System and method for network-based computing

• US 20040143823A1
• Filed: 01/09/2004
• Published: 07/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.), Nexaweb Inc., Nfxawfb Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Nfxawfb Technologies Incorporated
• Inventors: Wei, Coach K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,707,563 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/140
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/41 Compilation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms

Abstract

A network-based computing system that automates, simplifies, and optimizes the compilation, deployment, and execution of an application by any type of a client machine connected to a server via any type of a network connection. The system includes a client runtime environment, a server runtime environment and an object-oriented markup-business logic binding mechanism. The client runtime environment manages client side code and screen definitions. The server runtime environment dynamical compiles code to ensure client platform compatibility. The system delivers network applications on demand, by separating them into lightweight modules and delivering these modules.

Claims

1. A universal compiler adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into an output file, wherein said plurality of input files comprise a source code of an application written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively, and said output file comprises an executable code of said application, and wherein said executable code is executable by an execution engine.

2. The universal compiler of claim 1 comprising a plurality of specific programming language compilers, wherein each of said plurality of specific programming language compilers is adapted to receive an input file from said plurality of input files comprising said source code of said application written in a specific programming language and to convert said input file into a specific executable code of said application, wherein said specific executable code is executable by a specific execution engine.

3. The universal compiler of claim 2 further comprising a control logic for selecting a specific programming language compiler from said plurality of specific programming language compilers.

4. The universal compiler of claim 1 wherein said programming languages are selected from a group consisting of Java, JavaScript, C#, C+, C++, Visual Basic, J#, ActionScript, XSL, XQuery, and XPath.

5. The universal compiler of claim 1 wherein said executable code comprises a Java Virtual Machine bytecode and said execution engine comprises a Java Virtual Machine.

6. The universal compiler of claim 1 wherein said executable code comprises a .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) bytecode and said execution engine comprises a .NET CLR engine.

7. The universal compiler of claim 1 wherein said executable code comprises a Flash player bytecode and said execution engine comprises a Flash player.

8. A compiler system adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into a plurality of output files, wherein said plurality of input file comprises a source code of an application written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively, and said plurality of output files comprise a plurality of executable codes of said application, respectively, and wherein said plurality of executable codes are executable by a plurality of execution engines, respectively.

9. The compiler system of claim 8 comprising a plurality of universal compilers wherein each universal compiler comprises a plurality of specific programming language compilers, and wherein said plurality of specific programming language compilers are adapted to receive an input file from said plurality of input files comprising said source code of said application written in a specific programming language and to convert said input file into a specific executable code of said application, wherein said specific executable code is executable by a specific execution engine.

10. The compiler system of claim 9 further comprising a first control logic for selecting a universal programming language compiler from said plurality of universal programming language compilers.

11. The compiler system of claim 9 further comprising a second control logic for caching said plurality of executable codes.

12. The compiler system of claim 8 wherein said programming languages are selected from a group consisting of Java, JavaScript, C#, C+, C++, Visual Basic, J#, ActionScript, XSL, XQuery, and XPath.

13. The compiler system of claim 8 wherein said executable codes are selected from a group consisting of a Java Virtual Machine bytecode, a NET CLR bytecode, a Flash player bytecode, a Palm OS bytecode, Symbian OS bytecode, and Qualcomm Brew bytecode, and said corresponding execution engines are selected from a group consisting of a Java Virtual Machine, a .NET CLR engine, a Flash player, Palm OS, Symbian OS, and Qualcomm Brew engine, respectively.

14. A distributed computing system comprising:

a server including a universal compiler, wherein said universal compiler is adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into an output file, wherein said plurality of input files comprise a source code of an application written in a plurality of programming languages, respectively, and said output file comprises an executable code of said application; and

at least one client machine adapted to connect to said server via a network and comprising an execution engine adapted to receive said output file over said network and to execute said executable code.

15. A distributed computing system comprising:

a server including a compiler system adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into a plurality of output files, wherein said plurality of input files comprise a source code of an application written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively, and said plurality of output files comprise a plurality of corresponding executable codes of said application, respectively; and

a plurality of client machines, wherein each of said plurality of client machines is adapted to connect to said server via a network and comprises an execution engine adapted to receive one of said output files and to execute the corresponding executable code.

16. A universal XML compiler adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into an output file, wherein said plurality of input files comprise a plurality of markup documents written in a plurality of different XML languages, respectively, and said output file comprises an executable code, and wherein said executable code is executable by a certain execution engine.

