System and method for exchanging information among exchange applications

• US 9,860,348 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2012
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: FireStar Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: FireStar Software Incorporated
• Inventors: Eisner, Mark, Oancea, Gabriel
• Primary Examiner(s): Vostal, O. C.
• Application Number:
  US13/419,298
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044749A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,121 Days
• Field of Search: 370392
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/548 Queue
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/027 involving a payment switch or gateway
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/223 based on the use of peer-to-peer networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/102 applying security measure for e-commerce data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/3009 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/309 Header conversion, routing tables or routing tags
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9042 Separate storage for different parts of the packet, e.g. header and payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0209 Architectural arrangements, e.g. perimeter networks or demilitarized zones
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/12 Applying verification of the received information cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for data integrity or data verification H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 : Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 : Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• 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 69/161 : Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 : Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

In a system and method for performing message-based business processes among a plurality of applications, configuration data is stored in a data store in a gateway, the configuration data including information defining one or more simple transactions that can be performed by the gateway. A gateway message is received at the gateway, the gateway message including a gateway message header and a payload, the gateway message header including a routing slip block providing a template of a complex transaction in which the gateway message is participating, the complex transaction comprising one or more simple transactions performed in a defined order. The gateway executes at least one simple transaction in accordance with the template in the routing slip and the configuration data defining the one or more simple transactions.

Claims

1. A method for performing message-based business processes among a plurality of applications, comprising:

storing configuration data in a data store in a gateway comprising at least one processor and non-transitory memory, the configuration data comprising information defining at least one simple transaction that can be performed by the gateway;

receiving a gateway message at the gateway through an abstract queue that supports multiple different message transmission protocols, the gateway message comprising a gateway message header and a payload, the gateway message header comprising a routing slip element that contains a template of a complex transaction in which the gateway message is participating, the complex transaction comprising a plurality of simple transactions performed in a defined order, where each simple transaction describes transmission of the message between a source and a destination and a reply if required;

executing at the gateway comprising the at least one processor, at least one of the simple transactions of the complex transaction in accordance with the template in the routing slip element and the configuration data in the data store.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway message header further comprises a history block providing a log of what has happened to the gateway message.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising updating the history block based on the execution of the at least one simple transaction.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more simple transactions includes:

a transmission transaction in which a gateway message is sent from a first gateway to a second gateway, wherein the second gateway processes the message and sends an acknowledgment to the first gateway after processing the message; and

a request/reply transaction in which a gateway message is sent from the first gateway to the second gateway, wherein the second gateway processes the gateway message and sends a reply message back to the first gateway, wherein the first gateway and the second gateway can be the same gateway or different gateways.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a target gateway to which to send the gateway message based on information in the routing slip element; and

transmitting the gateway message to the identified target gateway.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

persisting a copy of the received gateway message in a data store in the gateway; and

persisting a copy of the gateway message after executing of the at least one simple transaction in the data store.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the gateway message header in the gateway message includes a transaction identifier block, the transaction identifier block including a transaction ID that identifies to which transaction the gateway message is involved.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway message includes financial transaction data.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway message includes medical or patient data.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway message includes security and access control data.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway message includes compliance and regulatory data.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway message includes communication protocols and network data.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising ascertaining a next step in the complex transaction based on the routing slip element describing the complex transaction and accomplished steps in the complex transaction.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the complex transaction comprises multi-step transactions among multiple user applications.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the complex transaction triggers other complex transactions.

16. A gateway for performing message-based business processes among a plurality of applications, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, coupled to the processor, the memory comprising a plurality of instructions executed by the processor, the plurality of instructions configured to;

store configuration data in a data store in the gateway, the configuration data comprising information defining at least one simple transaction that can be performed by the gateway;

receive a gateway message at the gateway through an abstract queue that supports multiple different message transmission protocols, the gateway message comprising a gateway message header and a payload, the gateway message header comprising a routing slip element that contains a template of a complex transaction in which the gateway message is participating, the complex transaction comprising a plurality of simple transactions performed in a defined order, where each simple transaction describes transmission of the message between a source and a destination; and

execute at the gateway at least one of the simple transactions of the complex transaction in accordance with the template in the routing slip element and the configuration data in the data store.

17. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the gateway message header further comprises a history block providing a log of what has happened to the gateway message.

18. The gateway according to claim 17, wherein the memory further comprises an instruction instructions configured to update the history block based on the execution of the at least one simple transaction.

19. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the one or more simple transactions includes:

a transmission transaction in which a gateway message is sent from a first gateway to a second gateway, wherein the second gateway processes the message and sends an acknowledgment to the first gateway after processing the message; and

a request/reply transaction in which a gateway message is sent from the first gateway to the second gateway, wherein the second gateway processes the gateway message and sends a reply message back to the first gateway, wherein the first gateway and the second gateway can be the same gateway or different gateways.

20. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises instructions configured to:

identify a target gateway to which to send the gateway message based on information in the routing slip; and

transmit the gateway message to the identified target gateway.

21. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises instructions configured to:

persist a copy of the received gateway message in a data store in the gateway; and

persist a copy of the gateway message after executing of the at least one simple transaction in the data store.

22. The gateway according to claim 21, wherein the gateway message header in the gateway message includes a transaction identifier block, the transaction identifier block including a transaction ID that identifies to which transaction the gateway message is involved.

23. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises instructions configured to ascertain a next step in the complex transaction based on the routing slip element describing the complex transaction and accomplished steps in the complex transaction.

24. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the complex transaction comprises multi-step transactions among multiple user applications.

25. The gateway according to claim 16, wherein the complex transaction triggers other complex transactions.

26. A gateway for performing message-based business processes among a plurality of applications, comprising:

a data store configured to store configuration data, the configuration data comprising information defining at least one simple transaction that can be performed by the gateway;

an abstract queue configured to receive a gateway message at the gateway, the gateway message comprising a gateway message header and a payload, the gateway message header comprising a routing slip element that contains a template of a complex transaction in which the gateway message is participating, the complex transaction comprising a plurality of simple transactions performed in a defined order, where each simple transaction describes transmission of the message between a source and a destination; and

at least one processing unit configured to execute at the gateway at least one of the simple transactions of the complex transaction in accordance with the template in the routing slip element and the configuration data in the data store.

27. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the gateway message header further comprises a history block providing a log of what has happened to the gateway message.

28. The gateway according to claim 27, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to update the history block based on the execution of the at least one simple transaction.

29. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the one or more simple transactions includes:

a transmission transaction in which a gateway message is sent from a first gateway to a second gateway, wherein the second gateway processes the message and sends an acknowledgment to the first gateway after processing the message; and

a request/reply transaction in which a gateway message is sent from the first gateway to the second gateway, wherein the second gateway processes the gateway message and sends a reply message back to the first gateway, wherein the first gateway and the second gateway can be the same gateway or different gateways.

30. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to identify a target gateway to which to send the gateway message based on information in the routing slip, the gateway further comprising a second abstract queue configured to transmit the gateway message to the identified target gateway.

31. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to:

persist a copy of the received gateway message in the data store; and

persist a copy of the gateway message after executing of the at least one simple transaction in the data store.

32. The gateway according to claim 31, wherein the gateway message header in the gateway message includes a transaction identifier block, the transaction identifier block including a transaction ID that identifies to which transaction the gateway message is involved.

33. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the at least one processing unit is further configured to ascertain a next step in the complex transaction based on the routing slip element describing the complex transaction and accomplished steps in the complex transaction.

34. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the complex transaction comprises multi-step transactions among multiple user applications.

35. The gateway according to claim 26, wherein the complex transaction triggers other complex transactions.