Patent Publication Number: US-2019190986-A1

Title: Long polling for clustered application load balancing

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Cloud services that provide Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), such as, Twilio™ and Zang™, currently have security issues with applications running in enterprise data centers. CPaaS is a development framework that is used to add features such as voice, video, and messaging to applications. The current CPaaS systems send an HTTP request to access data in an enterprise data center. The incoming HTTP POST or HTTP GET request has to be handled by the enterprise data center. 
     Enterprise data centers are sensitive to incoming messages because they can cause security problems. As a result, enterprises try to minimize the number of applications initiating communications from the outside Internet. System administrators object to incoming requests to the enterprise and specifically want to limit requests to outbound messages directed to cloud services. System administrators don&#39;t want to open up the network to incoming traffic because it creates holes in a firewall that can be exploited. 
     One way to address the inbound HTTP problem is to use Websockets. Websockets can be established with outbound HTTP requests from the enterprise. After the initial outbound HTTP request, messages can flow both ways across the Websocket. 
     Some enterprises are sensitive to using Websockets. Certain reverse proxies and application frameworks are incapable of supporting Websockets. Additionally, some enterprises have application-aware reverse proxies and application delivery controllers that provide deep inspection of HTTP messages and their contents. Websockets defeat that capability since the messages can be formatted in any way that a developer chooses. For those reasons, it is necessary to support long-polling as a ubiquitously available technology for event delivery via HTTP. 
     Long polling is a well-understood method by which a client sends an HTTP GET request to the server and if there are events to be returned to the application, the events are sent immediately and another request is sent. If there are no events, the HTTP GET request is left open until there are events to return or a timeout occurs (e.g., 60 seconds). This gives the impression and characteristics of asynchronous events and also satisfies not having inbound requests to the enterprise data center. The only incoming messages are sent in response to outbound requests. 
     The difficulty with long polling arises in a clustered environment where multiple applications are being provided. Current solutions do not support long polling in a clustered environment. 
     SUMMARY 
     These and other needs are addressed by the various embodiments and configurations of the present disclosure. A plurality of long poll HTTP GET requests are received from a plurality of clustered applications. The plurality of long poll HTTP GET requests comprises a plurality of identifiers for the plurality of clustered applications. A plurality of event queues are created for the plurality of clustered applications based on the plurality of identifiers. A plurality of events are added to the plurality of event queues based on a plurality of communication sessions. For example, multiple events can be added to the plurality of event queues based on a plurality of incoming calls. A plurality of responses are sent based to the plurality of long poll HTTP GET requests. The plurality of responses includes the plurality of events. This process allows for identification of a corresponding clustered application that is managing a communication session. 
     The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, “or”, and “and/or” are open-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at least one of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B, or C”, “A, B, and/or C”, and “A, B, or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together. 
     The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. As such, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms “comprising”, “including”, and “having” can be used interchangeably. 
     The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers to any process or operation, which is typically continuous or semi-continuous, done without material human input when the process or operation is performed. However, a process or operation can be automatic, even though performance of the process or operation uses material or immaterial human input, if the input is received before performance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to be material if such input influences how the process or operation will be performed. Human input that consents to the performance of the process or operation is not deemed to be “material”. 
     Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. 
     A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     The terms “determine”, “calculate” and “compute,” and variations thereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any type of methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique. 
     The term “means” as used herein shall be given its broadest possible interpretation in accordance with 35 U.S.C., Section 112(f) and/or Section 112, Paragraph 6. Accordingly, a claim incorporating the term “means” shall cover all structures, materials, or acts set forth herein, and all of the equivalents thereof. Further, the structures, materials or acts and the equivalents thereof shall include all those described in the summary, brief description of the drawings, detailed description, abstract, and claims themselves. 
