Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
  • G06F9/06—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
  • G06F9/06—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs
  • G06F9/46—Multiprogramming arrangements
  • G06F9/50—Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
  • G06F9/5005—Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU] to service a request
  • G06F9/5027—Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU] to service a request the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
  • G06F9/5055—Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU] to service a request the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
  • G06F9/06—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs
  • G06F9/46—Multiprogramming arrangements
  • G06F9/52—Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F2209/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F9/00
  • G06F2209/50—Indexing scheme relating to G06F9/50
  • G06F2209/5015—Service provider selection

Definitions

• the present invention relates generally to communication between applications in different execution environments and, more particularly, to application service exchange across different execution environments.
• the execution environment defines the possibilities and constraints for applications in terms of how services are accessed and used, how events are received, how shared resources such as memory are used, how operating systems work and are used, how parallelity in execution in the system is achieved, and how the application is controlled in terms of start and stop.
• the execution environment defines the possibilities and constraints for execution and installation of the application.
• JSR 75 states that when an end user of a JAVA application edits a phone number, an existing phonebook on the system is to be invoked in order to be able to select the desired contact and then copy the phone number back to an edit field in the JAVA application.
• the JAVA execution environment puts requirements on an arbitrary application, which might execute in the native execution environment or in another commercial/proprietary execution environment. Since the specific design of such applications are not under the control of, for example, platform manufacturers, these requirements call for techniques that allow applications in different execution environments to exchange services across execution-environment boundaries.
• a method of application service exchange across different execution environments includes receiving a registration to handle a service from a server application operating in a first execution environment, receiving a request for the service from a client application operating in a second execution environment, requesting the service from the server application, receiving a result from the server application responsive to the requesting step, and delivering the result to the client application.
• a system for application service exchange across different execution environments includes a first execution environment, a server application adapted to execute on the first execution environment, a second execution environment, a client application adapted to execute on the second execution environment, and a platform service management support.
• the platform service management support is adapted to receive a request for the service by the client application, request the service from the server application, and deliver a result responsive to the request to the client application.
• FIGURE 1 is a messaging diagram illustrating a client request and server fulfillment of the request when the server is already running at the time of the client request
• FIGURE 2 is a messaging diagram illustrating a client request and server fulfillment of the request when the server is not running at the time of the client request
• FIGURE 3 is a logical block diagram overview of an application service exchange across different execution environments in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
• a server registers itself as being able to handle a particular service or set of services, such as, for example, "SupplyPhoneNumber" in the example discussed above.
• a request is forwarded via mobile-device platform service management support to the server that is registered for handling the service.
• the result is forwarded via the platform service management support to the client.
• the endpoints i.e., the client and the server
• the endpoints need not know of each other and are compile-time and link-time independent of one another.
• the endpoints need only have knowledge of and be adapted towards the platform service management support.
• the platform service management support may act as a service router. From a server perspective, the platform simply publishes a set of requested services. From a client perspective, the platform publishes a set of potentially-accessible services.
• the client may specify the service and the server may decide whether it is able to handle a request for such a service.
• the server registers itself as being able to handle the service.
• the client e.g., in an example represented by the JAVA standardization
• the client-specified solution is somewhat opposite of most client-server designs, in which the client checks to determine if the specification of a service by a specific server fulfills the needs of the client.
• a method in accordance with various embodiments of the invention addresses both cases. Two exemplary cases regarding how the service and its functional interface are specified and represented are as follows:
• a service is specified in a way that is not tied to a specific execution environment or a specific representation of the service.
• the end points i.e., client and the server
• the platform service management support i.e., client and the server
• one way of accomplishing a non-specific service representation is to use strings which, except for a character-coding scheme, are service-representation and execution-environment neutral.
• concepts such as, for example, "phone number” and "address” represent data semantics that are universal on all systems.
• a service is specified in a way that is tied to the platform service management support representation of the service.
• the end points i.e., the client and the server
• the platform service management support must adapt to the platform service management support and know how the service is represented by the mutually-known platform service management support.
• the platform service management support includes two parts: (a) a service registration part that keeps track of which server implements which services; and (b) a service broker part that acts as a connection point for the client and the server.
• the service request is forwarded from the client to the server and the service result is forwarded from the server to the client by the platform service management support.
• platform service management support is located and implemented in a system.
• the choice of where the platform service management support is located need not affect how the client or the server uses the platform service management support.
• Three exemplary platform- service-management-support locations are as follows:
• the platform service management support is integrated into the platform.
• the platform service management support is implemented in a plug-in.
• Plug-ins are discussed in more detail in U.S. Patent Application No. 10/665, 834, which application is entitled The Plug-In Model and is incorporated by reference.
• the registration part of the platform service management support is integrated into the platform while the service broker part of the platform service management support is implemented in a plug-in.
