Flexible namespace prioritization

• US 8,862,590 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2007
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sheehan, John M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Abrishamkar, Kaveh
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wilcox, James J
• Application Number:
  US11/771,964
• Publication Number:
  US 20090007162A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,664 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/284 Relational databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request

Abstract

Access to resources on a computer may be provided by using a first namespace of resources and a second namespace of resources, where one or more names are common to both namespaces and those names refer to different respective instances of resources. A request is received for a first resource name from an application, where the first resource name exists in the first resource namespace and in the second resource namespace. In response to the request, whether to obtain a resource from the first namespace or from the second namespace is determined by applying one or more resource policies to the first resource namespace and to the second resource namespace.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for resolving conflicts between concurrent resource namespaces, the method comprising:

updating policies comprising conditions under which one or more of the concurrent resource namespaces are applicable, the concurrent resource namespaces comprising a plurality of names corresponding to resources, the concurrent resource namespaces at least partially overlapping such that a same name in two or more resource namespaces refers to different instances of resources in respective resource namespaces;

receiving a request for a resource, the request including a resource name associated with a resource context, wherein the resource name exists in a plurality of the concurrent resource namespaces;

selecting which of the updated policies and which of the resource namespaces are relevant to the request for the resource;

based at least in part on the selected updated policies and resource contexts of the selected updated policies, prioritizing the concurrent resource namespaces relative to one another; and

selecting, by the computer, a resource associated with the resource name based on the prioritized resource namespaces.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein a resource namespace is not prioritized if the resource namespace is not associated with at least one of the selected updated policies.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein prioritizing the concurrent resource namespaces further comprises weighting the concurrent resource namespaces in proportion to degrees to which the resource name matches the selected updated policies.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the resource namespaces have default relative priorities and when the resource name matches selected policies for one of the resource namespaces, a resource corresponding to a matching resource name is obtained according to the default relative priorities.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the policies comprise information describing an open ended set of resource names which arbitrary resource names can be compared against to determine whether such arbitrary resource names fall within the open ended set.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein the policies comprise a file directory or registry location.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the concurrent resource namespaces are prioritized by matching a context of the resource name with a policy context of the selected updated policies.

8. A system for resolving conflicts between concurrent resource namespaces, the system comprising:

a computing device comprising at least one processor;

a memory communicatively coupled to said processor when said system is operational;

said memory having stored therein computer instructions that upon execution by the at least one processor cause;

updating policies comprising conditions under which one or more of the concurrent resource namespaces are applicable, the concurrent resource namespaces comprising a plurality of names corresponding to resources, the concurrent resource namespaces at least partially overlapping such that a same name in two or more resource namespaces refers to different instances of resources in respective resource namespaces;

receiving a request for a resource, the request including a resource name associated with a resource context, wherein the resource name exists in a plurality of the concurrent resource namespaces;

selecting which of the updated policies and which of the resource namespaces are relevant to the request for the resource;

based at least in part on the selected updated policies and resource contexts of the selected updated policies, prioritizing the concurrent resource namespaces relative to one another; and

selecting a resource associated with the resource name based on the prioritized resource namespaces.

9. A system according to claim 8, wherein a resource namespace is not prioritized if the resource namespace is not associated with at least one of the selected updated policies.

10. A system according to claim 8, wherein prioritizing the concurrent resource namespaces further comprises weighting the concurrent resource namespaces in proportion to degrees to which the resource name matches the selected updated policies.

11. A system according to claim 8, wherein the resource namespaces have default relative priorities and when the resource name matches selected policies for one of the resource namespaces, a resource corresponding to a matching resource name is obtained according to the default relative priorities.

12. A system according to claim 8, wherein the policies comprise information describing an open ended set of resource names which arbitrary resource names can be compared against to determine whether such arbitrary resource names fall within the open ended set.

13. A system according to claim 12, wherein the policies a file directory or registry location.

14. A system according to claim 8, wherein the concurrent resource namespaces are prioritized by matching a context of the resource name with a policy context of the selected updated policies.

15. A computer readable storage device storing thereon computer executable instructions for resolving conflicts between concurrent resource namespaces, the computer readable storage device comprising:

instructions for updating policies comprising conditions under which one or more of the concurrent resource namespaces are applicable, the concurrent resource namespaces comprising a plurality of names corresponding to resources, the concurrent resource namespaces at least partially overlapping such that a same name in two or more resource namespaces refers to different instances of resources in respective resource namespaces;

instructions for receiving a request for a resource, the request including a resource name associated with a resource context, wherein the resource name exists in a plurality of the concurrent resource namespaces;

instructions for selecting which of the updated policies and which of the resource namespaces are relevant to the request for the resource;

instructions for, based at least in part on the selected updated policies and resource contexts of the selected updated policies, prioritizing the concurrent resource namespaces relative to one another; and

selecting, by the computer, a resource associated with the resource name based on the prioritized resource namespaces.

16. A computer readable storage device according to claim 15, wherein a resource namespace is not prioritized if the resource namespace is not associated with at least one of the selected updated policies.

17. A computer readable storage device according to claim 15, wherein prioritizing the concurrent resource namespaces further comprises weighting the concurrent resource namespaces in proportion to degrees to which the resource name matches the selected updated policies.

18. A computer readable storage device according to claim 15, wherein the resource namespaces have default relative priorities and when the resource name matches selected policies for one of the resource namespaces, a resource corresponding to a matching resource name is obtained according to the default relative priorities.

19. A computer readable storage device according to claim 15, wherein the policies comprise information describing an open ended set of resource names which arbitrary resource names can be compared against to determine whether such arbitrary resource names fall within the open ended set.

20. A computer readable storage device according to claim 19, wherein the policies a file directory or registry location.

21. A computer readable storage device according to claim 15, wherein the concurrent resource namespaces are prioritized by matching a context of the resource name with a policy context of the selected updated policies.