17. The universal XML compiler of claim 16 wherein said XML languages are selected from a group consisting of XML, XUL, SVG, Xforms, XAML, HTML, XHTML, HTML related languages, and combinations thereof.

18. The universal compiler of claim 16 wherein said executable code comprises an XML language format and said certain execution engine comprises an XML execution engine.

19. The universal compiler of claim 16 wherein said executable code comprises a binary format and said certain execution engine comprises an engine that executes said binary format.

20. The universal compiler of claim 19 wherein said binary format is selected from a group consisting of Java Virtual Machine bytecode, NET CLR bytecode, Palm OS bytecode, Flash player bytecode, Symbian OS bytecode, and Qualcomm Brew bytecode.

21. The universal compiler of claim 20 wherein said certain execution engine is selected from a group consisting of Java Virtual Machine, NET CLR, Palm OS, Flash player, Symbian OS, and Qualcomm Brew.

22. In a network computing system including a server and one or more client machines, wherein each of said client machines is adapted to connect to said server via a network connection and comprises an execution engine, a method of deploying an application comprising:

sending a request by one of said client machines to said server to download one or more files of said application;

receiving said request by said server, and characterizing said client machine'"'"'s execution engine;

checking if one or more executable codes of said one or more files of said application code, respectively, are already available in a server storage, wherein said one or more executable codes are executable by said client machine'"'"'s execution engine; and

if said one or more executable codes are available, downloading said one or more executable codes to said client machine.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising caching said downloaded one or more executable codes in a client machine storage.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising downloading said one or more executable codes from said client machine storage.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein if said one or more executable codes are not available in said server storage compiling said one or more files of said application into said one or more executable codes, respectively, and then downloading said one or more executable codes to said client machine.

26. A method of compiling a source code of an application by a universal compiler comprising:

providing a plurality of input files wherein said plurality of input files comprise said source code written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively;

compiling any of said plurality of input files into an executable code, wherein said executable code is executable by an execution engine.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein said programming languages are selected from a group consisting of Java, JavaScript, C#, C+, C++, Visual Basic, J#, ActionScript, XSL, XQuery, and XPath.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein said executable code comprises a Java bytecode and said execution engine comprises a Java Virtual Machine.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein said executable code comprises a NET CLR bytecode and said execution engine comprises a .NET CLR engine.

30. The method of claim 26 wherein said executable code comprises a Flash player bytecode and said execution engine comprises a Flash player.

31. The method of claim 26 wherein said universal compiler comprises a plurality of specific programming language compilers, wherein each of said plurality of specific programming language compilers is adapted to receive an input file comprising said source code written in a specific programming language and to convert said input file into a specific executable code of said application, wherein said specific executable code is executable by a specific execution engine.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein said universal compiler further comprises a control logic for selecting a specific programming language compiler from said plurality of specific programming language compilers.

33. A method of compiling a source code of an application by a compiler system comprising:

providing a plurality of input files wherein said input files comprise said source code written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively; and

compiling any of said plurality of input files into a plurality of output files wherein said plurality of output files comprise a plurality of executable codes of said source code, respectively, wherein said executable codes are executable by a plurality of corresponding execution engines, respectively.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein said programming languages are selected from a group consisting of Java, JavaScript, C#, C+, C++, Visual Basic, J#, ActionScript, XSL, XQuery, and XPath.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein said executable codes are selected from a group consisting of Java Virtual Machine bytecode, NET CLR bytecode, Palm OS bytecode, Flash player bytecode, Symbian OS bytecode, and Qualcomm Brew bytecode and said corresponding execution engines are selected from a group consisting of a Java Virtual Machine, a .NET CLR, a Palm OS, a Flash Player, a Symbian OS, and a Qualcomm Brew, respectively.

36. A computer application program comprising:

at least one markup document;

at least one business logic component associated with said at least one markup document; and

an object oriented binding mechanism binding said at least one markup document to said at least business logic component and the reverse.

37. The computer application program of claim 36 wherein a client runtime environment (CRE) receives and converts said at least one markup document into an object-oriented representation.

38. The computer application program of claim 37 wherein said object-oriented representation comprises one or more markup objects, one or more user interfaces, and one or more data sets.

39. The computer application program of claim 38 wherein said at least one business logic component comprises one or more methods used as event handlers for a markup object event.

40. The computer application program of claim 39 wherein said object oriented binding mechanism comprises invoking said one or more methods by said one or more markup objects by firing a markup object event.

41. The computer application program of claim 40 wherein said object oriented binding mechanism further comprises accessing and modifying said one or more markup objects by said at least one business logic component via an Application Program Interface (API).

