Abstract: A syndicator for disseminating Web services and other resources from service and content providers to service consumers and for establishing and implementing subscription agreements specifying the terms upon which digital assets are provided to subscribers. A registration database stores a service description for each of a plurality of different Web services and other resources. Each stored service description contains an input processing specification, an output processing specification, and the specification of the business terms upon which the described service or resource is offered by its provider to subscribers. A subscription manager conducts a negotiation with a prospective subscriber and receives from the subscriber an acceptance of the business terms upon which a specified Web service or resource is offered to establish a subscription agreement. Event tracking records information describing the performance of each service on behalf of each subscriber to perform subscription accounting functions.

Abstract: A system for storing and dynamically updating data represented in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) which separates the data values in at least some of the elements of an XML document and places those data values in relational database tables where they may be processed using conventional RDBMS techniques. The hierarchical structure of the XML document is saved separately in an XML skeleton object from which element data other than primary key values has been removed. The XML documents document type definition (DTD) is stored, along with additional property data used the RDBMS, in an XML Definition object.

Abstract: A cache system for storing request messages expressed in Extended Markup Language (XML) and the responses to those messages. The inbound request message, which typically takes the form of an HTTP request message containing an XML request document as its payload, is received via the Internet from a remote sender. The XML request portion of the inbound message is then translated into canonical form, preferably conforming to the predetermined standard canonical form established as an Internet standard. The canonical XML request is then compared with previously received canonical requests. To speed the process of comparing the inbound canonical XML request with previously cached XML requests, an access key, such as a checksum or a hash integer, is generated from the content of the inbound request. The access key is then used to identify zero or more prior canonical requests which may match the inbound canonical request.

Abstract: A syndicator for disseminating Web services and other resources from service and content providers to service consumers and for establishing and implementing a subscription agreement which specifies the terms upon which digital assets are provided to the subscribing consumers. A registration database stores a service description for each of a plurality of different Web services and other resources. Each stored service description contains an input processing specification, an output processing specification, and the specification of the business terms upon which the described service or resource is offered by its provider to subscribers. A subscription manager conducts a negotiation with a prospective subscriber and recieves from the subscriber an acceptance of the business terms upon which a specified Web service or resource is offered to establish a subscription agreement.