Method and apparatus for executing distributed objects over a network

• US 6,636,900 B2
• Filed: 06/29/1998
• Issued: 10/21/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Abdelnur, Alejandro H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Courtenay, III, St. John
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, VAN H
• Application Number:
  US09/106,209
• Publication Number:
  US 20020083208A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,940 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/203, 709/219, 709/227, 709/315, 709/316, 707/2, 707/107, 345/346
• US Class Current: 719/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/549 Remote execution
• 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 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method and apparatus for developing, distributing, and executing workers (e.g., objects) of an application in a client computer and over a network of computers in a manner that is hidden to a user or programmer. The workers may be distributed to any computer (e.g., server computer) in the network and can be located by a requesting computer (e.g., client computer). The distributed workers may be executed locally or remotely to produce an output value for use in a requesting computer application. Interprocess communications between the requesting computer and other network computers are hidden to a client computer user.

Claims

1. A method for executing a distributed object of a program over a network of computers, comprising the steps of:

distributing an object of a compiled program from a local computer to a remote computer connected to the local computer over a network;

running the program on the local computer;

sending a request for the object from the local computer to the remote computer;

providing a response from the remote computer to the local computer identifying the location of the object;

sending a second request including an identifier for the object from the local computer to the remote computer;

executing the object on the remote computer to produce an output value using input values included in the second request; and

routing the output value to the local computer over the network for use in the running program.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

developing the program in object-oriented code;

compiling the program; and

saving the program on the local computer.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the developing step includes the step of programming the program using the Java programming language.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the programming step includes the step of creating a worker in the Java programming language to use as an object of the program.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the sending step includes the step of executing a software interface between the running program and a searching program resident in the local computer to find the requested object on the network in a manner transparent to a user.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributing step includes the step of distributing an object of the program without modifying the object.

7. A method for executing a distributed object of a program on a server computer connected to a network, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from a source computer for an object stored in a memory of the server computer, the object originating from a complied program on the source computer;

searching the memory of the server computer to locate the object;

providing a result message to the source computer including an identifier of the requested object;

receiving a second request from the source computer including the identifier and input values;

retrieving a copy of the object from memory;

executing the object using the input values included in the second request to produce an output value; and

sending the output value to the source computer for use in a running program.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising the step of creating a thread to process the object request.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of scheduling the thread with another thread created on the server computer.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the executing step includes the step of temporarily storing information used during the execution of the object.

11. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for controlling a data processing system to perform a method, comprising the steps of:

distributing an object of a compiled object-oriented code program from a local computer to a remote computer connected over a network;

running the program on the local computer;

determining a need to invoke the object in the running program;

sending a request for the object from the local computer to the remote computer;

providing a response identifying a location of the object from the remote computer to the local computer;

sending a second request including an identifier for the object from the local computer to the remote computer;

executing an instance of the object on the remote computer to produce an output value using input values included in the second request; and

sending the output value to the local computer over the network for use in the running program.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the distributing step includes the step of storing an address of the remote computer in a memory of the local computer in order to subsequently find the object.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 wherein the sending step includes the step of executing a software interface between the running program and a searching program resident in the local computer to find the object on the network.

14. A data processing system, comprising:

means for distributing an object of an object-oriented code program from a first computer to a second computer connected over a network;

means for running the program on the first computer;

means for determining a need to invoke the object in the running program;

means for sending a request for the object from the first computer to the second computer;

means for providing a response identifying a location of the object from the second computer to the first computer;

means for sending a second request including an identifier for the object from the first computer to the second computer;

means for executing an instance of the object on the second computer to produce an output value using input values included in the second request; and

means for sending the output value to the first computer over the network for use in the running program.