Patent ID: 7254814

Claim:
A method for managing services associated with a plurality of plug-in modules, the method comprising the steps of: obtaining identities of a plurality of plug-in modules; based on queries to the plurality of plug-in modules, retrieving dependency list information indicating respective plug-in services provided by, and required by, the plurality of plug-in modules; wherein retrieving the dependency list information includes: initiating a query to a first plug-in module of the plurality of plug-in modules; in response to the query to the first plug-in module, receiving dependency information from the first plug-in module indicating that the first plug-in module requires a service provided by a second plug-in module; initiating a query to the second plug-in module; in response to the query to the second plug-in module, receiving dependency information from the second plug-in module; calculating a plug-in initiation order based upon the received dependency information; wherein calculating the plug-in initiation order includes: producing the plug-in initiation order based on the dependency information received from the first plug-in module and the dependency information received from the second plug-in module; and initiating service operation of plug-in modules according to the plug-in initiation order, such that if the first plug-in module provides a service required by the second plug-in module, the first plug-in module is initiated such that the service provided by the first plug-in module is available to the second plug-in module when required by the second plug-in module.