Patent ID: 8140575

Claim:
A client-side information processing apparatus operable to provide an interface for using a web service on an external server device, comprising: a processor; a first storage unit operable to store a first tree structure for accessing the web service, wherein the first tree structure includes: a partial tree for request having a request node and one or more parameter nodes descended from the request node, wherein each parameter node is operable to store a parameter to be provided to the web service when executing a request to the web service, and a partial tree for response having a response node and one or more return nodes descended from the response node, wherein each response node is operable to store a result of having executed the request at the web service; an application execution unit operable to execute an application using the web service and to store each parameter to be provided to the web service into each parameter node descended from the request node for the web service; a request generation unit operable to: acquire the parameters from each parameter node in which a parameter has been stored by the application execution unit, and generate a request message including the parameters for calling up the web service, wherein the request generation unit further includes: a service name acquisition unit operable to acquire a name of the web service from the request node; a Web Services Description Language acquisition unit operable to acquire a Web Services Description Language description defining a specification of the web service using the name of the web service; and an address acquisition unit operable to acquire an address of the server device which provides the web service from the Web Services Description Language description; a request sending unit operable to send the request message to the server device providing the web service, as defined by the address acquired by the address acquisition unit; a response receiving unit operable to receive a response message, including a result of having executed the web service, from the server device; and a response reflection unit operable to store the response from the web service in the response node and the one or more return nodes in the partial tree for response.