Method for managing elements of a peer-group
First Claim
1. A method for managing software and/or hardware elements of a peer-group, the peer-group having a first group identifier assigned and comprising two or more peers, wherein a peer is a software element being associated with one or more hardware elements and has the first group identifier locally stored, the method including the following steps:
- a first peer being a member of said peer-group detecting a modification on a software or hardware element of the peer-group;
the first peer automatically generating a second group identifier;
the first peer sending out a first message to the other members of the peer-group, the first message containing at least the first and second group identifiers and a pointer to said modified software or hardware element;
peers being members of said peer-group receiving said message, comparing the received first group identifier with their locally stored first group identifier and, upon both group identifiers being identical, replacing their locally stored first group identifier with the second group identifier; and
a peer being a member of said peer-group sending out a second message to members of a second peer-group, the second message containing at least the first and second group identifiers and a pointer to said modified software or hardware element.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
For the creation and self-organization of peer-groups the JXTA protocol may be used, which includes messages such as peer or peer-group advertisements and services such as the discovery service. Conventional peer-groups of this type are static and need restart after any modification, e.g. a new service. A method for dynamically managing hardware and/or software elements, e.g. services, utilized and/or offered by such peer-groups comprises detecting a change within a peer-group, creating a new peer-group identifier, publishing within the peer-group a first peer-group advertisement message that includes the current and the new peer-group identifier and pointers to current services including the detected modification, accepting the new peer-group identifier by the other peer-group members, and publishing a second peer-group advertisement message in the superordinate peer-group, wherein both advertisement messages may be identical. Thus, peer-groups may operate continuously while peers modify, add or delete services.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A method for managing software and/or hardware elements of a peer-group, the peer-group having a first group identifier assigned and comprising two or more peers, wherein a peer is a software element being associated with one or more hardware elements and has the first group identifier locally stored, the method including the following steps:
-
a first peer being a member of said peer-group detecting a modification on a software or hardware element of the peer-group;
the first peer automatically generating a second group identifier;
the first peer sending out a first message to the other members of the peer-group, the first message containing at least the first and second group identifiers and a pointer to said modified software or hardware element;
peers being members of said peer-group receiving said message, comparing the received first group identifier with their locally stored first group identifier and, upon both group identifiers being identical, replacing their locally stored first group identifier with the second group identifier; and
a peer being a member of said peer-group sending out a second message to members of a second peer-group, the second message containing at least the first and second group identifiers and a pointer to said modified software or hardware element. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A network element being a peer in a peer-to-peer network, the peer being a member of a peer-group defined by a unique group identifier, comprising
means for storing a current group identifier; -
means for storing a peer identifier;
means for detecting modification of a software or hardware element relating to the current peer-group;
means for generating a new group identifier upon said detection of modification of software or hardware element;
means for sending a peer-group advertisement message to other peers, the message containing a data section specifying the current and the new group identifier and a pointer to said modified software or hardware element;
means for receiving a peer-group advertisement message sent by another peer;
means for comparing the stored current group identifier with the current group identifier contained in said received peer-group advertisement message, and for indicating both being identical; and
means for overwriting upon said indication the current group identifier with the received new group identifier.
-
Specification