Legacy Program Wrapper for Distributed Service Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy programs written for mainframe systems in languages like COBOL struggle to call distributed services over networks without compromising security or experiencing timeouts, as they are not designed to handle modern distributed service protocols.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that allows legacy programs to call distributed services by using a wrapper program to translate parameters and responses between the legacy language and the distributed service, ensuring secure communication and error handling through an intermediary translator, which formats requests and responses in HTTP messages and handles timeouts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If legacy programs directly call distributed services, then integration capability is improved, but security is compromised and timeout errors occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway program as an intermediary between legacy programs and distributed services. The gateway translates parameter formats, manages security credentials, and handles communication protocols, allowing legacy systems to access distributed services without direct integration. This resolves the contradiction by enabling integration capability while maintaining security through the intermediary layer that manages authentication and parameter translation.
2Measurement precision
If legacy programs wait for distributed service responses, then response accuracy is improved, but timeout errors increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway program performs preliminary actions by pre-translating parameters into distributed service formats before making calls, and by establishing communication protocols in advance. This preparation reduces the time legacy programs need to wait for responses, as the gateway handles format conversions and protocol management beforehand, thereby reducing timeout errors while maintaining response accuracy.
3Productivity
If legacy programs use modern distributed service protocols, then communication efficiency is improved, but compatibility with legacy languages deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway serves as a protocol intermediary that translates between legacy programming language formats and modern distributed service protocols. It converts legacy parameter structures into HTTP requests, JSON payloads, or other modern formats while maintaining compatibility with legacy languages like COBOL. This enables communication efficiency through modern protocols while preserving compatibility with legacy systems through the translation layer.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway dynamically changes parameter formats, data structures, and communication protocols based on the target distributed service requirements. It transforms legacy language parameters into modern protocol formats (e.g., converting COBOL record structures into JSON objects or XML elements), enabling efficient communication with distributed services while maintaining legacy system compatibility through automated parameter adaptation.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method allows a legacy program to call a distributed service in the manner of the legacy program calling another legacy program. The call is translated and sent to the distributed system in a secure manner, with potential timeout issues potentially handled faster than would be handled by the distributed system, and the response is returned to the legacy program in the format that another legacy program would have used.