Control of messages in publish/subscribe system

A broker system in a publish/subscribe architecture, the broker system configured to allow a publishing user to maintain fine-grain control of a message throughout the entire publish/subscribe architecture including through end use of the message by a plurality of subscribing systems, the broker system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor in communication with the memory, the processor configured to obtain program instructions from the memory that cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
• receiving the message for publishing to the plurality of subscribing systems and associated metadata, the associated metadata incorporating at least a broker-system-layer-control metadata subset designed to control delivery of the message by the broker system and a subscribing-system-layer-control metadata subset designed to control use of the message by the subscribing systems, wherein both metadata subsets are selected by the publishing user such that the entirety of the associated metadata defines the fine-grain control of the message in the form of restrictions on the message to be applied differentially at multiple layers of the publish/subscribe architecture as well as differentially among the plurality of subscribing systems;
• determining, by the broker system and based on an analysis of the broker-system-layer-control metadata subset, that restrictions on the delivery of the message to each of the subscribing systems varies based on characteristics of the subscribing systems;
• looking up, by the broker system and based on the determination about the broker-system-layer-control metadata subset, the characteristics of each subscribing system;
• applying, by the broker system and based on the looked-up information for each subscribing system, the required restrictions to the delivery of the message to each subscribing system differentially such that the fine-grain control of the message by the publishing user is maintained at the broker-system layer of the publish/subscribe architecture;
• and
• forwarding, by the broker system, at least the subscribing-system-layer-control metadata subset to each subscribing system to whom the message is delivered,
• wherein, based on its analysis of the subscribing-system-layer control metadata subset, each subscribing system differently applies restrictions on the use of the message by its corresponding subscribing user, wherein the restrictions applied by each subscribing system are in addition to the restrictions applied by the broker system such that the fine-control of the message by the publishing user is also maintained at the subscribing-system-layer of the publish/subscribe architecture.

A computer program product for a broker system in a publish/subscribe architecture, the broker system configured to allow a publishing user to maintain fine-grain control of a message throughout the entire publish/subscribe architecture including through end use of the message by a plurality of subscribing systems, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method, carried out at the broker system, the method comprising:

• receiving the message for publishing to the plurality of subscribing systems and associated metadata, the associated metadata incorporating at least a broker-system-layer-control metadata subset designed to control delivery of the message by the broker system and a subscribing-system-layer-control metadata subset designed to control use of the message by the subscribing systems, wherein both metadata subsets are selected by the publishing user such that the entirety of the associated metadata defines the fine-grain control of the message in the form of restrictions on the message to be applied differentially at multiple layers of the publish/subscribe architecture as well as differentially among the plurality of subscribing systems;
• determining, by the broker system and based on an analysis of the broker-system-layer-control metadata subset, that restrictions on the delivery of the message to each of the subscribing systems varies based on characteristics of the subscribing systems;
• looking up, by the broker system and based on the determination about the broker-system-layer-control metadata subset, the characteristics of each subscribing system;
• applying, by the broker system and based on the looked-up information for each subscribing system, the required restrictions to the delivery of the message to each subscribing system differentially such that the fine-grain control of the message by the publishing user is maintained at the broker-system layer of the publish/subscribe architecture;
• and
• forwarding, by the broker system, at least the subscribing-system-layer-control metadata subset to each subscribing system to whom the message is delivered,
• wherein, based on its analysis of the subscribing-system-layer control metadata subset, each subscribing system differently applies restrictions on the use of the message by its corresponding subscribing user, wherein the restrictions applied by each subscribing system are in addition to the restrictions applied by the broker system such that the fine-control of the message by the publishing user is also maintained at the subscribing-system-layer of the publish/subscribe architecture.