Store and forward architecture
View Patent ↗A store and forward (S&F) architecture is provided that supports multiple applications within an extensible network to direct information of various formats to any of multiple destinations. In the presently preferred embodiment of the invention, Java applications running on a client send non-priority data to any server on the application network or, alternatively, anywhere on a global telecommunications network such as the Internet, at some time in the future. In the preferred embodiment, S&F allows a client application to send usage statistics to a database on the application network. It also enables T-commerce purchases to be made by the user, where the purchase and other relevant information is sent to a destination web server as if the purchase had taken place on the web via a full web browser on an Internet-connected PC.
1. A method for operating a store and forward (S&F) system for transmitting messages from a client to a recipient in a network, comprising:
receiving, at an S&F proxy intermediate the client and the recipient, a data message from the client, the data message having a header;
determining, at the S&F proxy, whether an acknowledgement (ACK) flag is set in the header of the data message, the ACK flag signaling the S&F proxy to send an ACK message acknowledging the S&F proxy's receipt of the data message from the client and informing the client that the data message may be purged from memory;
if the ACK flag is set in the header:
waiting, by the S&F proxy until completion or timeout of an S&F transaction before sending the ACK message,
upon completion of the S&F transaction within a predetermined time, sending a result (RES) message from the S&F proxy to the client instead of the ACK message, the RES message disclosing a result of the S&F transaction;
upon not completing the S&F transaction within the predetermined time, sending the ACK message from the S&F proxy to the client and storing the data message in a memory at the S&F proxy; and
if a RES flag is set in the header of the data message;
upon completion of the S&F transaction or timeout sending the RES message from the S&F proxy to the client.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising;
upon receiving a duplicate data message from the client and if the ACK flag is set, sending the ACK message from the S&F proxy to the client.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
the client creating an S&F object for an S&F application programming interface (API); and
sending the data message via the S&F API from the client to the S&F proxy.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
storing the data message in memory at the S&F proxy.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein completion of the S&F transaction includes sending the data message to a server and further comprising
upon unsuccessfully sending the data message, attempting to send the data message to the server again by the S&F proxy and storing the data message to a database.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
upon successfully sending the data message, purging the data message from the database by the S&F proxy.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
waiting, by the S&F proxy, until a done message is received from the client to purge the S&F transaction, if a DONE flag in the header is set.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
sending a done message by the client to the S&F proxy, responsive to the client receiving the result message, if the DONE flag in the header is set.
9. A store and forward (S&F) system, comprising:
a client device having a memory and configured to send a data message via a network, the data message including a header, the header including an acknowledgement (ACK) flag and a result (RES) flag; and
an S&F proxy device, intermediate the client device and a recipient, the S&F proxy device having a memory and configured
(1) to receive the data message from the client device,
(2) to wait before sending an ACK message to the client device, until completion of the S&F transaction or timeout, if an ACK flag is set, the ACK message acknowledging the S&F proxy's receipt of the data message from the client device and informing the client device that the data message may be purged from memory,
(3) to send a RES message to the client device instead of the ACK message, upon completion of the S&F transaction within a predetermined time, if the ACK flag is set, the RES message disclosing a result of the S&F transaction,
(4) to send the ACK message to the client device and to store the data message, upon not completing the S&F transaction within a predetermined time, if the ACK flag is set, and
(5) to send the RES message to the client device, upon completion of the S&F transaction or timeout, if the RES flag is set.
10. The S&F system of claim 9 , further comprising:
an Internet Protocol (IP) network to receive IP messages from the S&F proxy; and
an application server to receive data from the S&F proxy via the IP network.
11. The S&F system of claim 9 , wherein the client device further comprises:
a client software component; and an operating system.
12. The S&F system of claim 11 , wherein the client software component further comprises:
a client application;
a statistics application programming interface (API) to provide services to the client application; and
an S&F API to send messages to an application server.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the client device creates an S&F object for the S&F API and sends the data message to the S&F proxy by calling the S&F API.
14. The system of claim 9 , wherein, upon receiving a duplicate data message from the client and if the ACK flag is set, the S&F proxy sends the ACK message to the client device.
15. The system of claim 9 , wherein completion of the S&F transaction includes sending the data message to a server and, wherein, upon unsuccessfully sending the data message, the S&F proxy attempts to send the data message to the server again and stores the data message to a database.
16. The system of claim 15 , wherein upon successfully sending the data message, the S&F proxy purges the data message from the database.
17. The system of claim 9 , wherein the S&F proxy waits to purge the S&F transaction until a done message is received from the client device, if a DONE flag in the header is set.
18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the client device sends a done message to the S&F proxy responsive to the client device receiving the result message, if the DONE flag in the header is set.
19. A computer readable medium storing instructions for performing a method for operating a store and forward system for messages from a client to a recipient in a network, the method comprising:
receiving, at an S&F proxy intermediate the client and the recipient, a data message from the client, the data message having a header;
determining, at the S&F proxy, whether an acknowledgement (ACK) flag is set in the header of the data message, the ACK flag signaling the S&F proxy to send an ACK message acknowledging the S&F proxy's receipt of the data message from the client and informing the client that the data message may be purged from memory;
if the ACK flag is set in the header:
waiting, by the S&F proxy, until completion or timeout of an S&F transaction before sending the ACK message,
upon completion of the S&F transaction within a predetermined time sending a result (RES) message from the S&F proxy to the client instead of the ACK message, the RES message disclosing a result of the S&F transaction;
upon not completing the S&F transaction within the predetermined time, sending the ACK message from the S&F proxy to the client and storing the data message; and
if a RES flag is set in the header of the data message:
upon completion of the S&F transaction or timeout, sending the result message from the S&F proxy to the client.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 , further comprising:
upon receiving a duplicate data message from the client and if the ACK flag is set, sending the ACK message from the S&F proxy to the client.
21. A store and forward (S&F) proxy comprising a memory and configured to execute a process including:
receiving a data message over a network from a client device, the data message including an acknowledgement (ACK) flag and a results (RES) flag;
transmitting a message to a recipient requesting performance of a transaction based on the data message;
upon determining that the data message received from the client device includes an acknowledgement (ACK) flag that is set, waiting until either completion of the transaction with the recipient or a timeout condition before sending an ACK message;
determining whether a result (RES) flag in the data message has been set;
upon determining that the RES flag has been set and the transaction has been completed within a predetermined time period, transmitting a result message disclosing a result of the transaction to the client device; and
upon determining that the RES flag has been set and the transaction could not be completed within the timeout period, transmitting an ACK message to the client device, wherein the ACK message informs the client device that the data message may be purged from memory; and
wherein the S&F proxy is configured to be intermediate the client device and the recipient.