Remote function invocation with messaging in a distributed computing environment

• US 7,398,533 B1
• Filed: 09/27/2000
• Issued: 07/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Slaughter, Gregory L., Abdelaziz, Mohamed M., Saulpaugh, Thomas E., Traversat, Bernard A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Thomson; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong; LeChi
• Application Number:
  US09/672,200
• Time in Patent Office: 2,841 Days
• Field of Search: 719/330, 719/328, 719/310, 709/203, 709/219, 709/223, 709/226
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

An interface between clients and services in a distributed computing environment is described. Method gates may provide an interface to remotely invoke functions of a service. A method gate may be generated from an advertisement that may include definitions for one or more messages for remotely invoking functions of the service. A client may generate messages containing representations of method calls. The service may invoke functions that correspond to the set of messages. A method gate on the service may unmarshal the message and invoke the function. The client may receive the results of the function directly. Alternatively, the results may be stored, an advertisement to the results may be provided, and a gate may be generated to access the results. Message gates may perform the sending and receiving of the messages between the client and service. In one embodiment, functions of the service may be computer programming language (e.g. Java) methods. In one embodiment, a message including a representation of a method call may be generated when no actual method call was made. In one embodiment, a method call may be transformed into messages that may be sent to the service; the service may not know that the messages were generated from a method call. In one embodiment, a service may transform messages requesting functions into method calls; the client may not know that the service is invoking methods to perform the functions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for remotely invoking functions in a distributed computing environment, comprising:

a client generating a message, wherein the message includes information representing a computer programming language method call from a process, wherein the process is executing within a virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine is executing within a client device in the distributed computing environment;

the client sending the message to a service, wherein the service is configured to perform functions on behalf of the client; and

the service performing a function on behalf of the client in accordance with the information representing the computer programming language method call included in the message, wherein said performing generates results data;

storing the generated results data to a space service in the distributed computing environment, wherein said space service is separate from said client, and wherein said space service is accessible as a service by multiple entities other than said client in the distributed computing environment;

providing an advertisement for the stored results data to the client, wherein the advertisement comprises information to enable access by the client to the stored results data; and

the client accessing the stored results data from the space service in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the service performs the function on behalf of the client asynchronously to processing on the client.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual machine is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the service comprises one or more computer programming language methods executable within the service, wherein said performing a function comprises executing a computer programming language method in accordance with the information representing the computer programming language method call included in the message.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the service comprises one or more computer programming language methods executable within the service, wherein the information representing the computer programming language method call includes an identifier of the method call, and wherein said performing a function comprises:

regenerating the method call in accordance with the identifier of the method call included in the information representing the method call; and

executing a computer programming language method in accordance with the regenerated method call.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the information representing the computer programming language method call further includes one or more parameter values of the method call, and wherein said executing a computer programming language method in accordance with the regenerated method call comprises providing the one or more parameter values from the information representing the method call as parameter values of the method call.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the service comprises a service method gate configured to provide an interface to computer programming language methods of the service by receiving messages and invoking methods specified by the messages, and wherein said regenerating the method call is performed by the service method gate.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said performing a function generates results data, the method further comprising the service providing the generated results data to the client.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the client accessing the stored results data comprises:

generating a client results message endpoint in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement, wherein the client results message endpoint is configured to send messages to the space service for the client;

generating a results request message, wherein the results request message requests a portion of the results data to be provided to the client;

the client results message endpoint sending the results request message to the space service; and

the space service sending the requested portion of the results data to the client results message endpoint in response to receiving the results request message.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the results request message is received on the space service by a space service results message endpoint, and wherein the space service sending the requested portion of the results to the client results message endpoint comprises:

generating a results response message, wherein the results response message includes the requested portion of the results; and

the space service results message endpoint sending the results response message to the client results message endpoint.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the information to enable access by the client to the stored results comprises one or more Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) for accessing the stored results.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the computer programming language is the Java programming language, and wherein the information representing the method call in the message represents a Java method call to a Java method implemented on the service, and wherein the service performing a function comprises invoking the Java method on the service in accordance with the information representing the Java method call included in the message.

13. The method as recited in claim 1,

wherein the client comprises a client method gate, wherein the method gate is generated for the client according to a data representation language schema defining one or more method interfaces for a service in the distributed computing environment;

wherein said generating a message comprises;

the client method gate receiving the computer programming language method call from the process executing within the client; and

the client method gate generating the message for the client, wherein the message is generated as defined by the data representation language schema, and wherein the information representing a computer programming language method call in the message represents the method call received from the process.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein said sending the message comprises the client method gate sending the message to the service.

15. A distributed computing system, comprising:

a service device configured to execute functions on behalf of clients of the service device;

a client device configured to;

generate a message, wherein the message includes information representing a computer programming language method call from a process, wherein the client device further comprises a virtual machine executable within the client device, wherein the process is executing within the virtual machine; and

send the message to the service device;

a space service device configured to receive and store results data from service devices in the distributed computing system, wherein the space service device is a separate physical device than the client device;

wherein the service device is configured to;

receive the message sent by the client device; and

perform a function on behalf of the client device in accordance with the information representing the computer programming language method call included in the message, wherein performing the function generates results data;

store the results data to the space service device; and

provide an advertisement for the stored results data to the client device, wherein the advertisement comprises information to enable access by the client device to the stored results data.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the service device performs the function on behalf of the client device asynchronously to processing on the client device.

17. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the client method gate is further configured to send the message to the service for the client device.

18. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the virtual machine is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

19. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein, in said performing a function, the service device is further configured to execute a computer programming language method in accordance with the information representing the computer programming language method call included in the message.

20. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein, in said performing a function, the service device is further configured to:

regenerate the computer programming language method call in accordance with an identifier of the method call included in the message; and

execute a computer programming language method in accordance with the regenerated method call.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein, in said executing a computer programming language method, the service device is further configured to provide one or more parameter values included in the message as parameter values of the method call.

22. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein said performing the function generates results data, and wherein the service device is further configured to provide the generated results data to the client device.

23. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the client device is further configured to access the stored results data from the space service device in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement for the stored results data.

24. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein, in said accessing the stored results data, the client device is further configured to:

generate a client results message endpoint in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement, wherein the client results message endpoint is executable within the client device, wherein the client results message endpoint is configured to;

generate a results request message, wherein the results request message requests a portion of the results data be provided to the client device; and

send the results request message to the space service device.

25. The system as recited in claim 24, wherein the space service device comprises a space service results message endpoint executable within the space service device and configured to:

receive the results request message; and

send a results response message to the client results message endpoint, wherein the results response message includes the requested portion of the results data.

26. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the information to enable access comprises one or more Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) for accessing the stored results.

27. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the computer programming language is the Java programming language, and wherein the information representing the method call in the message represents a Java method call to a Java method implemented on the service, and wherein, in said performing a function, the service device is further configured to invoke the Java method on the service device in accordance with the information representing the Java method call included in the message.

28. The distributed computing system of claim 15,

wherein the client device comprises a client method gate executable within the client device and wherein the method gate is generated according to a data representation language schema defining one or more method interfaces for the service device;

wherein the client method gate is configured to;

receive the computer programming language method call from the process executing within the client device; and

generate the message on the client device, wherein the message is generated as defined by the data representation language schema, and wherein the information representing a computer programming language method call in the message represents the method call received from the process.

29. A device, comprising:

a client component; and

a method gate, wherein the method gate is generated according to a data representation language schema defining one or more method interfaces for a service in a distributed computing environment;

wherein the client component is configured to;

generate a computer programming language method call;

wherein the method gate is configured to;

access the computer programming language method call generated by the client component;

generate a message, wherein the message includes information representing the computer programming language method call, and wherein the message is generated as defined by the data representation language schema; and

send the message to the service in the distributed computing environment;

wherein the service is operable to;

perform a function on behalf of the client component in accordance with the information representing the computer programming language method call included in the message; and

store results data generated by the function to a space service in the distributed computing environment; and

wherein the client component is further configured to;

access an advertisement for the results data, wherein the advertisement comprises information to enable access by the client component to the results data; and

access the results data from the space service in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement for the stored results data.

30. The device as recited in claim 29, wherein the service is further operable to perform the function on behalf of the client component asynchronously to processing of the client component.

31. The device as recited in claim 29, wherein the device further comprises a virtual machine executable within the device, wherein the client component and the method gate are executable within the virtual machine.

32. The device as recited in claim 31, wherein the virtual machine is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

33. The device as recited in claim 29, wherein the computer programming language is the Java programming language, and wherein the information representing a method call in the message represents a Java method call to a Java method implemented on the service.

34. A tangible, computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

a client generating a message, wherein the message includes information representing a computer programming language method call;

the client sending the message to a service, wherein the service is configured to perform functions on behalf of the client; and

wherein the service performs a function on behalf of the client in accordance with the information representing the computer programming language method call included in the message;

wherein results data from said performing the function are stored to a space service;

the client receiving an advertisement for the stored results data, wherein the advertisement comprises information to enable access by the client to the stored results data; and

the client accessing the stored results data from the space service in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement, wherein, in the client accessing the stored results data, the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement;

generating a client results message endpoint in accordance with the information in the provided advertisement, wherein the client results message endpoint is configured to send messages to the space service for the client;

generating a results request message, wherein the results request message requests a portion of the results data to be provided to the client;

the client results message endpoint sending the results request message to the space service; and

the client results message endpoint receiving the requested portion of the results data from the space service in response to the results request message.

35. The tangible, computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 34, wherein the service device performs the function on behalf of the client device asynchronously to processing on the client device.

36. The tangible, computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 34, wherein the computer programming language method call is from a process, wherein the process is executing within a virtual machine, wherein the virtual machine is executing within a client device in the distributed computing environment.

37. The tangible, computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 36, wherein the virtual machine is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM).

38. The tangible, computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 34, wherein the information representing the computer programming language method call includes an identifier of the method call, and wherein, in said performing a function, the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement:

regenerating the method call in accordance with the identifier of the method call included in the information representing the method call; and

executing a computer programming language method in accordance with the regenerated method call.

39. The tangible, computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 38, wherein the information representing the computer programming language method call further includes one or more parameter values of the method call, and wherein, in said executing a computer programming language method in accordance with the regenerated method call, the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement providing the one or more parameter values from the information representing the method call as parameter values of the method call.

40. The tangible, computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 34, wherein the computer programming language is the Java programming language, and wherein the information representing the method call in the message represents a Java method call to a Java method implemented on the service, and wherein, in said performing a function, the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement invoking the Java method on the service in accordance with the information representing the Java method call included in the message.

41. The tangible, computer readable storage medium of claim 34,

wherein the client comprises a client method gate, wherein the method gate is generated according to a data representation language schema defining one or more method interfaces for a service in a distributed computing environment;

wherein in said generating a message, the program instructions are further computer executable to implement;

the client method gate receiving the computer programming language method call from a process executing on the client; and

the client method gate generating the message for the client, wherein the message is generated as defined by the data representation language schema, and wherein the information representing a computer programming language method call in the message represents the method call received from the process.