US 6,687,761 B1Granted

Process control methods and apparatus with distributed object management

AssigneeInvensys Systems, Inc.

InventorsWilliam J. Collins, Bruce S. Canna

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Abstract

The invention provides improved digital data processing systems with distributed object management for use, e.g., in process control. These systems are of the type having servers and, more particularly, object request brokers (ORB's) that route requests generated by one or more clients to implementation objects maintained by a server application. Routing is based on a binding table (or other such store) that identifies dispatching procedures, or “skeletons,” that invoke requested services on implementation objects specified in the requests. Such systems may be CORBA-compatible, though the improvements provided by o the invention are applicable to distributed object management systems having other architectures, as well. The improvements are characterized by the utilization of a single entry in the binding table (or other such store) to route requests to a plurality of different implementation objects, e.g., representing process control blocks and parameters, maintained by the server. In a related aspect, the improvements can be characterized as providing an CORBA-compatible ORB or, more particularly, (basic) object adapter (OA), that permits requests to be routed to implementations that are not listed in the binding table.

Claims7

Dependent claims

In a digital data processing system with distributed object management, the system having a server that routes requests generated by one or more clients to implementation objects that are maintained by a server, where the routing is based on an information store maintained by the server that identifies request dispatchers, the improvement wherein

the server utilizes an entry in the information store to route requests to a plurality of different implementation objects maintained by the server,
the server generates a first object reference (OR) corresponding to a first implementation object, the first OR including the first OID, and the server generates a second OR corresponding to a second implementation object, the second OR including the first and second OID's, the second OID being generated as a function of the first OID,
a client generates a request that includes the first OID and the second OID, the client determining the first and second OIDs for inclusion in the request from a copy of the second OR,
the server is responsive to an information store entry matching a first OID in a request for applying at least a portion of the request to a first request dispatcher,
the first request dispatcher responds to at least a portion of a request applied thereto for applying at least a portion of the request to a second request dispatcher, the second request dispatcher being associated with the second OID included in that request,
the second request dispatcher responds to at least a portion of the request applied thereto by invoking a requested service on an implementation object identified by the second OID included in that request.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.