System and method for tracking notifications in a publish subscribe system

Abstract

A system and method are provided for tracking notification messages from a message publisher to a message subscriber. The system includes a plurality of entities that are operatively coupled to one another via an electronic network, and each entity includes at least one processor configured as a message publisher, a channel and/or a message subscriber. According to the invention, at least one entity is configured as a channel, which is assigned to the function of acting as a meta-channel and comprises (i) means for receiving one or more channel descriptions; and (ii) means for publishing a digest of one or more channel descriptions and/or message transformations to facilitate tracking of message transformations from raw forms to processed forms. The system may have more than one meta-channel, and the meta-channels may subscribe to or publish to each other.

1 . A method for tracking notification messages from a message publisher to a message subscriber, in a publish/subscribe system having one or more entities each configured as one or more of a message publisher, a channel and a message subscriber, the method comprising: 
 subscribing to a meta-channel; and    receiving a digest comprising one or more channel descriptions from the meta-channel to facilitate tracking of message transformations from raw forms to processed forms.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving one or more transformation description messages.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 subscribing to a first channel in response to the tracking of message transformations; and    dropping a subscription to a second channel in response to determining that the first channel publishes one or more notifications in a more processed form than a notification from the second channel.    
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the message transformations in processed form comprise aggregations of messages in raw form.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the message transformations in processed form comprise transformations of messages in raw form.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising publishing aggregated notifications.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising publishing transformed notifications.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the message transformations are formatted in accordance with XML specifications.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more channel descriptions describe one or more of a channel and the meta-channel.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more channel descriptions comprises one or more of: 
 the publish/subscribe system's type;    information needed to connect to a channel associated with the channel description;    one or more message types that is accepted by the channel associated with the channel description; and    one or more message types that is currently being published or subscribed to by the channel associated with the channel description.    
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more channel descriptions comprises load information pertaining to the channel associated with the channel description.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: in response to the load information, discriminating between first and second channels offering similar functionality.  
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising: subscribing to the first channel in response to determining that the second channel is overloaded.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising: publishing to the first channel in response to determining that the second channel is overloaded.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more channel descriptions comprises information pertaining to a refresh period between a publication of a first channel description and a publication of a second channel description.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising: in response to the information pertaining to the refresh period, and in response to nonreception of a second channel description after a time period proportional to the refresh period, determining that a channel has stopped publishing notifications.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising adjusting a refresh period for a channel in response to information pertaining to a refresh period for the meta-channel.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the transformation description message pertaining to an entity comprises one or more of: 
 information identifying a set of channels and message types for messages that the entity is reading;    information identifying a set of channels and message types for messages that the entity is writing; and    a refresh period.    
   
   
       19 . A publish/subscribe system for tracking notification messages from a message publisher to a message subscriber, wherein a plurality of entities are operatively coupled to one another via an electronic network, each entity including at least one processor configured as one or more of a message publisher, a channel and a message subscriber, wherein at least one entity configured as a channel is assigned to the function of acting as a meta-channel and comprises (i) means for receiving one or more channel descriptions; and (ii) means for publishing a digest of one or more channel descriptions to facilitate tracking of message transformations from raw forms to processed forms.  
   
   
       20 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising means for receiving one or more transformation descriptions.  
   
   
       21 . The system of  claim 19 , further comprising means for publishing one or more transformation descriptions.  
   
   
       22 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein at least one additional entity configured as a channel is assigned to the function of acting as one or more additional meta-channels.  
   
   
       23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the meta-channel subscribes to the one or more additional meta-channels.  
   
   
       24 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the meta-channel is adapted to publish a refresh rate to facilitate controlling the load on the meta-channel.  
   
   
       25 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein at least one of the channel descriptions comprises aggregated or transformed data.  
   
   
       26 . An apparatus for tracking notification messages from a message publisher to a message subscriber, the apparatus comprising: 
 at least one processor operative to: (i) subscribe to a first message publisher to receive a digest of channel descriptions; (ii) determine whether a second message publisher publishes one or more notifications in an aggregated form; wherein if the second message publisher publishes the one or more notifications in a more aggregated form, the processor is operative to subscribe to the second message publisher.