42. The computer application program of claim 41 wherein said API is selected from a group consisting of a markup object API and a Document Object Model (DOM) API.

43. The computer application program of claim 38 wherein said one or more markup objects comprise a parent markup object and a child markup object and wherein said child markup object comprises one or more markup object properties inherited from said parent markup object.

44. The computer application program of claim 43 wherein said one or more markup object properties are selected from a group consisting a user interface definition, a data set definition and an event handler definition.

45. The computer application program of claim 44 wherein said parent markup object comprises one or more user interface definitions, one or more data definitions and one or more event handlers and wherein said child markup object inherits said one or more user interface definitions, said one or more data definitions and said one or more event handlers from said parent markup object.

46. The computer application program of claim 43 wherein said one or more markup objects comprise a parent markup object and a child markup object and wherein said child markup object overwrites one or more markup object properties of said parent markup object and replaces them with one or more markup object properties of said child markup object.

47. The computer application program of claim 36 wherein said at least one markup document is written in a markup language selected from a group consisting of XML, XUL, SVG, Xforms, XAML, HTML, XHTML, HTML related languages, text, and combinations thereof.

48. The computer application program of claim 36 wherein said at least one business logic component is written in a programming language selected from a group consisting of Java, JavaScript, J#, C#, C+, C++, Visual Basic, ActionScript, XSL, XQuery, and XPath.

49. A method for developing a computer application program comprising:

providing at least one markup document;

providing at least one business logic component associated with said at least one markup document; and

providing an object oriented binding mechanism binding said at least one markup document to said at least business logic component and the reverse.

50. The method of claim 49 further comprising receiving and converting said at least one markup document into an object-oriented representation by a client runtime environment (CRE).

51. The method of claim 50 wherein said object-oriented representation comprises one or more markup objects, one or more user interfaces, and one or more data sets.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein said at least one business logic component comprises one or more methods used as event handlers for a markup object event.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein said object oriented binding mechanism comprises invoking said one or more methods by said one or more markup objects by firing a markup object event.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein said object oriented binding mechanism further comprises accessing and modifying said one or more markup objects by said at least one business logic component via an Application Program Interface (API).

55. The method of claim 54 wherein said API is selected from a group consisting of a markup object API and a Document Object Model (DOM) API.

56. The method of claim 51 wherein said one or more markup objects comprise a parent markup object and a child markup object and wherein said child markup object comprises one or more markup object properties inherited from said parent markup object.

57. The method of claim 56 wherein said one or more markup object properties are selected from a group consisting a user interface definition, a data set definition and an event handler definition.

58. The method of claim 57 wherein said parent markup object comprises one or more user interface definitions, one or more data definitions and one or more event handlers and wherein said child markup object inherits said one or more user interface definitions, said one or more data definitions and said one or more event handlers from said parent markup object.

59. The method of claim 51 wherein said one or more markup objects comprise a parent markup object and a child markup object and wherein said child markup object overwrites one or more markup object properties of said parent markup object and replaces them with one or more markup object properties of said child markup object.

60. The method of claim 49 wherein said at least one markup document is written in a markup language selected from a group consisting of XML, XUL, SVG, Xforms, XAML, HTML, XHTML, HTML related languages, text, and combinations thereof.

61. The method of claim 49 wherein said at least one business logic component is written in a programming language selected from a group consisting of Java, JavaScript, J#, C#, C+, C++, Visual Basic, ActionScript, XSL, XQuery, and XPath.

62. A network application program comprising one or more modules wherein each module includes at least one markup document, at least one business logic associate with said at least one markup document and an object oriented binding mechanism binding said at least one markup document to said at least business logic component and the reverse.

63. A network computing system comprising:

a server including a server runtime environment (SRE) and a network application program;

one or more client machines, each client machine including a client runtime environment (CRE) and being adapted to connect to said server via a network connection; and

wherein said SRE deploys said network application program to said one or more client machines via said network connection by first separating said network application into one or more modules wherein each module includes at least one markup document, and then downloading separately each of said one or more modules to said one or more client machines.

64. The network computing system of claim 63 further comprising at least one business logic associate with said at least one markup document and an object oriented binding mechanism binding said at least one markup document to said at least business logic component and the reverse.

65. The network computing system of claim 63 wherein said CRE further comprises a storage for caching said downloaded one or more modules.

66. The network computing system of claim 63 wherein said CRE executes said downloaded one or more modules of said network application program independently of each other.

67. The network computing system of claim 63 wherein said CRE executes said downloaded one or more modules of said network application program offline.

