HTTP publish/subscribe communication protocol

A method of subscribing to information related to a resource, the method comprising:

• generating by a subscriber an HTTP request message;
• including subscription data in at least one of a header and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) reference associated with the HTTP request message, wherein the subscription data identifies the HTTP request message as a subscription request;
• and
• sending the HTTP request message to a publish/subscribe service.

A method of distributing information related to a resource between a publisher and a subscriber via a publish/subscribe service, the method comprising:

• receiving from the subscriber a first HTTP request message for requesting a subscription to the information related to the resource, wherein the first HTTP request message includes subscription data in at least one of a header and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) reference associated with the first HTTP request message, and identifies the first HTTP request message as a subscription request;
• receiving from the publisher a second HTTP request message including updated information related to the resource;
• and
• in response to receiving the second HTTP request message, generating and sending an HTTP message from the publish/subscribe service to the subscriber to notify the subscriber of the updated information related to the resource.

A method of implementing publish/subscribe commands, the method comprising:

• for each of a SUBSCRIBE command and a PUBLISH command, generating an HTTP request message including an existing HTTP method;
• including subscription data in at least one of a header and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) reference associated with the HTTP request message generated for the SUBSCRIBE command, wherein the data identifies the HTTP message as a subscription request;
• and
• for a NOTIFY command, generating either an HTTP response message based on a correlated HTTP request message, or an HTTP request message including an existing HTTP method.

A computer readable medium including a computer program for distributing information related to a resource between a publisher and a subscriber, the computer program comprising instructions executable in a publish/subscribe service for:

• receiving from the subscriber a first HTTP request message for requesting a subscription to the information related to the resource, wherein the first HTTP request message includes subscription data in at least one of a header and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) reference associated with the first HTTP request message, and identifies the first HTTP request message as a subscription request;
• receiving from the publisher a second HTTP request message including updated information related to the resource;
• and
• in response to receiving the second HTTP request message, generating and sending an HTTP message from the publish/subscribe service to the subscriber to notify the subscriber of the updated information related to the resource.

A computer readable medium including a computer program for subscribing to information related to a resource, the computer program comprising instructions executable in a subscriber for:

• generating an HTTP request message;
• including subscription data in at least one of a header and a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) reference associated with the HTTP request message, wherein the subscription data identifies the HTTP request message as a subscription request;
• and
• sending the HTTP request message to a publish/subscribe service.