     The preceding is a simplified summary to provide an understanding of some aspects of the disclosure. This summary is neither an extensive nor exhaustive overview of the disclosure and its various embodiments. It is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of the disclosure but to present selected concepts of the disclosure in a simplified form as an introduction to the more detailed description presented below. As will be appreciated, other embodiments of the disclosure are possible utilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features set forth above or described in detail below. Also, while the disclosure is presented in terms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciated that individual aspects of the disclosure can be separately claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a first illustrative system for long polling of clustered applications. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a process for creating and deleting event queues for clustered applications. 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a process for assigning events to an event queue based on a communication session identifier. 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of a process for handling HTTP long polling from clustered applications. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of a process for managing a number of events sent per long poll HTTP GET request. 
         FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of a process for bridging between a cloud service and clustered applications. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a first illustrative system  100  for long polling of clustered applications  122 . The first illustrative system  100  comprises communication endpoints  101 A- 101 N, a network  110 , an enterprise data center  120 , and a cloud service  130 . 
     The communication endpoints  101 A- 101 N can be or may include any communication endpoint device that can communicate on the network  110 , such as a Personal Computer (PC), a telephone, a video system, a cellular telephone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a tablet device, a notebook device, a web server, a media server, a smartphone, a conference bridge, and the like. The communication endpoints  101 A- 101 N are devices where a communication sessions ends. The communication endpoints  101 A- 101 N are not network elements that facilitate and/or relay a communication session in the network  110 , such as a communication manager or router. As shown in  FIG. 1 , any number of communication endpoints  101 A- 101 N may be connected to the network  110 . 
     The network  110  can be or may include any collection of communication equipment that can send and receive electronic communications, such as the Internet, a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Local Area Network (LAN), a Voice over IP Network (VoIP), the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a packet switched network, a circuit switched network, a cellular network, a combination of these, and the like. The network  110  can use a variety of electronic protocols, such as Ethernet, Internet Protocol (IP), Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP), Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) protocol, and/or the like. Thus, the network  110  is an electronic communication network configured to carry messages via packets and/or circuit switched communications. 
     The enterprise data center(s)  120  can be or may include a data center for any entity, such as a corporation, a government, a partnership, a group, an association, an organization, a person, and/or the like. The enterprise data center(s)  120  may comprise a plurality of enterprise data centers  120  owned by the same entity or by different entities. In one embodiment, where there are multiple enterprise data centers  120 , the enterprise data centers  120  may be identified based on an identifier for an individual data center  120 . 
     The enterprise data center(s)  120  further comprise a firewall  121 , clustered applications  122 , and one or more databases  123 . The firewall  121  can be or may include any hardware/software that can be used to prevent unauthorized access to the clustered applications  122 /database(s)  123 , such as a Network Address Translator (NAT), a proxy server, a session border controller, and/or the like. 
     The clustered applications  122  are a group of applications that can be used to provide services/information for communication sessions/services provided by the cloud service  130 . The clustered applications  122  may provide various services, such as database services, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services, agent identification services, call management services, and/or the like. The clustered applications  122  provide redundant services. For example, the clustered applications  122  may be a clustered IVR application. 
     The database(s)  123  can be or may include any type of database  123 , such as, a relational database, a directory service, a file system, an object oriented database, and/or the like. The database(s)  123  are used by the clustered application(s)  122  as a result of having received a notification/request from the cloud service  130 . For example, the database  123  may be a database  123  that contains information about customers of the enterprise (e.g., addresses, telephone numbers, credit card numbers, etc.). 
     The cloud service  130  can be or may include any service that can provide network based services, such as Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS), Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS), application management services, consumer services, and/or the like. The cloud service  130  may provide cloud services for multiple enterprises based on long poll HTTP GETs sent from multiple enterprise data centers  120 . The cloud service  130  further comprises a bridge  131 . 
     The bridge  131  is a system/application that provides a bridge between the cloud service  130  and clustered applications  122 . The bridge  131  further comprises a queue manager  132  and event queues  133 . 
     The queue manager  132  can be or may include any hardware coupled with software than can manage the flow of information between the cloud service  130  and the enterprise data center(s)  120 . The queue manager  132  manages events and data via the event queues  133 . 
