Dynamic extensibility of application programming interfaces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10073694-B2
Application number	US-201514975749-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 19, 2015
Priority date	Feb 20, 2015
Publication date	Sep 11, 2018
Grant date	Sep 11, 2018

Abstract

A system for extending application programming interfaces provided by web service providers to interface with web services includes an application programming interface extender; a plurality of application programming interface extensions; and a catalog of the application programming interface extensions. The catalog logically links the application programming interface extensions with the application programming interfaces and provides an interface to first developers who upload the application programming interface extensions to the platform and second developers who develop applications which access the web services via the application programming interface extensions. The application programming interface extender receives requests to access given ones of the application programming interface extensions and routes at least some of the requests to the application programming interface extensions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for extending application programming interfaces provided by web service providers to interface with web services, said system comprising:
a processor programmed to implement:
a plurality of application programming interface extensions having a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) with a plurality of different domain names; an application programming interface extender that manages and routes requests to said application programming interface extensions; an extension platform, which has a single domain name and includes said application programming interface extender, that monitors said application programming interface extensions for uptime, latency, and ratings; a domain name server component that maps said different domain names of said application programming interface extensions to said single domain name of said extension platform and receives requests to access given ones of said application programming interface extensions; and a catalog, which is included in said extension platform, that associates said application programming interface extensions with said single domain name of said extension platform; wherein: said catalog logically links said application programming interface extensions with said application programming interfaces; said catalog provides an interface to first developers who upload said application programming interface extensions to said platform and second developers who develop applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions, said first and second developers being different entities than said web service providers; said application programming interface extender receives said requests to access given ones of said application programming interface extensions, routed by said domain name server, from said applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions, and routes at least some of said requests to said application programming interface extensions; and corresponding ones of said application programming interface extensions run alongside said applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions, to extend said application programming interfaces provided by said web service providers to interface with said web services.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein said application programming interface extensions do not modify existing operations of said web service providers in any way.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein said application programming interface extensions run in a platform as a service cloud computing environment on one or more cloud computing nodes which are separate and distinct from computers on which said web service providers provide said web services.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said corresponding ones of said application programming interface extensions run alongside said applications which access said web services on said extension platform.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein said corresponding ones of said application programming interface extensions run alongside said applications which access said web services in an environment separate from said extension platform.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a domain name system component interfacing with said domain name server, wherein said domain name system accesses an external domain name system to point said requests to said application programming interface extender.

7. A method for extending application programming interfaces provided by web service providers to interface with web services, said method comprising: obtaining, from a plurality of first developers, a plurality of application programming interface extensions having a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) with a plurality of different domain names; via a catalog, offering said plurality of application programming interface extensions under a single domain name to a plurality of second developers who develop applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions, said first and second developers being different entities than said web service providers; via an extension platform, which includes said catalog and an application programming interface extender and which has said single domain name, monitoring said application programming interface extensions for uptime, latency, and ratings; via said catalog and said application programming interface extender, linking said application programming interface extensions with said application programming interfaces; via a domain name server component, mapping said plurality of different domain names of said application programming interface extensions to said single domain name of said extension platform; receiving requests to access given ones of said application programming interface extensions, from said applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions; routing at least some of said requests to said application programming interface extensions via said domain name server component; and running corresponding ones of said application programming interface extensions alongside said applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions, to extend said application programming interfaces provided by said web service providers to interface with said web services.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising said application programming interface extensions not modifying existing operations of said web service providers in any way.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein said running of said application programming interface extensions comprises running application programming interface extensions in a platform as a service cloud computing environment on one or more cloud computing nodes which are separate and distinct from computers on which said web service providers provide said web services.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein said corresponding ones of said application programming interface extensions run alongside said applications which access said web services on said extension platform.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein said corresponding ones of said application programming interface extensions run alongside said applications which access said web services in an environment separate from said extension platform.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising accessing an external domain name system to point said requests to said application programming interface extender.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for extending application programming interfaces provided by web service providers to interface with web services, said method comprising: obtaining, from a plurality of first developers, a plurality of application programming interface extensions having a plurality of Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) with a plurality of different domain names; via a catalog, offering said plurality of application programming interface extensions under a single domain name to a plurality of second developers who develop applications which access said web services via said application programming interface extensions, said first and second developers being different entities than said web service providers; via said catalog and an application programming interface extender, linking said application programming interface extensions with said application programming interfaces; via an extension platform having said single domain name and in

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Jamjoom Hani T
• Liu Yew-Huey
• Williams Daniel J

Classifications

• G06F9/541

  via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications · CPC title

• G06F8/36 Primary

  Software reuse · CPC title

• G06F9/44526

  Plug-ins; Add-ons · CPC title

• G06F9/547

  Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services · CPC title

• G06F8/70 Primary

  Software maintenance or management · CPC title