Abstract: The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program for providing synchronous execution between objects written in an object-oriented programming language and business logic written in a procedural programming language, while executing under control of an interactive test facility for debugging purposes. A single, logical interface is provided during debugging, while actually spanning multiple programming models based on different technologies. Using the present invention, the developer is able to debug both the object-oriented user interface part and the procedural business logic part of an application as the code executes in an integrated manner.

Abstract: The invention achieves internet-based collaboration without having to install collaboration software on one of the computer. For example, a customer of a bank would like to collaborate with an agent of the bank. The customer accesses an external web server via a collaboration server. The collaboration server replaces a transition destination URL of HTML code acquired according to a request from the customer with a character string including a host name for the collaboration server and transition destination identification information and sends this character string to the user. When the customer clicks a link, the actual URL to be acquired is specified from the transition destination identification information at the collaboration server, and this URL is acquired by proxy and returned to the customer's browser.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for blending object-oriented (OO) programming languages with traditional (non-OO) programming languages such that they can execute and share data in a coordinated and integrated manner. Occurrence of a special keyword construct within a non-OO function triggers invocation of an OO method or script, the name of which is preferably specified as a parameter. The OO script executes synchronously, returning control to the non-OO function upon completion. The disclosed technique enables OO scripts to provide a more natural, logical interface to users wherein results of the non-OO function may be provided when most appropriate to the logic being executed, rather than requiring the non-OO function to be artificially designed as in prior art systems which must account for the limitations of their non-integrated execution environment.

Abstract: A method and apparatus in a distributed data processing system for providing proxy services. Requests are processed by a primary proxy, using a shared memory in the distributed data processing system. A challenge from a secondary proxy to the primary proxy is detected. A determination is made as to whether the secondary proxy has priority over the primary proxy. This may be determined using priorities assigned to the proxies. Responsive to determining whether the secondary proxy has priority over the primary proxy, a priority of the secondary proxy is stored. Responsive to the secondary proxy having priority over the primary proxy, the secondary proxy to is allowed access the shared memory. Further, the secondary proxy is then allowed to multi-cast a message to clients indicating the secondary proxy's location. This message indicates that the secondary proxy is now the primary proxy.

Abstract: Provided are a method and apparatus for providing serialization support for computer systems and computer system resources, in particular for application programs which require sequencing and/or consistency of data. The computer system resource includes serialized processes with units of work. A serialization token is provided at the start of a serialized process including at least one unit of work. The serialization token remains in force until the or all of the units of work of the process have been committed or rolled back. The serialization token controls the commencement of other processes of the computer system during the time that it is in force. The serialization is carried out by storing an abstract representation of the process to be serialized in storage which is accessible by all the programs and computers where the serialization applies.

Abstract: A system for accessing resources, such as bitmaps, fonts and sound files is provided. Typically, resources of this type are accessed as files from Java code. The data is read into dynamic (RAM) memory as a byte array in a Java object, and at least one other copy of the byte array is made in order to process the resource data, such as rendering an image to a display. The invention provides a mechanism for accessing the resource data directly from ROM, without making intermediate copies in RAM. Each resource can have a unique key or string in a logical table. Values associated with the keys are pointers to the data stored in ROM. The pointers are passed directly to the methods for processing the data on the hardware, bypassing the need to have the data become a temporary Java object. The saving in memory use is particularly advantageous for constrained memory devices.

Abstract: Devices are registered within a zone using a service discovery protocol. At the time of registration, a device sends a grammar and a set of help sequences to a control unit in the zone to be merged into a composite grammar and composite set of help sequences. If the voice command iddued by a user is recognized, an appropriate method invocation is sent to the device to perform the desired operation. If the device in the voice command is recognized but the operation is not recognized, then the user is provided with a help sequence on how to properly perform operations with the device. If the device is not recognized, the command is forwarded to another zone within a set of zones until either the device is found or no such device is located.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer-readable code for delegating authority in a public key authentication environment from a client to a server machine or process, in order that the server machine or process can then securely access resources and securely perform tasks on behalf of the client. The authority is delegated by obtaining tickets (or other equivalent representation of user credentials) from a private key system, such as the Kerberos system, where the tickets identify a user's access rights or privileges. The present invention provides several alternative techniques with which this delegation model can be implemented. In these techniques, the client does not directly access the private key system.

Abstract: A method find computer program product for debugging a virtual machine, preferably a target lava virtual machine, without need for the virtual machine to comprise debug information required by a debugger, the method being applied during communication of request packets between the debugger and the virtual machine during execution of the debugger, the method comprising the steps of receiving the request packets from the debugger prior to communication of the request packets to the virtual machine, processing the request packets whereby the required debug information is provided to predetermined packets thereof, transmitting the processed request packets for communication to the virtual machine, receiving reply packets from the virtual machine, processing the reply packets for reply to the debugger, and transmitting the processed reply packets to the debugger.

