Using a knowledge network for file transfer protocol

• US 8,874,772 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2008
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Adobe Inc.
• Original Assignee: Adobe Systems Incorporated (Adobe Inc.)
• Inventors: Boldt, Oliver
• Primary Examiner(s): GREENE, JOSEPH L
• Application Number:
  US12/259,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,191 Days
• Field of Search: 709/230, 709/239, 709/241
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus, including software tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, involve executing file transfer protocol (FTP) operations. An FTP request is received, and a first sequence of FTP operations is executed in response to the request. The first sequence of FTP operations defines a first path in a knowledge network that includes multiple nodes. The first path includes a first subset of the nodes. A second sequence of FTP operations is executed. The second sequence of operations defines a second path in the knowledge network, and the second path includes a second subset of the nodes. The first sequence and/or the second sequence is selected as a preferred sequence of operations based at least in part on the execution of the first and second sequences of operations. An identification of the preferred sequence of operations is stored, for example, for use in responding to a subsequent FTP request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a file transfer protocol (FTP) request at a computing device comprising an FTP module, the FTP request requesting that an FTP task be performed;

identifying, in response to the request and by the FTP module of the computing device, a first sequence of FTP operations that enable the FTP task to be performed, the first sequence of FTP operations being identified from a knowledge network comprising a plurality of nodes and transitions between the nodes, each of the nodes representing a logical state of an FTP process and each of the transitions representing at least one said FTP operation for achieving the logical state of the FTP process represented by a transitioned-to node, the first sequence of FTP operations corresponding to a first path in the knowledge network that comprises a first subset of the nodes having the transitions that represent the first sequence of FTP operations;

identifying, in response to receiving an error in association with execution of the first sequence and by the FTP module of the computing device, a second sequence of FTP operations that enable the FTP task to be performed, the second sequence of FTP operations being identified from the knowledge network and corresponding to a second path in the knowledge network that comprises a second subset of the nodes having the transitions that represent the second sequence of FTP operations;

selecting at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence as a preferred sequence of operations based at least in part on the execution of the first sequence and execution of the second sequence; and

storing, at the computing device, an identification of the preferred sequence of operations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of nodes comprises a start node and at least one terminal node, the first subset of the nodes are sequenced from the start node to one of the terminal nodes, and the second subset of the nodes are sequenced from the start node to one of the terminal nodes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the identification of the preferred sequence of operations is stored for use in responding to a subsequent FTP request.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting a first performance based on the execution of the first sequence;

detecting a second performance based on the execution of the second sequence; and

comparing the first performance and the second performance, wherein the preferred sequence is selected based at least in part on the comparison.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein detecting the first performance comprises detecting a first amount of time to execute the first sequence, and detecting the second performance comprises detecting a second amount of time taken to execute the second sequence.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein detecting the first performance comprises detecting the error received in association with the execution of the first sequence, the error resulting from execution of one or more of the FTP operations in the first sequence, detecting the second performance comprises detecting a successful execution of the second sequence, and the preferred sequence of operations comprises the second sequence of operations.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is identified by executing a backtracking algorithm that is effective to search the knowledge network for paths from the start node to one of the terminal nodes.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting the error received in association with the execution of the first sequence as a result of execution of one or more of the FTP operations in the first sequence; and

identifying a problem operation in the first sequence based on the detected error, wherein the second sequence does not include the problem operation.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying the first sequence by identifying a plurality of paths in the knowledge network from the start node to one of the terminal nodes and selecting the first path from the plurality of paths; and

identifying the second sequence by selecting the second path from the plurality of paths.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the preferred sequence is selected based additionally on at least one of:

a user selection of at least one operation in the preferred sequence;

a number of operations in the preferred sequence;

a complexity of operations in the preferred sequence;

or

a predicted probability of occurrence of errors associated with operations in the preferred sequence.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving a second FTP request;

retrieving the stored identification of the preferred sequence in response to the received second FTP request; and

executing the preferred sequence of operations based on the retrieved identification.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving an update for the knowledge network; and

modifying the knowledge network to include additional paths from the start node to one or more of the terminal nodes based on the received update.

13. The method of claim 2, wherein the FTP task to be performed comprises at least one of:

establishing a connection to a remote FTP server;

retrieving a directory listing from a remote FTP server;

sending an electronic document to a remote FTP server;

retrieving an electronic document from a remote FTP server;

modifying an electronic document stored on a remote FTP server;

or

establishing an authenticated communication session with a remote FTP server.

