Patent ID: 7814226

Claim:
A system for supporting service networks in a service oriented architecture (SOA) environment, comprising: a service network including a plurality of service segments; and a plurality of service routers in the service network, including a service router associated with each service segment, wherein each of the plurality of service routers comprises a routing table or registry that includes the information about a local topology of other service routers within the service network, and information describing service-oriented architecture performance cost or other quality of service factors associated with using a particular path to one or more of the other service routers, and wherein each service router is responsible for transparently bridging service requests from applications between the service segments, including maintaining information about the local topology of other service routers, including maintaining local registry information about other service routers that are adjacent to the service router, including the identification of each router, its attached service networks and domains, and their relative costs, and wherein to populate the local registry, each service router sends and receives advertisements about their own local service segments, which advertisements are then used to populate the local registry at each service router, providing a physical layer and a data link layer, which each service router uses to communicate with other service routers, providing a service router layer logically above the physical layer and data link layer which each service router uses to route service requests between service segments associated with the other service routers, receiving a service request from an application having service-oriented architecture requirements, determining where services reside in the service network, based on a routing information gathered through interaction with other service routers, network routers and other mechanisms including advertisements from the other service routers in the local topology describing the services provided by their local service segments, and delivering, for each particular requestor or service request, the service requests, using optimal routes, and by interim hops of service routers as necessary, to a target service segment that will best satisfy the service-oriented architecture requirements of that particular requestor or service request.