Method and apparatus for validating travelling object-oriented

46 Pages·2013·3.2 MB·English

US005748960A
United States Patent 1191 [11] Patent Number: 5,748,960
[45] Date of Patent: May 5, 1998
Fischer
[54] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR Messmer. Ellen. “N'IS ” proposes standard for electronic
VALIDATING TRAVELLING OBJECT signatures. Network World. p. 4.
ORIENTED PROGRAMS WITH DIGITAL Computer Communications. vol. 14. No.6. Jul. 1991. Guild
SIGNATURES ford GB pp. 358-365. C Horn 8: V. Cahill. “Supporting
Distributed Applications In The Amadeus Environment". p.
[76] Inventor: Addison M. Fischer. 4073 Merchantilc 360. Left Column. Lines l-25.
Ave.. Naples. Fla. 33942
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin. vol. 34. No. 6. Nov.
1991. pp. 423-425. “Accessing Remote Data Services
[21] Appl. No.: 769,118 Through An Object-Oriented Language”.
[22] Filed: Dec. 18, 1996
Primary Examiner-Thomas M. Heckler
Related US. Application Data
Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Nixon & Vanderhye RC.
[63] Continuation of Ser. No. 103,778, Aug. 10, 1993, aban [57] ABSTRACT
doned.
A method of operating computers in accordance with an
[5 1] Int. Cl.6 .................................................... .. G06F 13/00 enhanced object-oriented programming methodology cre
[52] US. Cl. 395/683 ates a framework for e?iciently performing automated busi
[5 8] Field of Search .................................... .. 395/683. 684 ness transactions. The object-oriented programming meth
odology is used in conjunction with a travelling program.
[56] References Cited i.e.. a digital data structure which includes a sequence of
instructions and associated data which has the capability of
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
determining at least one next destination or recipient for
receiving the travelling program and for transmitting itself.
4,868,877 9/1989 Fischer .
5,001 ,752 3/1991 Fischer . together with all relevant data determined by the program to
5,005,200 4/1991 Fischer .................................... .. 380/30 the next recipient or destination. The data is closely bound
5,095,522 3/1992 Fujita et al. . to the program in such a way that objects may be most
5,218,706 6/1993 Komori et a1. . e?iciently transferred from one computer user to another
5,265,206 11/1993 Shackelford et a1. . without the objects being previously lmown to the recipient
5,280,610 [[1994 Trabis, Jr. et a1. 364/DIG. l
computer user. Object “cells" or “electronic forms” which
5,283,898 2/1994 Knsumoto et a1. .
are data structures stored. for example. on a disk that re?ects
5,305,461 4/1994 Feigenbaum et al. .
a collection of (related) objects instances whose execution
5,311 ,591 5/1994 Fischer ...................................... .. 380/4
5,325,478 6/1994 Shelton et a1. . has been suspended. and which can be resumed later on the
same or a di?erent platform are constructed and used.
(List continued on next page.) Improved tools are provided for creating and using cells so
that electronic forms can be de?ned using object-oriented
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
techniques while allowing such forms to be easily trans
ferred among a diverse population of computer users. A
A-O 457 684 11/1991 European Pat. on. . '
digital signattn'e methodology is employed to insure security
A-O 520 749 12/1991 European Pat. 01f. .
A-O 565 314 10/1993 European Pat. on. . and integrity. so that electronic forms (i.e.. cells) composed
of a collection of objects can be received and executed by a
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
user without putting the user at risk that some of the object
classes embedded in the cell might be subversive programs.
Beck. Leland L.. “System Software -— an introduction to
programming”, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Mar.
95 Claims, 23 Drawing Sheets
1990. p. 292.
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5,748,960
Page 2
US. PATENT DOCUIVIENTS 5,367,573 11/1994 Quimby .
5,390,247 2/1995 Fischer .................................... .. 380/25
5,327,559 7/1994 Priven et a1. . 5,404,525 4/1995 Endicott et a1, .. 395/700
5,337,360 8/1994 Fischer .................................... .. 380/23 5,412,717 5/1995 Fischer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 380/4
5,341,478 8/1994 Travis, Jr, et a1. .............. .. 364/DIG. 1 5,440,744 8/1995 Jacobson el al. ..................... .. 395/650
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 1 0f 23 5,748,960
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNEL 12
1
{6 {B E ‘.9
MODEM MODEM MODEM ‘i
4 2
‘ ‘ TERMINAL TERMINAL
KEYBOARD, PROCESSOR B N
CRT __ w/ MAIN
MEMORY [
7R NON
VOLATILE
STORAGE
#
‘1
TERMINALA /
fig. 1
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 2 of 23 5,748,960
cellBlock 1"
l2“ nextCell: "—> Next cellBlock
l4’ globalPool: Pool head for global variables
l6“ cellldent: cell identi?cation
l8, cellFace instance (pointer to instance for handling outside 2
requests)
'9, pointers to file and certificate tags
20' classTable Pointer to classes for this cell
cellSignature: ._> digital signature structure for cell
22' as it existed when cell received
classBlock ~23 fig. 3
25~ classLink link for other classBlocks in Cell
24 _ parentClass ——> classBlock from which this is extended
26~ numLevels: = number of classes in total lineage
2B__ className Name of this class
classpgm to program block of associated program
method Table: —-> table of valid methods for lookup:
Each method entry has the format:
Linkage for other entries in table
—> classBlock associated with definition of method
Offset of start of pCode for method in associated classProgram
Length of method name
Name of method (normalized to lower case)
34
1
olassAuth: ~>authenticated authorization structure
lowest and highest levels of program making processable instances
5,748,960
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 3 of 23
fig. 4
programBlock" 37
38“ nextProgram: -> next Pmmamslock
39* programlnfo —-> program ldentification element
50 _ storage where program structure begins
k pgmlmage > and pointer to source code
42‘- pgmSize: = size of pCode program
44* type of program (O'REXX, O'BASIC, etc)
46 L» hash of source
48 \. hash of compiled pCode
49 Q classCount: number of classes referencing programBlock
5| ‘“ pgmAuthTable -—--———-—-> authenticated authorization structures
t
fig. 52
programStructure /
53 Si. te of enti. re program Structure
progldent: Program identification
54c“ . . . .
