Integrating loosely coupled tools using contracts and references

US8028274B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Microsoft Corporation · US

Inventors

• Andrew Willis Bliven, II · Bellevue, US
• Ian Bavey · Seattle, US
• Jack Greenfield · Reston, US
• Frank Fan · Shanghai, CN
• David N. Trowbridge · Enumclaw, US
• David Noble · Redmond, US
• Michael Hayton · Kirkland, US
• Vinay Bharadwaj · Seattle, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 27, 2007
• Grant date: Sep 27, 2011
• Expiry date: Jul 27, 2030

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F9/541
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing an integration framework that enables tools to be integrated. The integration framework enables tools participating in the framework to be encapsulated in a manner that hides their implementations, thereby preventing them from taking deep dependencies on each other. The integration framework also enables the tools participating in the framework to carry formal type definitions called service and data contracts that describe the public behaviors they offer. The integration framework also provides support for migrating integration logic from tools into pluggable commands to further reduce coupling between the tools.