Systems and methods that facilitate in-order serial processing of related messages

• US 20050198127A1
• Filed: 02/11/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Helland, Patrick J., Hinson, Gerald L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,086,671 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

The present invention relates to systems and methods that facilitate serial access to related messages stored within a queue. The systems and methods comprise a conversation manager that generates conversation groups and associated conversation group identifiers for related messages, wherein related messages are associated with one or more dialog conversations between services. The conversation manager utilizes a respective conversation group identifier to lock a conversation group and provide exclusive serial access to the related messages therein and any related incoming messages to a reader such that only one reader at a time can access and process the related messages; other readers can still concurrently dequeue and process messages associated with other conversation groups. The present invention employs order queuing techniques that ensure messages are stored in-order, which facilitates in-order serial processing of messages in a conversation group.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates message processing, comprising:

an input component that receives a request to process a message; and

a group management component that associates the message with related messages and automatically locks the message and the related messages via a conversation group identifier, the lock provides a request initiator exclusive access to the locked messages for processing.

2. The system of claim 1, the request includes at least one of a message identifier and a conversation group identifier.

3. The system of claim 2, the message identifier is utilized to associate the requested message with the related messages and form a conversation group.

4. The system of claim 2, the conversation group identifier determines the message'"'"'s conversation group.

5. The system of claim 1, the requested message and the related messages are stored in-order in a message queue.

6. The system of claim 5, in-order storage is ensured by at least one of storing messages received out-of-order in temporary storage until they become in-order and dropping messages received out-of-order.

7. The system of claim 1, the requested message and the related messages within a conversation group are serially processed from a message queue.

8. The system of claim 1, an incoming related message is stored, dynamically associated with the conversation group identifier, and made available to the request initiator for processing.

9. The system of claim 1, the requested message and the related messages are associated with a plurality of related dialogs.

10. The system of claim 1, the requested message and the related messages are concurrently queued and dequeued.

11. The system of claim 1, the lock prevents another message processor from processing the related messages.

12. A system that facilitates access to application data, comprising:

a component that associates an application with a conversation group identifier; and

a conversation management component that locks the application and associated application data via the conversation group identifier when the application is invoked, the lock provides exclusive access to the application data.

13. The system of claim 12, the component associates at least one other application with the conversation group identifier.

14. The system of claim 13, the other application and associated application data are locked concurrently with the invoked application.

15. The system of claim 12, the application data is serially processed.

16. The system of claim 12, subsequently stored application data is dynamically associated with the conversation group identifier and available for processing.

17. A method that facilitates message processing, comprising:

requesting one or more messages;

locking a conversation group that comprises at least the one or more messages, the lock prevents a disparate requestor from accessing the messages; and

providing exclusive serial access to the messages.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising associating related messages with the conversation group.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising automatically updating the conversation group with incoming related messages.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising utilizing a conversation group identifier to lock the conversation group.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing the messages in-order.

22. A method that facilitates message processing, comprising:

receiving a request for a message;

associating the message and related messages with a conversation group;

locking the conversation group via a conversation group identifier; and

providing exclusive access to the conversation group.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising utilizing message identifiers to determine whether messages are related.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising receiving the conversation group identifiers to associate with the conversation group.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising dynamically updating the conversation group with incoming related messages.

26. A method that facilitates serial access to application data, comprising:

associating an application with a conversation group identifier;

invoking the application;

locking the application via the conversation group identifier; and

providing exclusive access to application data.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising utilizing an API to associate the application with the conversation group identifier.

28. A data packet transmitted between two or more computer components that facilitates message processing, comprising:

requesting a message for processing;

associating the message with related messages in a conversation group;

locking the conversation group via a conversation group identifier; and

providing exclusive serial access to the requested and the related messages for processing.

29. A computer readable medium storing computer executable components that facilitate message processing, comprising:

a component that receives a request for a messages;

a component that automatically associates the requested message with related messages in a conversation group;

a component that locks the conversation group via a conversation group identifier; and

a component that provides exclusive serial access to the messages within the locked conversation group.

30. A system that facilitates message processing, comprising:

means for associating a requested message with related messages;

means for locking the requested and related messages; and

means for serially accessing the requested and related messages.