56 “a List of methods and class names and pCode offsets
53 - Variable Tables
60k Literal (constant) Tables
pCode instructions
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 4 of 23 5,748,960
fig. 6
#62
execBlock
nextlnstr: —-> next pCode instruction
66“ classPtr: -— > classBlock
68 E instanceExec: -—> instance being executed
70 H localPool: -> pool for local variables
72 \~ prevExecBlock: ?) Previ. ous execBlock
fig. 7
73* instanceValue
74\ classRef: —> classBlock for instance's class
161 CellRef: —) cellBlock for this instance
78 - pendDelete =1 if "DELETE" has been directed to instance
79 - sequence #2 identifies last store operation
80. eXecCount: Number of active execBlocks for this instance
8' ‘~ scan indicators: identifies particular save operation
82“ useCount: Number of pointers to this block
' (includes variables, FACE lNSTANCE, etc.)
84* levelCount'. (Equal to numLevels in associated classBlock)
86*- sharedPool: Pool head for SHARED variables
privatePools:
88c Pool head for pri. vate vari. ables of eldest parental class
Pool head for private variables of next eldest class
D O 0
Pool head for private variables of youngest class‘ I
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 5 of 23 5,748,960
fig. 8A
variableBlock r90
92
linkVar: linkage to another variableBlock in same pool
93 H valuePtr: —-> valueBlock giving variable's value
94 " qualVars: lf STEM, this is pool head
for qualified variables
95%
length of variable name
96
‘- variableName
9% valueType Type of value: string, instance.
99“ For string Value:
valueLength: Length of string
valueString: value of string
I00 For iI nstance value:
valuelnstance: _-> instanceBlock
L_______________----J
MasterBlock ~|o| fig_ 9
Contains overall information
'02 mainCell -> cellBlock for primary cell
I03
" messageRef: —-> messageReference Table
lO4 k,- pgmTable: ——> Table of all loaded programs
r05 v execStack , —) latest execBlock in execution slack
‘06v .__--> List of attached files
‘07v ———> certificate cache list
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 6 of 23 5,748,960
fig. 10
Cell identification
following material optionally ENCRYPTED and compressed
‘ Included CLASS programs
Class Program 1
Class Program 2
Class Program P’
H6
\- Following material optionally AUTHENTICATED:
ll?
‘ Program reference vector
Program reference 1
Program reference 2
Program reference N
Ila
_' Cell (and sub-cell) Vector
Cell 1 (Main CELL)
Cell 2 (first subCelll
Cell K (last subCell)
\- Data file Vector
Data file Specification 1
Data file 2
Data file (last) J
I2.
|2r3\ A'uth_ent_icat_ing_ si_gna_tur_es ___—_—_-———j‘
/,.Certificate Specification Set
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 7 of 23 5,748,960
lztProgram
I26
0 Program Date
I23 I‘ Program Identifier
I3O¢~Program Executablels) (source, pCode, or both)
)3?‘
Program Mode (0 = source, 1 = pCode)
|35v._ Executable Image:
For source, this is a sequence of program instructions
For pCode, this is a structure defining:
- pCode instructions,
- method names and starting pCode offset
- name of the PARENT (BASE) class (if extended)
- variable names and uses
- literal ("constant") values
- etc
Possible second executable
4L
I36
‘’ ‘Program Authorization/Signature (if any) of Program Identifierl
I28
\l‘Program Identifier
[38¢ Program Type (REXX, BASIC, etc)
I40_,'Program X.209 Assigned Object Identifier
|42v~ Program Name (for display)
I44.’- Program Revision Level
l46\-Compatibility with data produced by other revisions:
Lowest program revision producing compatible data
Highest program revision producing compatible data
I'l8 -/‘ Hash of SOURCE program
Hash of pCode program (if available)
I50 I
fig. 111?
US. Patent May s, 1998 Sheet 8 of 23 5,748,960
fig. II C
Program Identifier
I52 ~.lnteger (in Program Vectl of PARENT CLASS program (if any)
Il8 fig. IID
'56» Cell Identifier
'58 "'" Instance Vector (one of each instance defined in this cell):
/’ Index of Program Reference within Program Reference-Vector
-/"Index of class within program (always = O for 1st release)
'64 ~/' SHARED VariablePooI
I66lr/"Vecmr of PRIVATE Variable Pools:
|67~ " PRIVATE VariabIePool for Eldest Class in lineage
I
/ PRIVATE VariablePool for Class extended from eldest
I
|7Q -v PRIVATE VariablePool for youngest class in lineage
|72\./ Global VariablePool
I74
‘v’DataFile Tag References
|76\.’ certificateTag
[78,VariabIePooI:
,1‘ Variable 1
fig. Ill:
/ ‘ Variable 2
0 O 0
last Variable in pool