Method and system for layering an infinite request/reply data stream on finite, unidirectional, time-limited transports

In a computer network having a client and a server, a method comprising:

• receiving, at a first proxy, a request from a client to establish an OUT channel for server-to-client traffic, and in response, establishing a connection with the server;
• receiving, at a second proxy, a request from a client to establish an IN channel for client-to-server traffic, and in response, establishing a connection with the server as the IN channel;
• at the second proxy via the IN channel, receiving data from the client directed to the server and forwarding it to the server;
• at the first proxy via the OUT channel, receiving data from the server directed to the client and forwarding it to the client;
• receiving at the first proxy a request from the server to recycle the OUT channel to a new OUT channel corresponding to a third proxy, and in response, transitioning server-to-client traffic to the new OUT channel;
• and
• receiving at the second proxy a request from the client to recycle the IN channel to a new IN channel corresponding to a fourth proxy, and in response, transitioning client-to-server traffic to the new IN channel.

In a computer network having a client and a server, a system comprising:

• a client runtime that provides client requests;
• a channel establishment mechanism that establishes a first unidirectional channel for client-to-server requests, and second a unidirectional channel for server-to-client replies, each channel having a finite lifetime;
• a lifetime tracking mechanism that tracks the lifetime of the first channel, including by counting the size of the request data sent to the server with respect to the finite lifetime of the first channel;
• and
• a channel recycle mechanism that replaces the first channel with a new channel when the first channel approaches or reaches expiration of its lifetime as detected by the lifetime tracking mechanism, the channel recycle mechanism operating transparent to the client runtime such that a virtual channel that never expires is available for sending data from the runtime to the server.

In a client computer that communicates with a network server, a method comprising:

• establishing a first connection with the server;
• establishing a second connection with the server, the second connection having a limited lifetime;
• receiving requests;
• sending request data to the server via the second connection;
• receiving replies from the server via the first connection in response to the requests;
• tracking the amount of request data sent over the second connection with respect to the limited lifetime of the second connection;
• and
• recycling the second connection as a new second connection to maintain at least one connection for sending the request data to the server when the second connection expires.