14. The method of claim 2, wherein at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence comprises an FTP operation for:

connecting to a remote FTP server using an active connection mode;

connecting to a remote FTP server using a passive connection mode;

interpreting information received from a remote FTP server based on a particular information format;

interpreting information received from a remote FTP server based on a particular language;

interpreting a directory listing received from a remote FTP server based on a particular directory listing style;

or

retrieving a directory listing that is styled according to one of multiple different directory listing styles.

15. A computer-readable memory, storing instructions that are executable by a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a file transfer protocol (FTP) request that requests an FTP task to be performed;

identifying, by an FTP module implemented on the computing device, a first sequence of FTP operations that enable the FTP task to be performed, the first sequence of FTP operations being identified from a knowledge network comprising a plurality of nodes and transitions between the nodes, each of the nodes representing a logical state of an FTP process and each of the transitions representing at least one said FTP operation for achieving the logical state of the FTP process represented by a transitioned-to node, the first sequence of FTP operations corresponding to a first path in the knowledge network that comprises a first subset of the nodes having the transitions that represent the first sequence of FTP operations;

identifying, by the FTP module, a second sequence of FTP operations that enable the FTP task to be performed, the second sequence of FTP operations being identified from the knowledge network and corresponding to a second path in the knowledge network that comprises a second subset of the nodes having the transitions that represent the second sequence of FTP operations;

selecting at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence as a preferred sequence of operations based at least in part on execution of the first sequence and execution of the second sequence; and

storing an identification of the preferred sequence of operations.

16. The computer-readable memory of claim 15, wherein the plurality of nodes comprises a start node and at least one terminal node, the first subset of the nodes are sequenced from the start node to one of the terminal nodes, and the second subset of the nodes are sequenced from the start node to one of the terminal nodes.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the identification of the preferred sequence of operations is stored for use in responding to a subsequent FTP request.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting a first performance based on the execution of the first sequence;

detecting a second performance based on the execution of the second sequence; and

comparing the first performance and the second performance, wherein the preferred sequence is selected based at least in part on the comparison.

19. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is identified by executing a backtracking algorithm that is effective to search the knowledge network for paths from the start node to one of the terminal nodes.

20. The computer-readable memory of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting an error resulting from execution of one or more of the FTP operations in the first sequence; and

identifying a problem operation in the first sequence based on the detected error, wherein the second sequence does not include the problem operation.

21. A system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory comprising instructions, wherein the instructions are executable by the at least one processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a file transfer protocol (FTP) request that requests an FTP task to be performed;

identifying a first sequence of FTP operations that enable the FTP task to be performed, the first sequence of FTP operations being identified from a knowledge network comprising a plurality of nodes and transitions between the nodes, each of the nodes representing a logical state of an FTP process and each of the transitions representing at least one said FTP operation for achieving the logical state of the FTP process represented by a transitioned-to node, the first sequence of FTP operations corresponding to a first path in the knowledge network that comprises a first subset of the nodes having the transitions that represent the first sequence of FTP operations;

identifying a second sequence of FTP operations that enable the FTP task to be performed, the second sequence of FTP operations being identified from the knowledge network and corresponding to a second path in the knowledge network that comprises a second subset of the nodes having the transitions that represent the second sequence of FTP operations;

selecting at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence as a preferred sequence of operations based at least in part on execution of the first sequence and execution of the second sequence; and

store an identification of the preferred sequence of operations.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of nodes comprises a start node and at least one terminal node, the first subset of the nodes are sequenced from the start node to one of the terminal nodes, and the second subset of the nodes are sequenced from the start node to one of the terminal nodes.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the identification of the preferred sequence of operations is stored for use in responding to a subsequent FTP request.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the first sequence or the second sequence is identified by executing a backtracking algorithm that is effective to search the knowledge network for paths from the start node to one of the terminal nodes.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor and the memory are part of a client computing device configured to interact with a server computing device as a result of at least one of the execution of the first sequence or the execution of the second sequence.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the client computing device is configured to interact with the server computing device through a data communication network.

27. The system of claim 25, further comprising a display device configured to present a user interface, and the FTP request is based on information received via the user interface.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the client computing device comprises a personal computer.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the client computing device is configured to receive one or more updates from an update server that are effective to modify the knowledge network to include additional paths from the start node to one or more of the terminal nodes.