     The event queues  133  can be or may include any hardware coupled with software that manages events for individual clustered applications  122 . For example, if the enterprise data center  120  has three active clustered applications  122  (i.e., different instances of the same application), the cloud service  130  will have three corresponding event queues  133 . If the cloud service  130  supported two enterprise data centers  120 , each with three clustered applications  122 , the bridge  131  will have six event queues  133  (two groups of three event queues  133 ) to support the two enterprise data centers  120 . Separate enterprise data centers  120  can be identified based on an enterprise data center identifier that is used in the messages described in  FIGS. 2-6 . 
     Although not shown in  FIG. 1 , the bridge  131  may be separate from the cloud service  130 . For example, the bridge  131  may be a separate application that runs on a separate server. Alternatively, the bridge  131  may run on a separate processor thread from the cloud service  130 . 
       FIG. 2  is a flow diagram of a process for creating and deleting event queues  133  for clustered applications  122 . Illustratively, the communication endpoints  101 A- 101 N, the enterprise data center(s)  120 , the firewall  121 , the clustered applications  122 , the database(s)  123 , the cloud service  130 , the bridge  131 , the queue manager  132 , and the event queues  133  are stored-program-controlled entities, such as a computer or microprocessor, which performs the methods of  FIGS. 2-6  and the processes described herein by executing program instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium, such as a memory (i.e., a computer memory, a hard disk, and/or the like). Although the methods described in  FIGS. 2-6  are shown in a specific order, one of skill in the art would recognize that the steps in  FIGS. 2-6  may be implemented in different orders and/or be implemented in a multi-threaded environment. Moreover, various steps may be omitted or added based on implementation. 
     The process of  FIG. 2  is from the perspective of the cloud service  130  (i.e., the bridge  131 ). The process starts in step  200 . The queue manager  132  determines, in step  202 , if a registration/deregistration message has been received from a clustered application  122 . For example, when a clustered application  122  is first loaded, the clustered application  122  registers with the queue manager  132 . Alternatively, when a clustered application  122  is taken down, the clustered application  122  sends a deregistration message. In one embodiment, the registration message/deregistration message may be a long poll HTTP GET request that is sent from the clustered application  122  (e.g., as described in  FIGS. 4 and 6 ). Alternatively, the registration/deregistration message may be an HTTP POST or other type of message. 
     If the registration/deregistration message is not received in step  202 , the cloud service  130  determines if the process is complete in step  204 . If the process is complete in step  204 , the process ends in step  206 . Otherwise, if the process is not complete in step  204 , the process of step  202  repeats. 
     If a registration/deregistration message (e.g., a first long poll HTTP GET request from the clustered application  122 ) has been received in step  202 , the queue manager  132  gets, in step  208 , a clustered application identifier. The clustered application identifier uniquely identifies a specific clustered application  122  in the group of clustered applications  122 . The clustered application identifier is in the received message of step  202 . If the received message is a registration message, in step  210 , the queue manager  132  creates an event queue  133  for the clustered application  122  based on the clustered application identifier in step  214 . The process then goes back to step  202 . 
     The event queues  133  that are created in step  214  are queues that are used to hold events that are used by the clustered application  122 . The events in the event queues  133  typically include a session identifier associated with a specific communication session (e.g., a session identifier associated with a specific voice communication session). This way a specific clustered application  122  may support multiple communication sessions concurrently. In one embodiment, a separate event queue  133  may be created per communication session/clustered application  122 . For example, an individual clustered application  122  may have multiple event queues  133  for multiple communication sessions (e.g., two separate voice communication sessions being handled by the individual clustered application  122 ). 
     If the message is a deregistration message, in step  210 , the queue manager  132  deletes, in step  212 , the event queue  133  for the clustered application  122  associated with the clustered application identifier. The process then goes to step  202 . 
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of a process for assigning events to an event queue  133  based on a communication session identifier. The process of  FIG. 3  is from the perspective of the bridge  131 . The queue manager  132  determines, in step  302 , if an event has been received for a communication session. An event for a communication session can be or may include any type of event that can be associated with a communication session, such as, an indication of the receipt of a new call, the completion of playing an announcement, a collected Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) tone, the detection of a spoken phrase, a participant being dropped from a call, and/or the like. 
