Method and apparatus for dynamic loading of a transport mechanism in a ...

1. A method of accessing a collaboration session by a client comprising:

requesting access to the collaboration session by sending a resource locator (RL) to a session manager;

receiving a location indicator from a stored resource locator in a registry;

in response to receiving the location indicator, dynamically loading a transportation mechanism specified in the location indicator to provide a set of network functions; and

accessing the collaboration session by using the transportation mechanism to establish a connection with the collaboration session.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of dynamically loading the transportation mechanism further comprises:

creating a new instance of an object class corresponding to a type of the transportation mechanism;

retrieving a protocol stack corresponding to the transportation mechanism; and

initiating the protocol stack.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the object class is a shared data class.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining if the RL matches any one of a plurality of RLs in the registry; and

if the RL does not match, adding the RL to the plurality of RLs in the registry.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the RL further includes a host and a port identification, a session or client identification, and a session or client name.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising dynamically assigning a client manager as the session manager at a creation of the collaboration session.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein each established collaboration session has a resource locator stored in the registry to permit client sessions to access the established collaboration sessions.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the location indicator is a pointer to the stored resource locator in the registry.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the transportation mechanism comprises a protocol stack and an object class that work together to provide the set of network functions.

10. An apparatus for facilitating a collaboration session among computer users comprising:

a session manager for facilitating the collaboration session;

a client process for requesting access to the collaboration session by sending a request locator (RL) to the session manager;

a parser coupled to the session manager for extracting a type designation from the RL; and

a dynamic loader for loading a transportation mechanism corresponding to the type designation of the RL, said transportation mechanism providing a set of network functions that permit the client process to establish a connection with the collaboration session.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the type designation of the RL identifies a type of a transportation mechanism used for the collaboration session.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the transportation mechanism may be one of the following: transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagrams protocol (UDP), remote method invocation (RMI), T.120, Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA), Scaleable Reliable Multicast (SRM).

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the RL further includes a host and a port identification, a session or client identification, and a session or client name.

14. The method of claim 2 wherein the protocol stack is a layered set of protocols to provide a set of network functions to the collaboration session.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a comparator for dynamically assigning a client manager as the session manager at the creation of the collaboration session.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising a distributed data sharing class for sharing data objects between clients.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the data objects are shared primitives, shared objects, tokens, and publish/subscribe tuples.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising:

a registry logically connected to the session manager for maintaining a set of resource locators;

a comparator for matching the RL to any one of the set of resource locators in the registry; and

means for adding the RL to the set of resource locators if the RL does not match any one of the set of resource locators in the registry.

19. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the transportation mechanism comprises a protocol stack and an object class that work together to provide the set of network functions.

20. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave and representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to access a collaboration session, said computer data signal comprising:

a first computer program being executable to access the collaboration session by sending a resource locator (RL) to a session manager;

a first operating system procedure being executable to receive a location indicator from a stored resource locator in registry; and

a second computer program being executable to dynamically load a transportation mechanism corresponding to the location indicator, the transport mechanism to provide a set of network functions, and to establish a connection with the collaboration session by using the transportation mechanism.

21. The computer data signal of claim 20 wherein the second computer program further includes:

a first subprogram being executable to create a new instance of an object class corresponding to a type of the transportation mechanism;

a second subprogram being executable to retrieve a protocol stack corresponding to the transportation mechanism; and

a third subprogram being executable to initiate the protocol stack.

22. The computer data signal of claim 20 wherein the transportation mechanism comprises a protocol stack and an object class that work together to provide the set of network functions.

23. A machine readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, which when executed by a computer system, cause said computer system to access a collaboration session, said sequences of instructions comprising:

a first sequence for requesting access to the collaboration session by sending a resource locator (RL) to a session manager;

a second sequence for receiving a location indicator from a stored resource locator in a registry;

a third sequence for dynamically loading a transportation mechanism corresponding to the location indicator in response to receiving the location indicator, the transportation mechanism to provide a set of network functions; and

a fourth sequence for establishing a connection to the collaboration session by using the transportation mechanism.

24. The machine readable medium of claim 23, wherein the third sequence further includes:

a fifth sequence for creating a new instance of an object class corresponding to a type of the transportation mechanism;

a sixth sequence for retrieving a protocol stack corresponding to the transportation mechanism; and

a seventh sequence for initiating the protocol stack.

25. The medium of claim 24 wherein the object class is a shared data class.

26. The medium of claim 24 wherein the protocol stack is a layered set of protocols to provide a set of network functions to the collaboration session.

27. The medium of claim 23 further comprising a fifth sequence for dynamically assigning a client manager as the session manager at the creation of the collaboration session.

28. The medium of claim 23 wherein each established collaboration session has a resource locator stored in the registry to permit client sessions to access the established collaboration sessions.

29. The medium of claim 23 wherein the location indicator is a pointer to the stored resource locator in the registry.

30. The machine readable medium of claim 23 wherein the transportation mechanism comprises a protocol stack and an object class that work together to provide the set of network functions.

31. A system for accessing a collaboration session comprising:

means for requesting access to the collaboration session by sending a resource locator (RL) to a session manager;

means for receiving a location indicator from a stored RL in a registry;

in response to receiving the location indicator, means for dynamically loading a transportation mechanism corresponding to the location indicator, the transport mechanism providing a set of network functions; and

means for establishing a connection with the collaboration session by using the transportation mechanism.

32. The system of claim 31 further comprising means for dynamically assigning a client manager as the session manager at the creation of the collaboration session.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein the means for dynamically loading the transportation mechanism further comprises:

means for creating a new instance of an object class corresponding to a type of the transportation mechanism;

means for retrieving a protocol stack corresponding to the transportation mechanism; and

means for initiating the protocol stack.

34. The system of claim 31 further comprising:

means for determining if the RL matches any one of a plurality of resource locators in the registry; and

if the RL does not match, means for adding the RL to the plurality of resource locators in the registry.

35. The system of claim 31 wherein the transportation mechanism comprises a protocol stack and an object class that work together to provide the set of network functions.

36. A method of accessing a collaboration session by a client comprising:

requesting access to the collaboration session by sending a resource locator (RL) to a session manager;

receiving a location indicator from a stored resource locator in a registry;

in response to receiving the location indicator, dynamically loading a transportation mechanism specified in the location indicator to provide a set of network functions; and

connecting to the collaboration session by using the transportation mechanism, wherein the transportation mechanism comprises a protocol stack and an object class that work together to provide the set of network functions.