Communications Interchange System

• US 20060161680A1
• Filed: 03/08/2004
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: GTV Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: GTV Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Balsevich, Miguel
• Application Number:
  US10/548,728
• Publication Number:
  US 20060161680A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

An extensible data communication protocol is described that operates between remote computers and a server computer on the same network, where the computers exchange data messages while the server manages addressing of the communication, so that applications running on the computers can communicate without reference to the underlying network addresses, but rather by means of virtual addressing based on some other label or indicia of identity, including the identity of the computer sending the data message and the identity of the intended recipient computer. Other improvements to data packet and network address management are also part of the invention are presented.

Claims

7. A computer system comprising:

A data communication network connection attached to a computer;

A client software running on the computer that manages the network connection protocol and permits a program running on the computer to interact with the client where the program can instruct the client the destination of data transmissions across the network by means of indicia of identity of the destination computer.

8. A method of operating a server attached to at least one data communication network that conforms to a networking protocol that further connects with a first computer and a second computer comprising:

Receiving a data packet from the first computer that is comprised of the indicia of identity of the second computer;

Determining the networking protocol address of the second computer;

Transmitting to the first computer a data packet comprised of the networking protocol address of the second computer.

1. An apparatus for controlling the data communication between at least two computers, a first computer running a first client software and a second computer running a second client software where the at least two computers are connected to the apparatus through at least one data communication network that conforms to at least one data networking protocol comprising:

At least one table of indicia of identity stored in a data memory of the apparatus comprised of at least one entry that is comprised of the second computer'"'"'s indicia, where for each at least one indicia there is a corresponding reference in the table to the corresponding network protocol address of the at least one second computer;

A program stored in the apparatus data memory that when executed, in response to a request data packet comprised of the indicia of identity of the second computer which is communicated to the apparatus over the data network from the first computer, determines the corresponding network address of the second computer using the table.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 where the indicia of identity and network protocol address of the second computer is determined by examination of an activation message received by the apparatus from the second computer.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 where the examination is a determination of the network protocol address indicated by the protocol as the source of the activation message.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 where the table is stored in a plurality of computers connected through the at least one data communication network.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 where each table entry further comprises characteristic data about the first and second computers from the group of:

permission for the first computer to communicate with the second computer, status information about the second computer, membership of the second computer in a predetermined group of computers.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 where the selection of the at least one tables to be used for the determination is determined by one or both of the indicia of identity of the first computer and network protocol address of the first computer.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising determining the networking protocol address of the second computer by detecting a data packet transmitted to the server as a result of the second computer activating a client software.

10. The method of claim 8 where the determining step is comprised of looking up in a table that maps indicia of identity to network protocol addresses, where the table is updated as a result of an activation message from the at least one second computers.

11. A method of transmission of messages on at least one data communication network that conforms to a networking protocol that further connects with a first computer, a second computer and a server comprising:

Receiving message from a first computer, that is comprised of the network protocol address of the server as the destination and the indicia of identity of the second computer at a predetermined location in the message;

Determining the network protocol address of the second computer;

Modifying the message so that the destination is the network protocol address of the second computer;

Transmitting the modified message into the data communication network.

11-1. A computer readable medium comprised of code, that when executed by a computer, performs the methods of claims 1-10.

12. A method of interprocess communication between a first computer running a first process with a first process identifier and a second computer running a second process with a second process identifier, each connected to a server on a data communication network that conforms to a network protocol comprising:

Receiving through a programming interface from the first process the first process identifier and the indicia of identity of the second process;

Assembling in the data memory of the first computer a first message comprised of the indicia of identity of the second process and the first process identifier;

Transmitting the first message to the server;

Receiving a second message from the server comprised of the network protocol address of the second computer corresponding to the indicia of identity and the first process identifier;

Assembling a third message comprised of the network protocol address of the second computer and information to be delivered to the second process;

Transmitting the second message packet across the data communication network.

13. The method of claim 12 where the first message packet comprises the indicia of identity of the instance of the client code executing the method on the first computer and the determining step further comprising selecting the mapping of indicia of identity to network protocol address on the basis of the indicia of identity of the client code instance on the first computer.

14. The method of claim 12 where the method is executed by an instance of the client code on the first computer and the assembling step is the causal result of the detection by the client code of a pre-determined state on the first computer.

19. A computer readable medium comprised of code, that when executed by a computer, performs the methods of claims 12-18.

15. A method of interprocess communication between a first computer running a first process and a second computer running a second process, each connected to a server on a data communication network that conforms to a network protocol comprising:

Receiving from the first computer a first message comprised of the indicia of identity of the second computer and information to be delivered to the second process, the first message the result of the first process passing a request through a programming interface;

Determining the network protocol address of the second computer based on the indicia of identity in the first message;

Modifying the message so that the destination is the network protocol address of the second computer;

Transmitting the modified message into the data communication network.

16. The method of claim 15 where the first message further comprises the indicia of identity of the instance of the client code executing the method on the first computer and the determining step further comprising selecting the mapping of indicia of identity to network protocol address on the basis of the indicia of identity of the client code instance on the first computer.