     If an event for a communication session is not received in step  302 , the process determines if the process is complete in step  304 . If the process is complete in step  304 , the process ends in step  306 . Otherwise, if the process is not complete in step  304 , the process goes back to step  304  to wait to receive an event for a communication session. 
     If an event for a communication session is received in step  302 , the queue manager  132  gets, in step  308 , a session identifier for the communication session. The session identifier is a unique identifier that is used to uniquely identify a communication session, such as, Globally Unique Identifier (GUID), a unique call identifier, and/or the like. The queue manager  132  maps the session identifier to a specific event queue  133  associated with a specific clustered application  122 . This is necessary for cases where there may be multiple events associated with an individual communication session. For example, a voice call may have a first event when the voice call is first established and a second event when the voice call is transferred or recorded. The queue manager  132  determines, in step  310 , if the session identifier is for a new communication session. If the session identifier is for a new communication session, the queue manager  132  assigns the event to an event queue  133  in step  312 . The assignment for event queue  133  may be based on various types of information, such as loading, a round-robin scheme, and/or the like. When the queue manager  132  assigns an event to an event queue  133  based on the session identifier, the queue manager  132  is assigning the communication session to a particular clustered application  122 . The same clustered application  122  typically manages all events for an individual communication session. The process then goes back to step  302 . 
     Otherwise, if the session identifier is for an existing communication session (i.e., where a previous event for the communication session has already assigned to an event queue  133  and is still active) in step  310 , the queue manager  132  assigns the event to the same event queue  133  as previous events for the same communication session (based on the session identifier) in step  314 . The process then goes to step  302 . 
       FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of a process for handling HTTP long polling from clustered applications  122 . The process starts in step  400 . When an event queue  133  is created, in step  214 , the queue manager  132  creates, in one embodiment, a separate processor thread for each created event queue  133  in step  402 . The queue manager  132  waits, in step  404 , to receive a long poll HTTP GET request from the clustered application  122  that is assigned to the event queue  133 . 
     A long poll HTTP GET request is where the clustered application  122  sends the HTTP GET request and waits for a time period (e.g., two minutes) to receive a response from the queue manager  132 . If a response is not received within the time period, a new HTTP GET request is sent by the clustered application  122 . The purpose of using an HTTP GET request is so that the clustered application  122  initiates the communication session with the cloud service  130  using the outgoing HTTP socket (port  80 ). This provides enhanced security to the firewall  121  because the communication session is initiated from within the enterprise (a trusted source). If the communication session was initiated from the cloud service  130 , a new port may have to be opened on the firewall  121 . This results in a potential security breach if another entity (e.g., using a man-in-the-middle attack) comprises an incoming HTTP GET request/POST. The result may be the loss of data to the man-in-the-middle attacker because the address of the HTTP GET request may have been changed by the man-in-the-middle attacker. 
     If a long poll HTTP GET request is not received in step  404 , the process determines if the process is complete (e.g., the event queue  133  is deleted in step  212 ) in step  406 . If the process is complete in step  406 , the process ends in step  408 . Otherwise, if the process is not complete in step  406 , the process repeats step  404 . 
     If a long poll HTTP GET request is received in step  404 , the queue manager  132  determines if there are any events in the event queue  133  in step  410 . If there are not any events in the event queue  133  in step  410 , the queue manager  132  determines in step  412  if there has been a time out (a time period for not receiving a long poll HTTP GET request) or if a new long poll HTTP GET request has been received from the clustered application  122  associated with the event queue  133 . If a new long poll HTTP GET request has been received and a timeout has not occurred in step  412 , the process goes back to step  410 . Otherwise, if a timeout has occurred in step  412 , the process goes back to step  404 . 
     If there are one or more events in the event queue  133  in step  410 , the queue manager  132  sends the one or more events in the event queue  133  to the clustered application  122  in step  414 . The process then goes back to step  412 . 
