Encoded URI Prefixes in RESTful Aggregator Requests
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In information handling systems, the use of aggregators between clients and individual services or resources in RESTful APIs can lead to URI prefix issues, causing errors when clients attempt to use response URIs in subsequent requests, especially when aggregated resources are not directly accessible.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a URI prefix creation and encoding mechanism within the aggregator service allows clients to receive encoded responses that include prefix information, enabling them to decode and bypass the aggregator for direct access to aggregated resources, thereby avoiding the need for URI translation databases and reducing computational burdens.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If an aggregator is imposed between a client and aggregated resources, then the client can access resources through a single unified interface, but the client receives response URIs that generate errors when included in subsequent client requests
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a URI prefix encoding mechanism as an intermediary layer between the aggregator and the client. The aggregator encodes URI prefixes in response documents, and the client decodes them before use. This intermediary encoding/decoding layer resolves the contradiction by transforming the aggregator's internal URI references into client-friendly formats that work correctly in subsequent requests, while maintaining the unified interface benefit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter format of URIs from raw internal references to encoded representations. By transforming the URI prefix parameter into an encoded format that includes necessary contextual information, the system enables clients to correctly resolve references without needing direct access to the aggregator's internal URI structure, thus maintaining both ease of operation and reliability.
2Reliability
If the aggregator maintains URI translation databases to resolve URI prefixes, then subsequent requests can be correctly routed, but the aggregator incurs excessive processing and storage requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the URI prefix encoding logic from the aggregator and places it in the client. Instead of the aggregator maintaining large translation databases and performing complex URI resolution, the client receives encoded URIs and decodes them locally. This extraction significantly reduces the aggregator's processing and storage requirements while maintaining reliable URI resolution through the encoded response documents.
Solution Approach 2:
The client performs self-service by decoding the URI prefixes received from the aggregator. Rather than relying on the aggregator to maintain and query translation databases, the client independently decodes the encoded URIs to obtain the correct prefixes for routing. This self-service approach eliminates the need for the aggregator to incur excessive processing and storage costs for URI translation.
3Reliability
If the aggregator encodes URI prefixes in response documents, then clients can correctly resolve URIs without direct access to aggregated resources, but the response documents become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the URI into two parts: the encoded prefix containing contextual information and the original path. By segmenting the URI prefix into an encoded representation that can be independently decoded, the system adds necessary resolution capability without fundamentally redesigning the entire response document structure. The encoding is applied only to the prefix portion, keeping the overall document structure relatively simple while enabling reliable URI resolution.
Data Source
AI summary
A RESTful API suitable for distributed management tasks implements an aggregator that receives a client request including a URI corresponding to a requested service. The aggregator generates and forwards a proxy request, requesting the same requested service from multiple aggregated resources associated with the aggregator. The aggregator includes, in each proxy request, prefix information that may be used by the aggregated resource to create encoded information that is included in a proxy request response. The aggregator receives the proxy request responses, including the encoded information, and forwards them to the client. The client may then generate a subsequent request for additional information about a resource or service on any one of the aggregated resources. The subsequent request conveys the encoded information to the aggregator, which may then decode the information to identify the appropriate aggregated resource for the request.