Secure data accessing system and method

Abstract

A system and method for accessing data located behind a security mechanism is provided. In the preferred embodiment, the system may use the common HTTP protocol and JDBC drivers. In more detail, a client may execute a Java applet that generates database proxy objects that are communicated to an application server using the HTTP protocol. The application server may use a servlet to process the objects and generate database requests using JDBC drivers so that the data is retrieved from the database for the client Java applet without the security problems.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, at an application server computing device, a first message from a database proxy object on a client computing device, the first message including a request for information from a database;   generating, by the application server computing device, a database communication object, wherein the database communication object sends a second message to the database, the second message including the request for information;   receiving, by the database communication object, a response from the database; and   transmitting, by the application server computing device, a result from the database communication object to the database proxy object.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the database is hosted on a database server computing device different from the application server computing device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a firewall computing device is configured to prevent a direct connection between the client computing device and the database. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the database communication object sends the second message to the database via a database driver installed on the application server computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the database driver is a JDBC driver. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first message uses an HTTP port and the second message uses a database port different from the HTTP port. 
     
     
         8 . A system, comprising:
 an application server computing device configured to accept first messages from database proxy objects on client computing devices, and further configured to generate database communication objects corresponding to the database proxy objects;   wherein the database communication objects are usable by the application server to send second messages to a database server computing device;   wherein the database communication objects are further usable by the application server to receive responses including database information from the database server computing device; and   wherein the database communication objects are further usable by the application server to respond to the first messages with the database information.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the application server computing device and the database server computing device are the same computing device. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein a servlet on the application server device is usable to generate the database communication objects. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the client computing devices are not configured with drivers to communicate directly with the database server computing device. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the application server computing device is further configured to process the first messages in a batch by accepting at least two of the first messages before generating the corresponding database communication objects. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the first messages are received via an HTTP protocol. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the database communication objects respond to the first messages with the database information via HTTP protocol. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computer-based system, cause the computer-based system to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a first message from a database proxy object on a client computing device, the first message including a request for information from a database;   generating a database communication object, wherein the database communication object is usable by the computer-based system to send a second message to the database, the second message including the request for information;   receiving a response from the database; and   transmitting a result from the database communication object to the database proxy object.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 transmitting an applet to the client computing device, wherein the applet is usable by the client computing device to send the first message to the computer-based system.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 storing the response from the database in a response object on the computer-based system; and   transmitting a unique name for the response object to the database proxy object.