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram of a process for managing a number of events sent per long poll HTTP GET request. The process of  FIG. 5  is one exemplary embodiment of step  414  of  FIG. 4 . After determining that there are one or more events in the event queue  133  in step  410 , the queue manager  132  determines the number of events in the event queue  133  in step  500 . The queue manager  132  determines, in step  502 , if the number of events in the event queue  133  is greater than the maximum number to send. The maximum number of events in the event queue  133  can be any number from one to N where N is an integer. The maximum number of events may be defined by an administrator or other entity. 
     If the number of events in the event queue  133  is greater than the maximum number of events, the queue manager  132  sends up to the maximum number of events in the event queue  133  to the clustered application  122  in step  504 . The process then goes to step  412 . 
     Otherwise, if the number of events in the event queue  133  is not greater than the maximum number of events, the queue manager  132  sends all events in the event queue  133  to the clustered application  122  in step  506 . The process then goes to step  412 . 
     The types of events that are sent in steps  504  and  506  may be events that are for the same communication session and/or for multiple communication sessions. For example the events sent in step  504 / 506  may be for the same communication session. In one embodiment, the maximum number of events may also be based on an individual communication session. For example, if an individual clustered application  122  is currently handling two communication sessions, there may be a maximum number based on each communication session that the clustered application  122  is handling (e.g., one event for the first communication session and two events for the second communication session). 
     The process of  FIG. 5  may have different maximum numbers for different event queues  133 . For example, a first event queue  133  may have a maximum number of one event and a second event queue  133  may have a maximum number of two events. In one embodiment, the different maximum numbers may be for the same types of clustered applications  122  or for different types of clustered applications  122  that in the same enterprise data center  120 . 
     In one embodiment, the maximum number difference may be based upon different two different enterprise data centers  120 . For example, clustered applications  122  in a first enterprise data center  120  may have a maximum number of one event and clustered applications  122  in a second enterprise data center may have a maximum of two events. The clustered applications  122  in the first data center  120  may be the same or different types of clustered applications  122 . For example, the clustered applications  122  in the first and second enterprise data centers  120  may be for the same clustered IVR application. Alternatively, the clustered applications  122  in the first data center  120  may be a clustered database application and the clustered applications  122  in the second data center  120  may be a clustered call recording application. In these examples, each enterprise data center  120  uses a unique enterprise identifier to distinguish between clustered applications  122  in the different enterprise data centers  120 . 
       FIG. 6  is a flow diagram of a process for bridging between the cloud service  130  and the clustered applications  122 . The purpose of the bridge  131  is to minimize the necessary changes required to the software for the cloud service  130  and the clustered application  122 . 
     The process starts in step  600  when the clustered application  122  initially sends a long poll HTTP GET request (in one embodiment, this may be a long poll HTTP POST request). The long poll HTTP GET request of step  600  is sent to wait until data is ready (i.e., an event/data) to be sent to the clustered application  122 . An incoming call is received, in step  602 , at the cloud service  130 . For example, the incoming call may be an incoming call from the communication endpoint  101 A. The incoming call may be a voice call, a video call, a multimedia call, an Instant Messaging (IM) call, and/or the like. 
     In response to receiving the incoming call, the cloud service  130  determines, in step  604 , based on rules, which clustered application  122  must be notified of the incoming call (the event). For example, the incoming call may be a voice call to a clustered IVR application  122 . Once it has determined which clustered application  122  must be invoked, the cloud service  130  sends, in step  606 , an HTTP POST to the bridge  131 . The HTTP POST of step  606  also includes a session identifier of the incoming call. The session identifier uniquely identifies the incoming call. 
     In one embodiment the HTTP post of step  606  may also comprise data (e.g., in Extended Markup Language (XML) format). The presence of the data (XML in this example) indicates that the cloud service  130  is expecting response data (sent in step  614 ) from the clustered application  122 . Although described using XML, other formats of data may be used, such as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). The response data can be different types of response data. For example, the response data may be data from the database  123 , data gathered from an IVR system, an agent identifier, and/or the like. 
