System for sharing data objects among applications

• US 7,970,823 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2009
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bloomberg Finance Holdings L P, Bloomberg Finance LP (Bloomberg LP)
• Original Assignee: Broadway Technology LLC (ION Investment Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Walsky, Joshua, Moeller, Tyler
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh; Khanh Q
• Application Number:
  US12/479,998
• Publication Number:
  US 20090254601A1
• Time in Patent Office: 750 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/220, 709/224, 709/228, 707/1
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0806 Multiuser, multiprocessor or multiprocessing cache systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

System and method for sharing data objects among applications. A portion of the data messages includes data objects. A client library is coupled to a requesting application. A client library requests data objects of a data-object set. Requests from the client library are received and parsed by a set of code (SOC) that performs tasks so as to retrieve any matching data objects and cause the return of such matching data objects to the client library. A registration module registers subscriptions from or on behalf of the applications and an event notification module compares a data object in an event message with the subscriptions and notifies the subscribed applications in response. The system can respond to requests in either a query or a procedure call format.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for sharing data objects among applications, comprising:

at least one computer having at least one processor;

a memory;

a client library coupled to a requesting application and operable to execute on at least one of the processors to request data objects of a data-object set, each data object having a handle comprising a reference to that data object;

a set of code (SOC) stored in the memory, in communication with the client library, and configured to execute on at least one of the processors to parse any request from the client library and retrieve any data objects of the data-object set;

a registration module configured to execute on at least one of the processors to register subscriptions from or on behalf of the requesting application, wherein each subscription has a filter criteria; and

an event notification module configured to execute on at least one of the processors to receive an event message from the applications, compare the at least one data object in the event message with one or more of the subscriptions, and selectively notify the subscribed applications, including at least the requesting application, in response to the comparison on the basis of any matches of the filter criteria,

wherein the selective notification includes a return of any matching data objects to the client library coupled to at least the requesting application,

wherein the event notification module is operable to identify at least whether the event message indication is an out-of-scope or an into-scope event, and

wherein the client library is operable to return the handle to the requesting application so that any matching data objects are accessible to the requesting application.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the selective notification to the requesting application includes the identification made by the event notification module as to whether the event message indication is an out-of-scope or an into-scope event.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the event notification module is further operable to return data objects that are out-of-scope.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the subscription comprises a data-object set description described in a data-set definition language.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the client library includes the SOC.

6. The system of claim 2, further comprising a data-type definition language that defines one or more data-types shareable among the applications through each of the respective client libraries, and wherein a data-set definition language defines data-object sets of a given data type.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the SOC is configured to return any matching data to the client library.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the SOC is configured to provide routing information needed to effectuate the return of any matching data to the client library.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the data message flow is in one of a request/response mode and a publish/subscribe mode.

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the requesting application is written in a native language, and wherein the client library is configured to complement each respective application'"'"'s native language.

11. The system of claim 2, further comprising one or more data stores containing the data-object sets, wherein the data stores comprise at least one of a disc storage device, magnetic media storage device, holographic storage device, and a solid state memory device.

12. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

an object pool associated with at least one client library and containing instantiations of at least one of the data objects; and

wherein the handle comprises a reference to one of the data objects in the object pool.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein any matching data objects in the selective notification include revision information.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the data objects are stored in a relational database.

15. The system of claim 2, further comprising a monitoring module in communication with each respective application and configured to monitor the status of the applications.

16. The system of claim 2, further comprising a statistical analysis module in communication with each respective application and configured to gather operational statistics of the applications.

17. The system of the claim 2, wherein the request defines the data-object set in a query format.

18. The system of claim 2, wherein the request comprises a procedural call.

19. The system of claim 2, wherein the request is one of:

the data-object set in a query format; and

a procedural call.

20. The system of claim 2, wherein the selective notifications are sent in one of a point-to-point mode and a broadcast mode.

21. The system of claim 2, further comprising a data-set definition language having one of a textual-based language readable by a human and a derivation of a standard query language having the addition of constructs that execute remote procedure calls.

22. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a data cache that contains data objects that meet a data definition statement, wherein the data cache includes a handle to the data objects within the data cache.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein data objects are added and removed from the data cache at least in response to respective into-scope events and out-of-scope events.

