method for selectively decoding messages formatted with a plurality of different external formats into an internal format on a per-message basis, the method comprising:

receiving an incoming message at a composite encoder/decoder, wherein the incoming message is received as a response to an outgoing message previously encoded by the composite encoder/decoder and is formatted with a particular external format selected from a plurality of different external formats, wherein the composite encoder/decoder comprises a plurality of constituent encoders and decoders, the decoders configured to decode messages from any one of the plurality of different external formats into an internal format on a per-message basis, wherein each of the plurality of constituent decoders decodes messages from at least one of the plurality of different external formats, and wherein the internal format is processable by one or more internal system components;

consulting a per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism that includes encoding/decoding information that relates to the selection of an appropriate decoder with which to decode the incoming message including selection of a decoding format corresponding to the incoming message, the decoding information having been previously written to the per-message report mechanism by an internal system component in connection with the outgoing message, and wherein the composite encoder/decoder is capable of writing information regarding the decoding to the per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism that is readable by at least one of the one or more internal system components;

selecting an appropriate decoder from among the plurality of constituent decoders based on consulting the per-message encoding report mechanism, including the selection of the decoding format corresponding to the incoming message, wherein the appropriate decoder decodes messages from the particular external format into the internal format;

decoding the incoming message into a corresponding internal message formatted with the internal format, using the appropriate decoder; and

writing information identifying the particular external format of the internal message to the encoding/decoding information, and which is used by at least one of the one or more internal system components to perform format-specific processing of the decoded message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the format-dependent processing is followed by exposing at least a derivative of the incoming message in a format-independent way to yet one or more additional internal system components.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the composite encoder/decoder automatically detects an external format of the incoming message using an automatic detection process.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the automatic detection process is configurable.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the automatic detection process receives a content type of the incoming message as input.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving another internal message formatted with a different external format that is different from the particular external format;

selecting an different decoder from among the plurality of constituent decoders; and

decoding the another internal message into another corresponding message formatted with the internal format, using the different decoder.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the information identifying the particular external format of the internal message is used by at least one of the one or more internal system components to validate whether the incoming message is valid based on the particular external format.

16. One or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, causes the computing system to implement a method, comprising:

the computing system receiving a message formatted with an internal format at a composite encoder/decoder that comprises a plurality of constituent encoders and decoders, the encoders configured to encode messages from the internal format to a plurality of different external message formats on a per-message basis, wherein each of the plurality of constituent encoders encodes messages into at least one of the plurality of different external message formats, and wherein the internal format is processable by one or more internal system components, the computing system including one or more processors;

the computing system consulting a per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism that includes encoding/decoding information that comprises specification of an appropriate external message format into which to encode the message as an outgoing message as well as specification of a decoding format corresponding to a response to the outgoing message, wherein the encoding information is written to the per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism by at least one of the one or more internal system components on a per-message basis;

the computing system selecting the appropriate external message format based on consulting the per-message encoding report mechanism and the encoding information, wherein selecting the appropriate external message format comprises using a content type corresponding to the message;

the computing system selecting an appropriate encoder from among the plurality of constituent encoders based on selecting the appropriate external message format, wherein the appropriate encoder encodes messages into the appropriate external message format; and

the computing system encoding the message into the outgoing message with the appropriate encoder, such that the outgoing message is formatted with the external message format.

17. One or more computer storage devices having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, causes the computing system to implement a method, comprising:

the computing system receiving an incoming message at a composite encoder/decoder, wherein the incoming message is received as a response to an outgoing message previously encoded by the composite encoder/decoder and is formatted with a particular external format selected from a plurality of different external formats, wherein the composite encoder/decoder comprises a plurality of constituent encoders and decoders, the decoders configured to decode messages from any one of the plurality of different external formats into an internal format on a per-message basis, wherein each of the plurality of constituent decoders decodes messages from at least one of the plurality of different external formats, and wherein the internal format is processable by one or more internal system components, the computing system including one or more processors;

the computing system consulting a per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism that includes encoding/decoding information that relates to the specification of an appropriate decoder with which to decode the incoming message including specification of a decoding format corresponding to the incoming message, the decoding information having been previously written to the per-message report mechanism by an internal system component in connection with the outgoing message, and wherein the composite encoder/decoder is capable of writing information regarding the decoding to the per-message encoding/decoding report mechanism that is readable at least one of the one or more internal system components;

the computing system selecting an appropriate decoder from among the plurality of constituent decoders based on consulting the per-message encoding report mechanism, including selection of the decoding format corresponding to the incoming message, wherein the appropriate decoder decodes messages from the particular external format into the internal format;

the computing system decoding the incoming internal message into a corresponding message formatted with the internal format, using the appropriate decoder; and

the computing system writing information identifying the particular external format of the internal message to the encoding/decoding information, and which is used by at least one of the one or more internal system components to perform format-specific processing of the decoded message.