Interaction protocol for interacting computer systems

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions for generating interaction skeletons for a plurality of participating computers to inter-operate based on a multi-party interaction protocol, wherein the instructions, when executed, control a computer system to be configured for:

• creating an Interaction Protocol based on an interaction process of how the plurality of participating computers interact with each other, wherein the Interaction Protocol uses multiple Interaction Activities and multiple Transition Relations to describe the interaction process among the plurality of participating computers;
• determining an interaction skeleton by generating a plurality of Participating Activities and their Transition Relations for each participating computer in the plurality of participating computers based on corresponding Interaction Activities and their Transition Relations in the Interaction Protocol,
• wherein the plurality of Participating Activities are generated by performing:
• determining an Interaction Activity to make the Interaction Activity a current Interaction Activity;
• generating a Participating Activity based on a type of the current Interaction Activity and a role a participating computer plays in the current Interaction Activity by analyzing corresponding Interaction Activities in the Interaction Protocol;
• and
• performing the determining the Interaction Activity and generating of the participating activity for each Interaction Activity until all interaction activities are processed to generate the interaction skeleton,
• wherein:
• the current Interaction Activity describes one or more interactions in between two or more participating computers,
• the current Interaction Activity comprises a Simple Interaction Activity, and
• the Simple Interaction Activity describes a message exchange in between the two or more participating computers,
• wherein generating the Participating Activity comprises:
• when the current Interaction Activity is the Simple Interaction Activity, performing:
• when the participating computer is a message sending party in the current Interaction Activity, generating a Sending Participating Activity for the participating computer;
• when the participating computer is a message receiving party in the current Interaction Activity, generating a Receiving Participating Activity for the participating computer;
• and
• when the participating computer is not involved in the current Interaction Activity, generating an empty Participating Activity for the participating computer;
• and
• converting the interaction skeleton into executable interaction modules, wherein one of the interaction modules is loaded into each participating computer in the plurality of participating computers, and wherein the plurality of participating computers use the interaction module to communicate messages.

An apparatus for generating interaction skeletons for a plurality of participating computers to inter-operate based on a multi-party interaction protocol, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more computer processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions, that when executed, control the one or more computer processors to be configured for:
• creating an Interaction Protocol based on an interaction process of how the plurality of participating computers interact with each other, wherein the Interaction Protocol uses multiple Interaction Activities and multiple Transition Relations to describe the interaction process among the plurality of participating computers;
• determining an interaction skeleton by generating a plurality of Participating Activities and their Transition Relations for each participating computer in the plurality of participating computers based on corresponding Interaction Activities and their Transition Relations in the Interaction Protocol,
• wherein the plurality of Participating Activities are generated by performing:
• determining an Interaction Activity to make the Interaction Activity a current Interaction Activity;
• generating a Participating Activity based on a type of the current Interaction Activity and a role a participating computer plays in the current Interaction Activity by analyzing corresponding Interaction Activities in the Interaction Protocol;
• and
• performing the determining the Interaction Activity and generating of the participating activity for each Interaction Activity until all interaction activities are processed to generate the interaction skeleton,
• wherein:
• the current Interaction Activity describes one or more interactions in between two or more participating computers,
• the current Interaction Activity comprises a Simple Interaction Activity, and
• the Simple Interaction Activity describes a message exchange in between the two or more participating computers,
• wherein generating the Participating Activity comprises:
• when the current Interaction Activity is the Simple Interaction Activity, performing:
• when the participating computer is a message sending party in the current Interaction Activity, generating a Sending Participating Activity for the participating computer;
• when the participating computer is a message receiving party in the current Interaction Activity, generating a Receiving Participating Activity for the participating computer;
• and
• when the participating computer is not involved in the current Interaction Activity, generating an empty Participating Activity for the participating computer;
• and
• converting the interaction skeleton into executable interaction modules, wherein one of the interaction modules is loaded into each participating computer in the plurality of participating computers, and wherein the plurality of participating computers use the interaction module to communicate messages.