17. A method of interprocess communication between a first computer running a first process with a first process identifier and a second computer running a second process with a second process identifier, each connected to a server on a data communication network that conforms to a network protocol comprising:

Receiving from the first computer a first message comprised of the indicia of identity of the second computer and the first process identifier, the first message the result of the first process passing a request through a programming interface;

Determining the network protocol address of the second computer based on the indicia of identity in the first message;

Transmitting to the first computer a response comprised of the network protocol address of the second computer and the first process identifier.

18. The method of claim 17 where the first message further comprises the indicia of identity of the instance of the client code executing the method on the first computer and the determining step further comprising selecting the mapping of indicia of identity to network protocol address on the basis of the indicia of identity of the client code instance on the first computer.

20. A packet switching network where each transmitted packet is composed of a sequence of fragments that are retransmitted upon expiration of a first pre-determined amount of time without an acknowledgement comprising:

Transmitting a fragment without waiting for acknowledgment of a prior transmission of a fragment;

Calculating a new first pre-determined amount of time using as input either of the following two values;

at least one of the durations measured from a prior transmission of a fragment until a transmission acknowledgement for the prior transmitted fragment or the number of times during a second predetermined amount of time that a transmitted fragment had no acknowledgement.

24. A computer readable medium comprised of code, that when executed by a computer, performs the methods of claims 20-23.

21. A packet switching network where each transmitted packet is composed of a sequence of fragments that are retransmitted upon expiration of a first pre-determined amount of time without an acknowledgement comprising:

Transmitting a fragment without waiting for acknowledgment of a prior transmission of a fragment;

Setting a first pre-determined amount of time to wait to be a value substantially equal to the amount of time waited on a prior transmission plus a second pre-determined extra time period;

Waiting for an acknowledgement during the first pre-determined wait time;

At the expiration of the first pre-determined wait time without an acknowledgement, increasing the first pre-determined wait time;

At the acknowledgement before or upon expiration of the first pre-determined wait time, changing the first pre-determined wait time based on the length of time between the transmission and the acknowledgement and the amount of time waited on a prior transmission.

22. The method of claim 21 where the changing step is further comprised of:

Determining whether the first pre-determined length of time is less than the wait time on a prior transmission;

Decreasing the first pre-determined amount of time if the determination is true and increasing the first pre-determined amount of time if the determination is false.

23. A packet switching network where each transmitted packet is composed of a sequence of fragments that are retransmitted upon expiration of a first pre-determined amount of time without an acknowledgement comprising:

The step for recalculating the pre-determined time to wait such that the time is decreased if the acknowledgement arrives prior to the expiration of the pre-determined time and the time is increased if the expiration occurs without an acknowledgement.

25. A computer readable medium comprised of code, that when executed on a computer, causes the computer to parse a text page stored in memory containing at least one meta-tag, detect at least one pre-determined meta-tag and execute a command corresponding to the value of the pre-determined meta-tag.

26. A computer readable medium, comprised of code, that when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform a method comprising:

Displaying in a window at least one icon, that when activated, causes a predetermined application corresponding to such icon to execute;

Displaying in a window a set of available participants, where the set of participants is determined by the type of predetermined application;

Displaying in at least one window where the participant can respond to queries initiated in at least one window by the user of the application.

27. A method of communication between a first computer running a first client and a second computer running a second client, each connected to a server on at least one data communication network that conforms to a network protocol comprising:

Receiving from the second computer at least two network protocol addresses, one representing the location of the server from the standpoint of the second computer and the second the location of the second computer from the standpoint of the server;

Determining a network protocol address of the second computer to be used by the first computer by examination of the relative values of the two addresses;

Transmitting to the first computer the determined network protocol address.

35. A computer readable medium comprised of code, that when executes performs any of the methods of claims 27-34.

28. A method to determine the network protocol address to be used by a first computer directly communicating with a second computer connected on a data network comprised of at least one network protocol comprising:

Receiving from the first computer a UTS and HOST address for the first computer;

Receiving from the second computer a UTS and HOST address for the second computer;

Checking whether the UTS address of the second computer is public and if true, transmitting to the first computer either the UTS or the HOST address.

29. The method of claim 28 where the checking step comprises checking whether the UTS address is private, and if true, then

checking if the HOST address of the first computer and HOST address of the second computer are the same, and if true, returning the UTS address of the second computer.

30. The method of claim 29 further comprising checking if the status of the second computer permits access from a public network, and if true, returning to the first computer the UTS address of the second computer.

31. A method to determine the network protocol address to be used by a first computer directly communicating with a second computer connected on a data network comprised of at least one network protocol comprising:

The step of resolving whether the first computer should use the UTS or HOST address of the second computer,

Transmitting to the first computer the resolved address of the second computer.

32. A method of limiting access by at least one user of a communication network and permitting access by at least one user of at least one other user of the network comprising:

assigning at least one user to a first group where a first state is indicated when a user in the first group queries the other user for access;

assigning a different user to a second group where a second state is indicated when the second at least one user in the second group queries the other user for access.

33. In an instant messaging communication system, a method of grouping available recipients of a query by a user whereby the group of recipients are grouped according to some pre-determined criteria and the group is presented to the user as a destination for the query.

34. In an instant messaging communication system, a method of file delivery on a computer network with a server comprising:

receiving a message with a file, where such message includes a list of users who are to receive the file;

making a single copy of the file on the server;

assembling messages to each such recipient user with a reference to the file copy on the server;

sending to each recipient the assembled message.