Distributed applications using mobile agents

• US 20050256876A1
• Filed: 05/10/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Eidson, John C.
• Application Number:
  US10/842,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20050256876A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Techniques for providing a distributed application with mechanisms that enable communication among remote nodes without a central server or direct communication links among the remote nodes. A distributed application according to the present techniques includes a set of remote nodes that provide a collective store for a set of information pertaining to the distributed application and a set of mobile agents that carry the information among the remote nodes. The data carrier functions provided by the mobile agents help avoid the cost and expense associated with a communication infrastructure and a central server.

Claims

1. A distributed application, comprising:

a set of remote nodes that provide a collective store for a set of information pertaining to the distributed application;

a set of mobile agents that carry the information among the remote nodes.

2. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein the information pertains to a set of paths traversed by the mobile agents.

3. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein the information includes a set of data gathered by the mobile agents.

4. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein the information includes a set of data gathered by the remote nodes.

5. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein the information includes a set of computational data generated by the mobile agents.

6. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein the information includes a set of computational data generated by the remote nodes.

7. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein one or more of the remote nodes includes a communication subsystem that enables communication with the mobile agents when the mobile agents are in a relatively close proximity.

8. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein each mobile agent includes a communication subsystem that enables communication with one or more of the remote nodes when in a relatively close proximity.

9. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein one or more of the remote nodes includes an application-specific subsystem for performing a function associated with the distributed application.

10. The distributed application of claim 1, wherein one or more of the mobile agents includes an application-specific subsystem for performing a function associated with the distributed application.

11. A method for implementing a distributed application, comprising the steps of:

providing a set of remote data stores for a set of information pertaining to the distributed application;

carrying the information among the remote data stores using a set of agents that traverse one or more of the remote data stores.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of carrying includes the step of performing a set of computations in response to the information.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of carrying includes the step of gathering a subset of the information.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of gathering includes the step of performing a set of computations in response to the subset of the information.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the information includes a set of data obtained at one or more of the remote data stores.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the information includes a set of computational data generated at one or more of the remote data stores.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of providing a set of remote data stores includes the step of performing an application-specific function associated with one or more of the remote stores.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of carrying the information includes the step of performing an application-specific function associated with the information.