68. The network computing system of claim 63 wherein said server further comprises a compiler system adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into a plurality of output files, respectively, wherein said plurality of input files comprise said network application written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively, and said plurality of output files comprise a plurality of corresponding executable codes of said network application, respectively.

69. The network computing system of claim 68 wherein each of said one or more client machines comprise an execution engine adapted to receive one of said output files and execute said corresponding executable code.

70. The network computing system of claim 63 wherein said network connection comprises low bandwidth.

71. In a network computing system comprising a server and one or more client machine adapted to be connected to said sever via a network connection, a method for performing computing comprising:

separating a network application stored in a server storage into one or more modules wherein each module comprises at least one markup document; and

downloading separately each of said one or more modules to said one or more client machines via said network connection.

72. The method of claim 71 wherein each module further comprises at least one business logic associate with said at least one markup document and an object oriented binding mechanism binding said at least one markup document to said at least business logic component and the reverse.

73. The method of claim 71 further comprising caching said downloaded one or more modules in a client machine storage.

74. The method of claim 71 further comprising executing said downloaded one or more modules of said network application program independently of each other by said one or more client machines.

75. The method of claim 71 further comprising executing said downloaded one or more modules of said network application program by said one or more client machines offline.

76. The method of claim 71 wherein said server further comprises a compiler system adapted to receive a plurality of input files, and convert any of said plurality of input files into a plurality of output files, respectively, wherein said plurality of input files comprise said network application written in a plurality of different programming languages, respectively, and said plurality of output files comprise a plurality of corresponding executable codes of said network application, respectively.

77. The method of claim 76 wherein each of said one or more client machines comprises an execution engine adapted to receive one of said output files and execute said corresponding executable code of said network application.

78. The method of claim 71 wherein said network connection comprises low bandwidth.

79. In a network computing system comprising a server and one or more client machine adapted to be connected to said sever via a network connection, a method for performing computing comprising:

separating a network application stored in a server storage into one or more modules wherein each module includes at least one markup document;

placing a request by a user through one of said one or more client machines to download one of said one or more modules;

checking by a CRE of said client machine if said one module is available in a storage of said client machine; and

if it is available downloading and executing said module.

80. The method of claim 79 wherein said module further comprises at least one business logic associate with said at least one markup document and an object oriented binding mechanism binding said at least one markup document to said at least business logic component and the reverse.

81. The method of claim 79 further comprising:

if said module is not available in a storage of said client machine sending a request to said server to download said module;

receiving said request by said server, and characterizing said client machine'"'"'s execution engine;

checking if an executable code file of said module executable by said client machine'"'"'s execution engine is already available in said server storage; and

if said executable code file is available, downloading said executable code file to said client machine.

82. The method of claim 81 further comprising caching said downloaded executable code file in a client machine storage.

83. The method of claim 81 further comprising executing said module by said client machine.

84. The method of claim 81 wherein if said executable code file is not available in said server storage compiling said module into said executable code file and then downloading said executable code file to said client machine

85. In a computer application program comprising a client-side component running in a client machine and a server-side component running in a server, wherein said client machine is adapted to connect to said server via a network connection, a method of handling a client event comprising:

checking if there is a listener listening to said event and determining if said listener is located in said a client-side component or said server-side component;

if said listener is located in said client-side component, instantiating said listener and invoking a registered listener method to process said event, thereby producing a result;

checking if said result is a markup document or a direct client Document Object Model (DOM) Application Program Interface (API) manipulation; and

if said result is a markup document displaying said markup document.

86. The method of claim 85 wherein if said result is a direct client DOM API manipulation, further comprising executing API calls and displaying said result.

87. The method of claim 85 wherein if said listener is located in said server-side component, further comprising:

sending said event to said server to process said event;

invoking a server-side handler for processing said event thereby producing a server result;

sending said server result to said client machine; and

displaying said server result.

88. A method of binding a markup document with one or more business logic objects comprising:

coding said markup document using a markup language;

coding said one or more business logic objects using an object oriented programming language;

associating said markup document with said one or more business logic objects;

constructing an object oriented representation of said markup document thereby generating one or more markup objects;

firing one or more markup object events by said object oriented representation thereby invoking said one or more business logic objects for processing said events; and

manipulating said markup objects by said one or more business logic objects.

89. The method of claim 88 wherein said one or more business logic objects manipulate said markup objects via a markup object API.

90. The method of claim 88 wherein said one or more business logic objects manipulate said markup objects via a Document Object Model (DOM) API.