Web service application protocol and SOAP processing model

• US 20050267772A1
• Filed: 05/27/2004
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chrysanthakopoulos, Georgios, Nielsen, Henrik Frystyk
• Granted Patent: US 7,895,262 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Described is a Web Services Application Protocol (WSAP) comprising a SOAP-based protocol that defines a web service application model based on a set of common message operations. WSAP provides a foundation for defining web services in terms of how they interact with each other. In WSAP, the behaviors of a service are each provided with an individual port, (e.g., URI), whereby the service'"'"'s behaviors may be interacted with directly. WSAP also defines shared semantics for operations that identify what a message is, what the processing of message is, and how it affects the state/behavior of the receiver. The ordering of messages also provides context to what is occurring. As a result of the known characteristics of the operations and the ordering, an intermediary can process exchanged messages to add value to communications. A SOAP processing model defines composing multiple web services to run in parallel or sequentially.

Claims

1. In a computing environment, a method comprising:

determining divergent behaviors of a service;

assigning an identifier to each divergent behavior that allows access to service state corresponding to that behavior; and

returning an assigned identifier in response to a client request, to allow the client to access service state via the behavior to which the identifier was assigned.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising returning a contract to the client that defines operations that the service is capable of handling.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein returning a contract to the client comprises providing an identifier of a document to the client.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising providing a binding list to the client.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the contract defines at least one operation from a set containing LOOKUP, CREATE, QUERY, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, GET, NOTIFY, REPLICATE, CANCELREPLICATE, SUBSCRIBE, UNSUBSCRIBE and DROP operations.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein a service implements at least two of the operations of the set in a defined order.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein assigning an identifier to each divergent behavior comprises assigning a URI to each divergent behavior.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, receiving a message from a client sent to an entity based on the assigned identifier.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the entity comprises an intermediary, and further comprising, processing the message at the intermediary.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein one of the identifiers corresponds to a subscription list such that any subscription to the service has a separate state.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising, notifying a subscriber on the subscription list.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising, synchronizing another service by replicating data to a subscriber service on the subscription list.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising modifying the state of a subscription list in response to at least one operation from a set containing REPLICATE, CANCELREPLICATE, SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE operations.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising, maintaining the subscription list by communicating with a helper service.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising providing a binding list to the client, wherein the helper service is identified in the binding list.

16. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform the method of claim 1.

33. The method of claim 1 wherein capturing a state of a first service comprises obtaining the state and service dependency data from the first service.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising dropping communication with the first service.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein recreating the state at the second service comprises creating the second service, and replacing data of the second service with the state and service dependency data obtained from the first service.

17. In a computing environment, a method comprising:

receiving, at a service, a request for a contract;

providing an identifier of a contract document and an identifier of a binding list document in response to the request, the document containing contract information including a message ordering and a set of interaction points corresponding to behaviors of the service, and the binding list document containing service relationship information.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the binding list document contains an identifier of at least one helper service that maintains at least one subscription list for the service.

19. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a CREATE request at an interaction point.

20. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a QUERY request at an interaction point.

21. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a GET request at an interaction point.

22. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving an INSERT request at an interaction point.

23. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a UPDATE request at an interaction point.

24. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a DELETE request at an interaction point.

25. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a DROP request at an interaction point.

26. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a notification at an interaction point.

27. The method of claim 17 further comprising receiving a request at an interaction point directed towards modifying a subscription list.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising modifying the state of the subscription list in response to at least one operation from a set containing REPLICATE, CANCELREPLICATE, SUBSCRIBE and UNSUBSCRIBE operations.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein modifying the state of the subscription list includes communicating with a helper service.

30. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform the method of claim 17.

31. In a computing environment, a method comprising:

capturing a state of a first service having a first identifier;

recreating the state at a second service having a second identifier; and

providing access to the state via the second identifier.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein providing access to the state via the second identifier comprises notifying at least one subscriber of the existence of the second service.

36. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform the method of claim 31.

37. In a distributed computing environment, a system comprising:

a subscriber service that provides a subscription request to request that a second service have client request data replicated thereto from a first service;

a helper service that maintains subscription data for the first service; and

the first service replicating client request data to the second service until a request is received to unsubscribe the second service from replication from the first service.