Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Miscellaneous
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-21
2004-07-20
Courtenay, III, St. John (Department: 2126)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Miscellaneous
C709S230000, C719S330000, C719S316000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766350
ABSTRACT:
The present invention aims in general terms to improve the shared management of data objects on communication networks
It concerns, according to a first aspect, a method of marshalling a data object on a computer communication network
It also concerns a method of transferring a data object on a computer communication network and a method of remote updating a data object on a site in a computer communication network.
The present invention concerns, according to another aspect, a method of executing remotely, on a computer communication network, a function on a data object.
It also concerns a method of activating, on a local computer, a function of a distant data object, a method of transferring an interface on a computer communication network, a method of producing a computer request for activation of a function of a data object on a distant computer and a method of activating, on a computer communication network, a function of a data object on a distant computer.
Correlatively, the present invention concerns a device for marshalling a data object, a device for transferring a data object and a device for the updating remote of a data object on a site in a computer communication network, all adapted to implement the aforementioned methods in accordance with the invention.
The present invention also concerns a device for executing remotely, on a computer communication network, a function on a data object, a device for activating on a local computer a function of a distant data object, a device for transferring an interface on a computer communication network, a device for producing a computer request for activating a function of a data object on a distant computer, and a device for activating on a computer communication network a function of a data object on a distant computer.
The present invention lies in general terms in the field of computer communication networks which make it possible to transfer information between sites connected to the network.
The present invention applies to the communication networks which define a communication protocol between the different sites connected to the network.
Such a network can, by way of non-limitative example, be the worldwide communication network such as the Internet, built on top of the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) communication protocol.
Such communication networks also define an annotation language, for example XML (Extended Markup Language), which makes it possible in particular on these networks to connect documents together by hypertext links normally referred to as “pointers”.
The present invention aims notably to improve the shared management of data objects on such computer communication networks.
In a distributed object system, the data object is an element comprising data, also referred to as attributes, and functions possibly using input arguments. Conventionally, these functions can be invoked to manipulate the data of the object.
All the functions applicable to an object and attributes constitute its interface.
Each data object is created in a programming language used by a data processing application which is used on the site in the network on which the object is created.
Such programming languages are known, for example, by the name of JAVA or C++.
So that a data object can be shared on a communication network, it is necessary to code it in such a way that it is neither dependent on the architecture of the communication network nor dependent on the programming language in which the data processing application has created the object.
This is necessary since another computer cannot have the same network architecture or may implement a different data processing application.
When the data object is received by another site, a reverse marshalling operation must be applied to the object in order to obtain a representation of the object in the data processing application used on this second site.
The company Allaire Corporation recently developed a WDDX system which makes it possible to distribute data objects on a network. This WDDX system uses an XML communication language for facilitating the exchanges of complex data structures on a communication network.
For example, this WDDX system enables a data structure programmed in C to be marshalled to the XML communication language, then transferred from a first computer to a second computer in the network, and finally unmarshalled on the second computer in an equivalent data structure.
However, this WDDX system is largely unsuited to the marshalling and transfer of a data object having data fields with a complex structure. Such a complex structure is observed in particular when a data field points to or contains at least one other data field which itself may be complex.
The WDDX system in this case requires the XML representation of the higher data structure also to contain the XML representation of the lower data structures, and this recursively.
This way of proceeding considerably affects the performance of the marshalling and transfer of data objects on a network.
In addition, representation in XML communication language unnecessarily occupies a broad bandwidth of the network, whilst the destination site may in reality not need lower data structures.
In addition, this WDDX system concerns only the transfer of data, and does not permit the invocation of function on data at a distance.
In general terms, the interface of the object does not concern the WDDX system.
The company Datachannel has also proposed a Web Broker system which makes it possible to distribute data objects on a communication network.
This Web Broker system makes it possible to define the concept of the interfaces on the network
However, it is not possible in this system to obtain a source code for a function catalogued in an interface. Thus it is not possible to reimplement this function on a local computer and to invoke it locally on a copy of a distant object.
The aim of the present invention is to facilitate the sharing of data objects on a communication network.
To this end, the present invention relates first of all to a method of marshalling a data object on a computer communication network, from a programming language used by a data processing application to a communication language which can be used by a communication protocol of the computer communication network, comprising the following steps:
reading a data field included in said data object;
substituting, for said data field, a computer address associated with said data field when the structure of said data field is complex; and
storing said computer address associated with said data field in a table of associations.
Thus the method of marshalling a data object according to the invention makes it possible to temporarily replace at least one complex data field with a computer address and if necessary to proceed with the marshalling of this data field to a communication language only when it is required by a site in the communication network.
The data fields included in a data object comprise both data or attributes proper, the interfaces related to this object and the applicable functions.
By virtue of the table of associations in which there are stored the computer addresses associated with each data field, different complex data fields are made visible for all the sites connected to the network.
Only the literal objects are marshalled by value.
These literal objects are for example integers, decimal numbers, Boolean elements, characters or a short chain of characters.
According to a preferred characteristic of the invention, at the storage step, said data field is stored in said programming language.
Thus it is possible to generate in advance representations of the different data fields by means of a computer address stored in the table of associations without actually having to perform the marshalling of this data field from the programming language to the communication language.
This marshalling in the communication language can be postponed until an object is requested by one of the sites in the network via a computer addr
Canon Research Centre France S.A.
Courtenay III St. John
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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