     The bridge  131  assigns the event to an event queue  133  (i.e., as described in  FIG. 3  steps  312 / 314 ) in step  608  based on the session identifier. Based on the long poll HTTP GET request of step  600 , the bridge  131  sends a 200 OK, in step  610 , to the clustered application  122  that includes the session identifier/event (i.e., as described in step  414 ). If the HTTP POST of step  606  contains XML, data, the 200 OK also includes the XML, data in step  610 . The clustered application  122  then executes, in step  612 , based on the event/XML data sent in step  610 . For example, the clustered application  122  could take the caller ID from the new call notification message, look up some information about the caller from a database  123  in step  612 , and use that information to create an XML command to play a custom greeting to the caller. 
     The clustered application  122  sends, in step  614 , an HTTP POST with the XML data/session identifier to the bridge  131 . The bridge  131  gets the session identifier/XML data from the HTTP POST in step  616 . The bridge  131  sends, in step  618 , a 200 OK in step  618 . If the HTTP POST of step  606  contained XML data (i.e. the command to play the custom greeting), the 200 OK also includes XML data (e.g., data from the database  123 ). The cloud service  130  then uses the XML data in step  620 . The bridge  131  also sends a 200 OK message to the clustered application  122 , in step  622 , to acknowledge the HTTP post of step  614 . 
     A second event occurs in the incoming call in step  622 . For example, a spoken phrase or gesture is detected in a media stream of the incoming call. This results in the cloud service  130  sending (based on defined rules) an HTTP POST with the event to the bridge  131  in step  624 . The bridge  131  places the event in the event queue  133  for the clustered application  122  (the same clustered application  122 ) in step  626 . The clustered application  122  sends another long poll HTTP GET in step  628  (in one embodiment, this may be a long poll HTTP POST request). In response to receiving the long poll HTTP GET of step  628 , the bridge takes the event (of the HTTP POST of step  624 ) that in the event queue  133  and sends the event in a 200 OK message to the clustered application  122  in step  632 . The clustered application then processes the event in step  634 . The bridge  131  also sends a 200 OK to the cloud service  130 , in step  636 , to acknowledge the HTTP POST of step  624 . 
     In one embodiment, the HTTP POST of step  624  may be sent after the long poll HTTP GET of step  628 . In this embodiment, step  626  would occur after step  628 . 
     The process of  FIG. 6  is described where the cloud service  130  requests a directive from the clustered application  122  by sending data in XML. In one embodiment, the cloud service  130  may only send the event in the HTTP post of step  606  and not any XML data. In this exemplary embodiment, the cloud service  130  is not expecting to receive any XML data in the 200 OK of step  618 . For example, the HTTP POST of step  606 /200 OK of step  610  may be to notify the clustered application  122  that the incoming call of step  602  is from a specific caller that the clustered application  122  is tracking. In this example, the HTTP POST (or an HTTP GET) of step  614  does not contain any XML data. Likewise, the 200 OK of step  618  does not contain any XML data. 
     In one embodiment, the mere presence of the XML data (not necessarily the XML data itself) in the 200 OK of step  610  indicates to the clustered application  122  that a response is necessary. For example, the XML data may only comprise tags with no data. In this case, the clustered application  122  already knows what data is to be sent based on the type of event. Alternatively, the XML data itself may indicate what data the clustered application  122  is to send in the HTTP POST message of step  614 . 
     The process of  FIG. 6  is described for a single clustered application  122 . However, one of skill in the art would understand that the process of  FIG. 6  is also designed to work with multiple clustered applications  122 . For example, multiple clustered applications  122  may provide services for multiple incoming calls in parallel. 
     In addition, the process of  FIG. 6  can work with different clustered applications  1122  in different enterprise data centers  120 . In this embodiment, the bridge  131  may identify an individual enterprise data center  120  based on the type of event or based on an identifier for the enterprise data center in the HTTP POST of step  606 . The clustered application responds in step  614  using the enterprise data center identifier. 
