Techniques for providing services and establishing processing environments

Abstract

Techniques are provided for the delivery of client services and for the establishment of client processing environments. A client receives services within a processing environment which is defined by a processing container. The processing container includes one or more processing groups, and each processing group has a particular context that supports one or more applications or services which are processing within that context. The processing groups communicate with one another via connector interfaces included within the processing container. Services and processing containers can be dynamically added or removed from the processing container.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for establishing a processing environment, comprising:
 configuring processing groups within a processing container, each processing group having a unique context and associated with a particular processing device;   loading applications within each processing group's context for execution on each processing device; and   establishing a processing environment as the processing container that spans the processing groups and their processing devices.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, interfacing each of the processing groups with one another within the processing environment. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein interfacing further includes providing a connector interface for each processing group that defines that processing group's context and input and output formats for each of that processing group's applications. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein providing further includes generically defining the input and output formats from a first connector interface to a second connector interface. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising, receiving, at the first connector interface, instructions for a particular application to process from the second connector interface, the particular application is a legacy application that is unaware of the first and second connector interfaces, and processing, via the first connector interface, the instructions using an application specific format expected by the legacy application. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, dynamically adding a new processing group associated with new processing devices and having new applications into the processing environment. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, dynamically removing a particular processing group and its processing devices from the processing environment. 
     
     
         8 . A method for providing a service to a client, comprising:
 configuring a connector interface to translate input and output formats for a service being added to the client;   dynamically adding the service to a particular processing group within a processing environment for the client, the processing environment defined by a processing container and includes multiple other processing groups, each processing group associated with its own processing device and its own processing context;   interfacing the service from the particular processing group to the multiple other processing groups via the connector interface; and   making the service available for access within the processing environment to the client.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising, authenticating the service before configuring the connector interface. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein configuring further includes identifying the service as a composite service having independent embedded services, each independent embedded service's input and output formats configured within the connector interface. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein dynamically adding further includes selecting the particular processing group based on its processing device being a local device included on the client. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein dynamically adding further includes selecting the particular processing group based on its processing device being external and remote from the client and accessible from a network connection to the client. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein dynamically adding further includes selecting the particular processing group based on its processing device being a composite device distributed over a network connection on multiple devices. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein dynamically adding further includes selecting the particular processing group based on its processing context that is identified as having similar services as the service. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein interfacing further includes using other connector interfaces to communicate with the connector interface, each other connector interface associated with a different processing group within the processing container. 
     
     
         16 . A processing system, comprising:
 processing devices organized over a network as a processing container that defines a processing environment for a client;   processing groups, each processing group configured as having its own processing context and having its own executing applications and processed on a particular one of the processing devices; and   connector interfaces, each connector interface configured within a particular processing group and processing on that particular processing group's processing device;   wherein a legacy first application processing within a first processing group is configured for interfacing to a second application processing within a second processing group via a first connector interface of the first processing group and a second connector interface of the second processing group.   
     
     
         17 . The processing system of  claim 16 , wherein at least one processing device is a Virtual Machine. 
     
     
         18 . The processing system of  claim 16 , wherein at least one processing group is configured as an authentication service that provides authentication within the processing container. 
     
     
         19 . The processing system of  claim 18 , wherein the processing container is accessible as the processing environment for multiple other clients over the network. 
     
     
         20 . The processing system of  claim 16 , wherein the processing container is configured to permit dynamic addition of new services and new processing groups that span new devices over the network.