24. The system of claim 2, wherein the comparing step comprises comparing the at least one data object with a filter associated with one or more of the subscriptions, and wherein the event notification module is further operable to identify whether the event message indicates an in-scope event.

25. A computer-implemented method for sharing data objects among applications, comprising:

providing at least one computer having at least one processor, a memory, and a client library coupled to a requesting application that executes on at least one of the processors;

permitting a flow of data messages among the applications, at least a portion of the data messages including at least one data object;

requesting, by the client library executing on at least one of the processors, data objects of a data-object set;

parsing the request from the client library and retrieving any data objects of the data-object set using a set of code (SOC) executing on at least one of the processors and stored in the memory;

registering, at a registration module executing on at least one of the processors, subscriptions from or on behalf of the requesting application, wherein the subscriptions have a filter criteria;

capturing, at an event notification module executing on at least one of the processors, an event message from one of the applications;

comparing at least one data object in the event message with one or more of the subscriptions using a filter implemented using at least one of the processors;

selectively notifying the subscribed applications, including the requesting application, in response to the comparison on the basis of any matches of the filter criteria; and

returning to the requesting application a handle comprising a reference to said matching data objects so that any matching data objects are accessible to the requesting application,

wherein the selective notification causes a return of any matching data objects to the client library coupled to at least the requesting application, and

wherein the event notification module identifies at least whether the event message indicates an out-of-scope or an into-scope event.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the notification step further notifies the subscribed applications of the identification made by the event notification module as to whether the event message indication is an out-of-scope or an into-scope event.

27. The method of claim 26, including the additional step of returning, using the event notification module, data objects that are out-of-scope.

28. The method of claim 26, including the additional step of describing the subscription with a data-object set description described in a data-set definition language.

29. The method of claim 26, including the additional step of returning any matching data to the client library.

30. The method of claim 26, including the additional step of providing routing information effectuating the return of any matching data to the client library.

31. The method of claim 26, including the additional step of monitoring the status of the applications by a monitoring module in communication with each respective application.

32. The method of claim 26, including the additional step of gathering operational statistics of the applications by a statistical analysis module in communication with each respective application.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the requesting step requests the data-object set in a query format.

34. The method of claim 26, wherein the requesting step includes the steps of:

defining the data-object set as a remote procedure call; and

returning a set of data from the remote procedure call.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the requesting step comprises one of:

requesting data objects of the data-object set in a query format; and

requesting data objects of the data-object set using a procedural call.

36. The method of claim 26, including the additional steps of:

associating an object pool with the client library;

populating the object pool with an instantiation of at least one of the data objects; and

referencing one of the data objects in the object pool with the handle that is returned to the requesting application.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the selective notification contains data objects, wherein any matching data objects and the selective notification data objects include revision information.

38. A computer-implemented system for sharing data objects among applications, comprising:

at least one computer having at least one processor;

a memory;

a data protocol layer that permits a flow of data messages among applications, at least a portion of the data messages including at least one data object;

a client library coupled between a requesting application and the data protocol layer and operable to execute on at least one of the processors to request data objects of a data-object set;

a set of code (SOC) stored in the memory, in communication with the client library, and configured to execute on at least one of the processors to parse any request from the client library and retrieve any data objects of the data-object set;

a registration module configured to execute on at least one of the processors to register subscriptions from or on behalf of the requesting application, wherein each subscription has a filter criteria; and

an event notification module configured to execute on at least one of the processors to receive an event message from the applications, compare the at least one data object in the event message with one or more of the subscriptions, and selectively notify the subscribed applications, including at least the requesting application, in response to the comparison on the basis of any matches of the filter criteria,

wherein the selective notification includes a return of any matching data objects to the client library coupled to at least the requesting application,

wherein the event notification module is operable to identify at least whether the event message indication is an out-of-scope or an into-scope event, and

wherein the client library is operable to return to the requesting application a handle to said matching data objects so that said matching data objects are accessible to the requesting application.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the selective notification to the requesting application includes the identification made by the event notification module as to whether the event message indication is an out-of-scope or an into-scope event.