     Examples of the processors as described herein may include, but are not limited to, at least one of Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 800 and 801, Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 610 and 615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bit computing, Apple® A7 processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple® M7 motion coprocessors, Samsung® Exynos® series, the Intel® Core™ family of processors, the Intel® Xeon® family of processors, the Intel® Atom™ family of processors, the Intel Itanium® family of processors, Intel® Core® i5-4670K and i7-4770K 22 nm Haswell, Intel® Core® i5-3570K 22 nm Ivy Bridge, the AMD® FX™ family of processors, AMD® FX-4300, FX-6300, and FX-8350 32 nm Vishera, AMD® Kaveri processors, Texas Instruments® Jacinto C6000™ automotive infotainment processors, Texas Instruments® OMAP™ automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM® Cortex™-M processors, ARM® Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S™ processors, other industry-equivalent processors, and may perform computational functions using any known or future-developed standard, instruction set, libraries, and/or architecture. 
     Any of the steps, functions, and operations discussed herein can be performed continuously and automatically. 
     However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the preceding description omits a number of known structures and devices. This omission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scope of the claimed disclosure. Specific details are set forth to provide an understanding of the present disclosure. It should however be appreciated that the present disclosure may be practiced in a variety of ways beyond the specific detail set forth herein. 
     Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein show the various components of the system collocated, certain components of the system can be located remotely, at distant portions of a distributed network  110 , such as a LAN and/or the Internet, or within a dedicated system. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the components of the system can be combined in to one or more devices or collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, such as an analog and/or digital telecommunications network, a packet-switch network, or a circuit-switched network. It will be appreciated from the preceding description, and for reasons of computational efficiency, that the components of the system can be arranged at any location within a distributed network of components without affecting the operation of the system. For example, the various components can be located in a switch such as a PBX and media server, gateway, in one or more communications devices, at one or more users&#39; premises, or some combination thereof. Similarly, one or more functional portions of the system could be distributed between a telecommunications device(s) and an associated computing device. 
     Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements. These wired or wireless links can also be secure links and may be capable of communicating encrypted information. Transmission media used as links, for example, can be any suitable carrier for electrical signals, including coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, and may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications. 
     Also, while the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated in relation to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes, additions, and omissions to this sequence can occur without materially affecting the operation of the disclosure. 
     A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure can be used. It would be possible to provide for some features of the disclosure without providing others. 
     In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this disclosure can be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, a programmed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integrated circuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such as discrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array such as PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means, or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementing the methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the various aspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for the present disclosure includes computers, handheld devices, telephones (e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital, analog, hybrids, and others), and other hardware known in the art. Some of these devices include processors (e.g., a single or multiple microprocessors), memory, nonvolatile storage, input devices, and output devices. Furthermore, alternative software implementations including, but not limited to, distributed processing or component/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also be constructed to implement the methods described herein. 
     In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be readily implemented in conjunction with software using object or object-oriented software development environments that provide portable source code that can be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms. Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially or fully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whether software or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance with this disclosure is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirements of the system, the particular function, and the particular software or hardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems being utilized. 
     In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be partially implemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executed on programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of a controller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, or the like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this disclosure can be implemented as program embedded on personal computer such as an applet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server or computer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurement system, system component, or the like. The system can also be implemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into a software and/or hardware system. 
     Although the present disclosure describes components and functions implemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standards and protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards and protocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein are in existence and are considered to be included in the present disclosure. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein and other similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein are periodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents having essentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocols having the same functions are considered equivalents included in the present disclosure. 
     The present disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/or apparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, including various embodiments, subcombinations, and subsets thereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how to make and use the systems and methods disclosed herein after understanding the present disclosure. The present disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects, includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items not depicted and/or described herein or in various embodiments, configurations, or aspects hereof, including in the absence of such items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g., for improving performance, achieving ease and\or reducing cost of implementation. 
     The foregoing discussion of the disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intended to limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In the foregoing Detailed Description for example, various features of the disclosure are grouped together in one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations, or aspects of the disclosure may be combined in alternate embodiments, configurations, or aspects other than those discussed above. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed disclosure requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment, configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of the disclosure. 
     Moreover, though the description of the disclosure has included description of one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects and certain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations, and modifications are within the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as may be within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, after understanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments, configurations, or aspects to the extent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or not such alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions, ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publicly dedicate any patentable subject matter.