Decoupled Event Queue for Cloud Business Process Scalability

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Solution Overview

Problem

Cloud-based business process management systems face scalability challenges due to synchronous coupling in distributed transaction protocols, which lead to latency and throughput issues, especially when handling high workloads and complex process states, and require costly cluster transports and idle state prerequisites.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a protocol that decouples event receipt and consumption by persisting events in a database-backed queue, allowing receiving process instances to fetch events asynchronously and reducing the need for cluster transports, thus eliminating idle state dependencies and minimizing latency and resource overhead.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If synchronous coupling in distributed transaction protocols is used to ensure event delivery, then reliability is improved, but latency and throughput deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveevent delivery reliabilityVSAvoidevent processing latency

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the event delivery process into two independent phases: event publishing (producer side) and event consumption (consumer side). The producer publishes events to a queue without waiting for consumer confirmation, while the consumer retrieves and processes events at its own pace. This segmentation eliminates the synchronous coupling that caused latency while maintaining reliability through the queue mechanism.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an event queue as an intermediary component between the event producer and consumer. This queue acts as a buffer that decouples the two sides, allowing the producer to continue publishing events without blocking on consumer availability, while the consumer can process events when ready. The queue mediates the interaction, eliminating direct synchronous coupling.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If synchronous coupling is used to maintain transaction consistency, then reliability is improved, but system throughput deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransaction consistencyVSAvoidsystem throughput

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the transaction into event publishing and event processing phases. The publishing transaction completes immediately when the event is queued, while the processing transaction occurs separately when the consumer retrieves the event. This segmentation allows multiple publishing transactions to proceed in parallel without waiting for processing, dramatically improving throughput while maintaining consistency through the queue's ordered delivery guarantees.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent enables continuous event publishing without interruption by removing the blocking wait for consumer processing. The producer can continuously publish events to the queue while the consumer processes them at its own pace. This continuous publishing action improves throughput while the queue ensures no events are lost, maintaining reliability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

3Reliability

If cluster transports are used to deliver events to receiving nodes, then event delivery is ensured, but resource overhead and cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveevent delivery guaranteeVSAvoidresource overhead

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a pull-based model where the consuming node actively retrieves events from the queue rather than having events pushed via cluster transports. The consumer node independently fetches events when it has processing capacity, eliminating the need for complex push-based cluster transport mechanisms. This self-service approach reduces resource overhead while maintaining delivery guarantees through the queue's persistence.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #25Self-service

4Reliability

If idle state prerequisites are required for cluster transport, then transaction safety is improved, but adaptability deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvetransaction safetyVSAvoidprocess state flexibility

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the idle state prerequisite requirement from the event delivery mechanism. By using a queue-based approach, the system no longer needs to check or enforce idle state conditions before delivering events. The queue independently manages event storage and retrieval, allowing process instances to be in any state (running, paused, suspended) while maintaining transaction safety through the queue's guaranteed delivery semantics.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS9741040B2High-load business process scalability

Publication Date: 2017.08.22 SAP SE

AI summary

The present disclosure involves systems, software, and computer implemented methods for providing high-load business process scalability in cloud-based infrastructures. One process includes operations for receiving a message at a first computer node executing a first business process instance. A second business process instance associated with the message is identified. The message is sent to a messaging queue for retrieval by the second business process instance if the second business process instance is not located at the first computer node.