Method for application notification and tasking

• US 9,405,602 B1
• Filed: 06/25/2012
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Verma, Vibhooti, Verne, Nicholas, Sahasranaman, Vivek, Ryan, Louis
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr., Lewis A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dascomb, Jacob
• Application Number:
  US13/532,496
• Time in Patent Office: 1,499 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/483 Multiproc
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/548 Queue
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/545 where tasks reside in different layers, e.g. user- and kernel-space
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services

Abstract

A method for notifying and tasking computer applications hosted by an application execution system by computer applications external to the application execution system is provided. An external computer application may use an external Task queue API to add tasks to the internal application'"'"'s task queue. The internal application can then see the tasks and act upon the tasks at a convenient, non-busy time for the internal application. An intermediary subscription system may manage an internal application'"'"'s event subscriptions. When an event occurs, the intermediary subscription system may add a task to the subscribing internal application'"'"'s task queue. A second intermediate system manages the access control list of an internal application'"'"'s task queue. This system restricts access to the task queue to only those external applications that are explicitly granted permission in the internal application'"'"'s task queue configuration file.

Claims

1. A system for enabling application tasking in an application execution system from an external web application which is external to the application execution system, the system comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to;

receive, a task from the external web application destined for a specific task queue for a specific internal web application which is hosted inside the application execution system;

verify, using an authorization process, permission of the external web application to the specific task queue by checking information within a queue configuration file of the specific internal web application to determine whether the external web application has a sufficient privilege level to access and write to the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue;

responsive to the verification, append, using a method in an external REST Task Queue API, the task to the specific task queue; and

assign the task to a worker process in the specific internal web application such that the worker process;

leases, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task from the specific task queue;

determines whether to process the task at a current time based on whether the internal web application is busy;

modifies the task lease to zero seconds, if it is determined not to process the task at the current time, and releases, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task to another worker process for processing;

processes the task by the worker process if it is determined that the specific internal web application is not busy; and

responsive to completing the task, removes, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task from the specific task queue.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving a task from the external web application further comprises an intermediary process for managing subscriptions to the external web application'"'"'s events, responsive to an external web application event, the intermediary subscription process:

identifies the specific internal web application as having subscribed to the event; and

notifies the specific task queue that the specific internal web application has subscribed to the external web application'"'"'s event.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein verifying the task to be appended to the specific task queue further comprises an intermediate process for managing an access control list and checking permissions, the intermediate authorization process:

verifies that the external web application is authorized to access the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue using the access control list;

determines the privileges of the external web application to the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue; and

responsive to an indication that the external web application is permitted to access the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue and has appropriate privileges, adds a task to the specific task queue.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the external REST Task Queue API includes methods for retrieving a task queue, retrieving a list of tasks, retrieving a specific task, inserting a task into a task queue, deleting a task from a task queue, updating a task in a task queue, and leasing a task from a task queue.

5. A computer-implemented method for enabling application tasking in an application execution system from an external web application which is external to the application execution system, the method comprising:

receiving a task from the external web application destined for a specific task queue of a specific internal web application which is hosted inside the application execution system;

verifying, using an authorization process, that the external web application has permission to access the specific task queue by checking information within a queue configuration file of the specific internal web application to determine whether the external web application has a sufficient privilege level to access and write to the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue;

responsive to the verification, appending, using a method in an external REST Task Queue API, the received task to the specific task queue; and

assigning the appended, received task to a worker process in the specific internal web application so that the worker process

leases, using the method in the in the external REST Task Queue API, the appended, received task from the specific task queue;

determines whether to process the task at a current time based on whether the specific internal web application is busy;

modifies the task lease to zero seconds if it is determined not to process the task at the current time, and releases, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task to another worker process for processing;

processes the appended, received task by the worker process if it is determined that the specific internal web application is not busy; and

responsive to completing the appended, received task, removes, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task from the specific task queue.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein receiving the task from the external web application further comprises an intermediary process for managing subscriptions to the external web application'"'"'s events, responsive to an external web application event, the intermediary subscription process:

identifies the specific internal web application as having subscribed to the event; and

notifies the specific task queue that the specific internal web application has subscribed to the external web application'"'"'s event.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein verifying the received task to be appended to the specific task queue further comprises an intermediate process for managing an access control list and checking permissions.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the intermediate process for managing an access control list and checking permissions:

verifies that the external web application is authorized to access the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue using the access control list,

determines the privileges of the external web application to the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue; and

responsive to an indication that the external web application is permitted to access the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue and has appropriate privileges, adds a task to the specific task queue.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the external REST Task Queue API includes methods for retrieving a task queue, retrieving a list of tasks, retrieving a specific task, inserting a task into a task queue, deleting a task from a task queue, updating a task in a task queue, and leasing a task from a task queue.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein computer executable code that causes one or more processors to execute the steps of:

receiving a task from an external web application which is external to the application execution system destined for a specific internal task queue for a specific internal web application which is hosted inside the application execution system;

verifying, using an authorization process, permission of the external web application to the specific task queue by checking information within a queue configuration file of the internal specific internal web application to determine whether the external web application has a sufficient privilege level to access and write to the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue;

responsive to the verification, appending, using a method in an external REST Task Queue API, the received task to the specific task queue; and

assigning the task to a worker process in the specific internal web application such that the worker process;

leases, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task from the specific task queue;

determines whether to process the task at a current time based on whether the internal web application is busy;

modifies the task lease to zero seconds if it is determined not to process the task at the current time, and releases, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task to another worker process for processing;

processes the task by the worker process if it is determined that the specific internal web application is not busy; and

responsive to completing the task, removes, using the method in the external REST Task Queue API, the task from the specific task queue.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein receiving a task from an external web application further comprises an intermediary process for managing subscriptions to the external web application'"'"'s events, responsive to an external web application event, the intermediary subscription process:

identifies the specific internal web application as having that subscribed to the event; and

notifies the specific task queue that the specific internal web application has subscribed to the external web application'"'"'s event.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein verifying the received task to be appended to the specific task queue further comprises an intermediate process for managing an access control list and checking permissions.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the intermediate process for managing an access control list and checking permissions:

verifies that the external web application is authorized to access the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue using the access control list; and

determines the privileges of the external web application to the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue, and responsive to an indication that the external web application is permitted to access the specific internal web application'"'"'s specific task queue and has appropriate privileges, adds a task to the specific task queue.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the external REST Task Queue API includes methods for retrieving a task queue, retrieving a list of tasks;

retrieving a specific task, inserting a task into a task queue, deleting a task from a task queue, updating a task in a task queue, and leasing a task from a task queue.