Abstract: In a network system in which a request of executing a process is sent from the higher level system to the lower level system, a time period of not executing a requested job is assured in the lower level system while assuring an asynchronism between the both systems and a certainty of the requested job. The higher level system transmits a pair of signals (a preparatory signal and an execution signal) to the lower level system in a predetermined interval after it holds a processing request to be sent to the lower system. The higher level system then resumes transmission of the processing request a predetermined time after transmitting the pair of signals.

Abstract: A service provider protocol adapter servlet listens for service advertising requests. Each protocol is associated with a different servlet that understands the details of the service advertising mechanism unique to that protocol. The service provider protocol adapter servlet then converts the service advertisement from a service protocol into a canonical representation of service advertising and stores the advertisement in an internal registry. A client protocol adapter servlet listens for client lookup requests and looks up a corresponding service provider in the internal registry. As with service provider protocol adapter servlets, a different client protocol adapter servlet handles the details of client lookup for each particular protocol. The client protocol adapter servlet then converts a client request into a canonical representation of the request, which is then used to look up the service required by the client.

Abstract: A method, system, and computer program product for transparently loading resources (such as stored bitmaps, images, fonts, and sound files) from read-only memory (“ROM”) for an application program executing on a Java Virtual Machine (“JVM”). Typically, the invention will be used on an embedded computing device which has no disk storage and no file system software. A novel class loader is described, which loads resources from ROM and returns an input stream object as is expected by the existing application program. Therefore, when using the present invention, no change is required to existing application code to use resources stored in ROM. (In addition, no change to existing applications is required in order to invoke the code of the present invention.) The invention may be used with programs written in the Java programming language, or with programs written in other languages that execute on a JVM.

Abstract: A technique for visually creatins and populating a class with members. A developer is provided with a container window representing a new class when the developer indicates that a new class is to be built. The developer vary populate the new class with members in a number of ways, including dragging visual elements representative of code to the container window and dropping them in the container window. By dropping the visual element into the container, an association between the code the visual element represents and the class represented by the container window is established. This relationship is also displayed to the developer by displaying the visual element within the container window.

Abstract: A method and apparatus in a computing platform located in an vehicle for restricting access to a plurality of software components, wherein the plurality of software components are used to interface with a plurality of devices located within the vehicle. A request is received from an application for a software component, wherein the request includes a data structure, wherein the software component is a requested software component. A determination is made as to whether the requested software component is present within the plurality of software components. An access level for the application is identified and a result is returned to the application based on whether the requested software component is present in the plurality of software components and based on the access level identified for the application.

Abstract: A method of performing computer-based on-line commerce in which a client computer issues a group of interrelated commercial requests and each one of a plurality of server computers is available to service at least one of said requests, said method, performed by an intelligent agent, comprising steps of: receiving the group of interrelated commercial requests from said client computer; and finding servers which will satisfy said group of requests using client preference levels indicating for each request at least one preferred value which the client would like the agent to use in finding a server to satisfy that request; characterized in that said finding step also uses a client significance level indicating for a corresponding request the relative significance of this request in comparison to the other requests in the group.

Abstract: A method and apparatus in a distributed data processing system for scaling servers. Access to a shared memory for a period of time is selectively provided to a server within a plurality of servers, wherein the shared memory is used by the server to process requests. All other servers within the plurality of servers are prevented from accessing the shared memory during the period of time.

Abstract: A method, and system for increasing the efficiency of customer contact strategies is disclosed. Customers are analyzed based upon historical criteria; a promotional plan (a group of promotion events implemented or to be implemented over a particular time period) is analyzed to determine the effect of each promotion event on the other promotion events in the promotional plan; and, based on this analysis, the optimal promotion stream (a specific subset of the promotional plan to be sent to customers or a group of similar customers) is determined so as to maximize the ROI of the promotional plan as a whole.

Abstract: A method and system for providing services in an object-oriented system. The method and system are in the form of an interface reference framework of objects, which create services, in response to requests. Clients request services which are created in response to the requests. In response to the request, the framework first develops a description of the service. The description is in the form of a stack of descriptions of services. From the stack descriptions the actual services are created by maker objects.

Abstract: A technique for compressing certificate information for use in portable credit instruments having limited storage capacity. An end user certificate typically actually comprises a chain of certificates, as SET transactions require not only the end user certificate and its parent certificates. Each certificate in the certificate chain is compared to a template for that certificate, and the differences are stored. Redundant differences within each certificate are deleted, as are differences which may be derived from differences stored for other certificates in the certificate chain. The remaining stored differences are then recorded on an end user credit instrument, such as a smart card. Preferably, the certificate chain is then recreated for verification purposes before the card is issued. PER encoding may also be employed to further compress the certificate information to be recorded on the credit instrument.

Abstract: Initially, customer time series credit files are acquired. The credit files are organized in a data mart environment for supporting a query system. Time series utilization attributes are created and a neural network time series segmentation process is applied and N×N dimension segments are generated for analysis. The chart may be modified to more accurately depict profitable credit revolvers. Credit data from each potential new customer is processed in a similar fashion by the neural network segmentation process. Profitable credit revolvers are identified by having credit utilization patterns belonging to profitable segments previously identified.