Distributed computer
First Claim
1. A method of dividing a task amongst a plurality of nodes within a distributed computer, said method comprising:
- receiving requirements data indicating desired properties of a task group of nodes and interconnections between them, which properties lead to said task group being suited to said task or tasks of a similar type;
calculating a task group topology in dependence upon said requirements data; and
distributing said task amongst the plurality of nodes in accordance with the task group topology thus calculated.
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Abstract
A distributed computing network is disclosed, the membership of which is determined in accordance with policy data stored at existing member nodes. A node wishing to join the distributed computing network sends profile data indicating the resources it has available for shared computation to a member node. The member node compares the resources with the requirement indicated in the priority data. If the comparison indicates that the applicant node should join, then data indicating the topology of the distributed computing network is updated at the member node and created at the applicant node. This allows for the creation of a distributed computing network whose topology is well-suited to a given task, provided the policy properly reflects the requirements of that task.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of dividing a task amongst a plurality of nodes within a distributed computer, said method comprising:
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receiving requirements data indicating desired properties of a task group of nodes and interconnections between them, which properties lead to said task group being suited to said task or tasks of a similar type;
calculating a task group topology in dependence upon said requirements data; and
distributing said task amongst the plurality of nodes in accordance with the task group topology thus calculated. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Distributed computer apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of data processor nodes, each connected to at least one other of said data processor nodes via a communications link;
each of said nodes having recorded therein;
a) group membership policy data;
b) a list of group members;
c) processor readable code executable to update group membership data, said code comprising;
group membership request generation code executable to generate and send a group membership request including node profile data to another node indicated to be a member of said group;
group membership request handling code executable to receive a group membership request including node profile data, and decide whether said request is to be granted in dependence upon the group membership policy data stored at said node;
group membership update code executable to update the list of group members stored at said node on deciding to grant a group membership request received from another node, and to send a response to the node sending said request indicating that said request is successful. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
- a plurality of data processor nodes, each connected to at least one other of said data processor nodes via a communications link;
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18. A method of operating a member node of a distributed computing network, said method comprising:
- accessing membership policy data comprising one or more property value pairs indicating one or more criteria for membership of said distributed computing network;
receiving, from an applicant node, profile data comprising one or more property value pairs indicating characteristics of the applicant node;
determining whether said applicant profile data indicates that said applicant node meets said membership criteria;
responsive to said determination indicating that said applicant node meets said membership criteria, updating distributed computing network membership data accessible to said member node to indicate that said applicant node is a member node of said distributed computing network. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
- accessing membership policy data comprising one or more property value pairs indicating one or more criteria for membership of said distributed computing network;
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22. A computer program product loadable into the internal memory of a digital computer comprising:
- task group requirements data reception code executable to receive and store received task group requirements data;
node capability profile data reception code executable to receive and store received node capability profile data;
comparison code executable to compare said node capability data and said task group requirements data to find whether the node represented by said node capability data meets said task group requirements;
task group topology update code executable to add an identifier of said represented node to a task group topology data structure on said comparison code indicating that said represented node meets said requirements;
task execution code executable to receive code from another node in said task group and to execute said code or forward said code to a node represented as a neighbour in said task group topology data structure.
- task group requirements data reception code executable to receive and store received task group requirements data;
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23. A method of operating a network to create a logical network topology based on the physical topology of said network, said logical network topology being suited to a task, said method comprising:
- identifying a member node as a member of said logical network;
storing requirements data representing what is required of nodes in order for them to be suitable for said task;
storing candidate node capability data representing the capabilities of a candidate node in said physical network;
operating a candidate node in said network to compare its candidate node capability data with said requirements data;
responsive to said comparison indicating that said candidate node to meet said requirements, making said node a member of said logical network.
- identifying a member node as a member of said logical network;
Specification