Patent ID: 7234132

Claim:
A method of integrating software components comprising: providing an application lifecycle integration model as part of an application to be run, the application lifecycle integration model being capable of adapting to different environments by dynamically integrating different predefined software components into the application during runtime of the application, wherein the different predefined software components are categorized into different application runtime lifecycle stages, the application runtime lifecycle stages providing relative reference times to the application lifecycle integration model indicative of when the different predefined software components may be loaded for execution within the application by the application lifecycle integration model, and wherein the application lifecycle integration model of the application comprises an application runtime driver (ARD) software component and a component runtime integration box (CRIB) software component, wherein the ARD software component drives workflows of the application integration model though the application runtime lifecycle stages, and wherein the CRIB software component of the application comprises a service registry, a state table and a time table; and employing the application lifecycle integration model of the application to dynamically integrate selected software components on-the-fly into the application's runtime lifecycle without prior compilation or linking of the software components into the application as a whole, wherein dynamically integrating different software components on-the-fly into the application at runtime changes the application's functions.