Method and system for distributing and updating heterogeneous resources

• US 20050160063A1
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Pan, Yue, Zhang, Lei
• Granted Patent: US 7,512,941 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/275 Synchronous replication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

Methods, systems and apparatus for distributing and updating resources. An example method comprising the steps of: a resource producer registering a resource and a resource plug-in with a first server, and submitting a resource patch thereto when a resource update occurs; a second server replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first server, and a resource consumer downloading the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the second server; and updating the resource at the resource consumer side by executing the resource plug-in to apply the resource patch on the resource, and obtaining an updated resource version. The method and system of the present invention will greatly save network bandwidth in a large scale progressive resource distribution and make the design more flexible and extensible.

Claims

1. A method for distributing and updating resources, wherein said method comprising the steps of:

a resource producer registering a resource and a resource plug-in with a first server, and submitting a resource patch thereto when a resource update occurs;

a second server replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first server, and a resource consumer downloading the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the second server; and

updating the resource at the resource consumer side by executing the resource plug-in to apply the resource patch on the resource, and obtaining an updated resource version.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the first server stores a resource plug-in previously, then this previously stored resource plug-in is used.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said resource plug-in is a computer program module implementing a programming interface.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resource and the resource plug-in are registered and the resource patch is submitted to the first server in the form of binary code.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resource is various digital data that are frequently used and evolve slowly, including a dictionary, a catalogue, a name list and a directory.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resource patch is a program module representing the change of the resource, and includes resource metadata for identifying the change of the resource.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the resource patch is related to the version of the resource that has a corresponding resource version number, and one resource version number represents that the resource is updated once.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the version of the resource is managed in a tree structure according to the category of the resource, one branch of the tree structure represents one kind of resource.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the types of the update include the adding, deleting or changing of the resource.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein when a resource update occurs, each version of the resource is first retrieved, and a new resource patch is generated based on a specific version.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

storing the updated resource version by a programming interface module.

12. A method for distributing and updating heterogeneous resources, comprising the steps of:

a resource producer registering a resource and a resource plug-in with a first server, and submitting a resource patch thereto;

the first server storing the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch;

a second sever replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first sever;

if there is not the needed resource and the corresponding resource plug-in at a resource consumer side, the resource consumer requesting and downloading the resource, resource plug-in and resource patch from the second server;

applying the received resource patch on the resource by executing the resource plug-in, so as to obtain the updated resource; and

at the resource consumer side, storing the updated resource as the latest revision for the use of the resource consumer.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein there can be a plurality of resource producers, resource consumers, first servers and second servers.

14. A system for distributing and updating resources, comprising:

a first programming interface module for generating, by a resource producer, a resource and a resource plug-in, and when a resource update occurs, generating a resource patch;

a second programming interface module for updating the resource by executing the resource plug-in to apply the resource patch on the resource by a resource consumer, so as to obtain an updated resource version; and

a replication subsystem for receiving the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first programming interface module, storing them and providing them to the second programming interface module.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the replication subsystem comprises:

a first server for receiving the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first programming interface module, and storing them; and

a second server for replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first programming interface module, storing them and providing them to the second programming interface module.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein the resource plug-in is a computer program module implementing a programming interface.

17. The system according to claim 14, wherein the resource patch is a program module representing the change of the resource, and includes resource metadata for identifying the change of the resource.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the resource patch is related to the version of the resource that has a corresponding resource version number, and one resource version number represents that the resource is updated once.

19. The system according to claim 14, wherein the resource and the resource plug-in are registered with, and the resource patch is submitted to the first server, in the form of binary code.

20. The system according to claim 15, wherein there can be a plurality of first programming interface module, second programming interface module, first servers and second servers.

21. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing distribution and updating of resources, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of:

a resource producer registering a resource and a resource plug-in with a first server, and submitting a resource patch thereto when a resource update occurs;

a second server replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first server, and a resource consumer downloading the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the second server; and

updating the resource at the resource consumer side by executing the resource plug-in to apply the resource patch on the resource, and obtaining an updated resource version.

22. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing distribution and updating of heterogeneous resources, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of:

a resource producer registering a resource and a resource plug-in with a first server, and submitting a resource patch thereto;

the first server storing the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch;

a second sever replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first sever;

if there is not the needed resource and the corresponding resource plug-in at a resource consumer side, the resource consumer requesting and downloading the resource, resource plug-in and resource patch from the second server;

applying the received resource patch on the resource by executing the resource plug-in, so as to obtain the updated resource; and

at the resource consumer side, storing the updated resource as the latest revision for the use of the resource consumer.

23. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing distribution and updating of resources, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of:

a first programming interface module for generating, by a resource producer, a resource and a resource plug-in, and when a resource update occurs, generating a resource patch;

a second programming interface module for updating the resource by executing the resource plug-in to apply the resource patch on the resource by a resource consumer, so as to obtain an updated resource version; and

a replication subsystem for receiving the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first programming interface module, storing them and providing them to the second programming interface module.

24. A computer program product as recited in claim 23, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product further comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of:

a first server for receiving the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first programming interface module, and storing them; and

a second server for replicating the resource, the resource plug-in and the resource patch from the first programming interface module, storing them and providing them to the second programming interface module.