• Each of the three platform-service-management-support location cases listed above offers different pros and cons relative to external visibility, integration, process and company-strategic decisions. For example, if the platform service management support is located according to case 2 or case 3 above, development of, for example, JAVA JSRs, which requires native services, does not have to be synchronized with overall platform development.
• FIGURE 3 is a logical block diagram overview of an application service exchange across different execution environments in accordance with embodiments of the invention.
• FIGURE 3 illustrates platform service management support located in a platform, it will be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art that the platform service management support may be located in accordance with any of the three cases discussed above without departing from principles of the invention.
• FIGURE 3 illustrates a system 300 that includes a platform 302. Platforms such as the platform 302 are discussed in further detail in U.S. Patent Application No. 10/359,835, which application is entitled Platform System for Mobile Terminals and is incorporated by reference.
• the platform 302 includes a platform service management support 305. Also shown as part of the system 300 are an execution environment 304, an execution environment 306, and an execution environment 308. As an example, the execution environment 304 could be a JAVA execution environment, the execution environment 306 could be a customer legacy execution environment, and the execution environment 308 could be a platform-defined execution environment.
• a server application 312 is shown within the execution environment 308.
• Various other applications are also illustrated within each of the execution environments 304, 306, and
• the platform service management support 305 includes a service broker part 314 and a service registration part 316. Also shown as part of the platform 302 are a plurality of platform services 318, 320, 322, and 324. Arrows 326 and 328 generally illustrate communication between the client application 310 and the server application 312 via the platform service management support 305, the arrows 326 and 328 indicating a service request being forwarded by the client application 310 to the platform service management support 305 and the service request being forwarded by the platform service management support 305 to the server application 312.
• FIGURE 1 is a messaging diagram illustrating a client request and server fulfillment of a request when the server is already running at the time of the client request.
• a mobile device 100 includes an execution environment 102, an execution environment 104, and a platform 106.
• the execution environment 102 includes a server application 108.
• the execution environment 104 includes a client application 110.
• the platform 106 includes a platform service management support 112.
• the server application 108 uses the platform service management support 112 of the platform 106 in order to register as a handler for a given service.
• the platform service management support 112 stores this information.
• the service is specified in a semantically generic way.
• the client application 110 uses the platform service management support 112 of the platform 106 to request the service.
• the client application 110 does not know which server application or execution environment implements the service; however, the identity of the server application that implements the requested service is known by the platform service management support 112.
• the platform service management support 112 knows which server application implements the service and, at a message 118, transfers the service request to the appropriate server application (i.e., the server application 108).
• the server application 108 carries out the service and delivers a result of the service to the platform service management support 112.
• the platform service management support 112 knows that the client application 110 requested the service and delivers the result of the service at a message 122 to the client application 110.
• FIGURE 2 is a messaging diagram illustrating a client request and server fulfillment of the client request when the server is not running at the time of the client request.
• the server application 108 supplies the information needed for service registration in the platform service management support 112 upon installation of the server application 108.
• the platform service management support 112 stores this information.
• the client application 110 uses the platform service management support 112 of the platform 106 to request the service.
• the client application 110 does not know which server application or execution environment implements the service; however, the identity of the server application that implements the requested service is known by the platform service management support 112.
• the platform service management support 112 keeps track of which server application implements the service (i.e., the server application 108). If, as in FIGURE 2, the server application 108 has not yet been started, the platform service management support 112 starts the server application at step 204.
• the platform service management support 112 transfers the service request to the server application 108.
• the server application 108 carries out the service and delivers a result of the service to the platform service management support 112 at a message 208.
• the platform service management support 112 knows which client application requested the service (i.e., the client application 110) and delivers the result of the service to the client application 110 at a message 210.
• a broker application may be used in the execution environment 102 of the server application 108.
• the broker application would know the services of various server applications on the same execution environment (e.g., the execution environment 102) and would be able to start the server applications on demand in response to a request from, for example, the platfo ⁇ n service management support 112.
• Various embodiments of the invention serve to permit fundamentally different execution environments to be interconnected, bypass implementation differences, and offer a dynamic way for an embedded mobile-device platfo ⁇ n to open up a specification of required services that can be met by any application server.
• various embodiments of the invention may be used in a generic way for communications between applications in arbitrary execution environments. Implementation differences between different execution environments may be bridged in terms of information exchange.
• a set of services required by a client may be specified, as opposed to specifying a set of services offered by a server.
• the information exchange between the execution environments may take place using, for example, characters/strings to avoid representation dependencies, hi addition, the server and the client need not be aware of each other.
• a generic service request channel can be established between two endpoints in different execution environments.
• various embodiments of the invention support both server-driven and client-driven service specification.

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• 2004
  • 2004-07-19 US US10/893,808 patent/US7958496B2/en active Active
  • 2004-12-20 KR KR1020107028592A patent/KR20110009255A/ko not_active Ceased
  • 2004-12-20 WO PCT/EP2004/014483 patent/WO2005064462A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2004-12-20 EP EP04804083A patent/EP1697839A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2004-12-20 JP JP2006544378A patent/JP2007515720A/ja active Pending
  • 2004-12-20 KR KR1020067012329A patent/KR101062120B1/ko not_active Expired - Lifetime

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