METHOD, SYSTEM AND PROGRAM FOR COMMUNICATOIN AMONG NODES IN A SYSTEM

• US 20080091870A1
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hill, Ronald, McIntosh, Michael, Goodman, Brian, Jesionowski, Leonard
• Application Number:
  US11/948,949
• Publication Number:
  US 20080091870A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/316
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/547 Remote procedure calls [RPC]; Web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/40 Bus networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/407 with decentralised control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2012/40215 Controller Area Network CAN
• 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 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

Provided are a system and program for allowing communication among nodes in a system. A request is received in a source node from a source object executing in the source node to send a message to a destination object executing in a destination node. Each node includes a processor capable of multitasking multiple program objects and a communication interface to transmit and receive data with the other nodes. A determination is made in the source node as to whether the destination node and source node are a same node. The message is sent in the source node to the destination object within the source node if the destination node is the source node. If the destination node is not the source node, then the source node transmits the message to the destination node through the communication interface. The destination node sends the message to the destination object within the destination node.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for allowing communication among processing nodes in a system, comprising:

receiving, in a source node, a request from a source object executing in the source node to send a message to a destination object executing in a destination node, wherein each node includes a processor capable of multitasking multiple program objects and a communication interface to transmit and receive data with the other nodes;

determining, in the source node, whether the destination node and source node are a same node;

invoking an operating system command in the source node to transmit the message to the destination object within the source node if the destination node is the source node; and

if the destination node is not the source node, performing;

transmitting, with the source node, the message to the destination node through the communication interface; and

invoking an operating system command in the destination node to transmit the message to the destination object within the destination node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein there is a message queue associated with each object in each node, and wherein the invoked operating system command in the source node transmits the message to the message queue associated with the destination object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication interface comprises a bus, wherein transmitting, with the source node, the message to the destination node over the communication interface, comprises:

determining, in the source node, an address of the destination node that addresses the destination node when transmitting messages through the communication interface;

generating, in the source node, at least one message packet including the message, the determined address, and an address of the destination object; and

transmitting, with the source node, the at least one message packet to the destination node over the communication interface, wherein including the address of the destination node in the message causes the destination node to read the at least one message packet transmitted on the bus.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the message to the destination object in the destination node comprises:

determining, in the destination node, the destination object for at least one message packet including the message;

extracting, in the destination node, the message from the message packet, wherein the invoked operating system command in the destination node transmits the message to the message queue associated with the destination object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, with the source node, the message to the destination node comprises:

invoking an operating system command, with the source object, to send the message to a message queue associated with a source network object in the source node;

determining, with the source network object, an address of the destination node that addresses the destination node when transmitting messages through the communication interface;

generating, with the source network object, at least one message packet including the message, the determined address of the destination node, and an address of the destination object;

transmitting, with the source network object, the at least one message packet to the destination node over the communication interface; and

receiving, with a destination network object, the at least one message packet, wherein the destination network object invokes the operating system command in the destination node to transmit the message to a message queue associated with the destination object in the destination node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each node is associated with one component of a system, wherein a first node comprises a controller node and at least one second node comprises a component node that controls an electro-mechanical component of the system, wherein the source object comprises a work management object in the controller node that manages system commands and the message includes a command to instruct a motion object in the component node to control the electro-mechanical component to perform an operation, and wherein the system comprises a storage library system, and the electro-mechanical component comprises a component of a storage library system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each object is assigned a unique object identifier in the system, and wherein the unique identifier is used within all nodes to identify the destination object to receive the message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the operating system command invoked to transmit the message to the destination object if the destination node is the source node and if the destination node is not the source node comprises a same operating system function.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

wherein the operating system command invoked in the source node in response to determining that the destination node and the source node are the same queues the message in a message queue of the destination object, further comprising;

invoking the operating system command in the source node to queue the message in a communication interface object queue in response to determining that the destination node is not the source node, wherein a communication interface object transmits the message from the communication interface object queue to the destination node.

10. A system for allowing communication among processing nodes in a system, comprising:

at least two nodes, wherein each node includes a processor capable of multitasking multiple program objects;

a communication interface to transmit and receive data between the nodes;

source program logic implemented in the nodes, wherein the node executing the source logic comprises a source node, wherein the source program logic causes the source node processor to perform;

receiving a request from a source object executing in the source node to send a message to a destination object executing in a destination node,

determining whether the destination node and source node are a same node;

invoking an operating system command to transmit the message to the destination object within the source node if the destination node is the source node; and

transmitting the message to the destination node through the communication interface if the destination node is not the source node; and

destination program logic implemented in the nodes, wherein the node executing the destination logic comprises a destination node, wherein the destination program logic causes the destination node processor to invoke an operating system command to transmit the message received from the source node to the destination object within the destination node.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein there is a message queue associated with each object in each node, and wherein the invoked operating system command transmits the message to the message queue associated with the destination object.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication interface comprises a bus, wherein the source program logic node transmits the message to the destination node over the communication interface by:

determining an address of the destination node that addresses the destination node when transmitting messages through the communication interface;

generating at least one message packet including the message, the determined address, and an address of the destination object; and

transmitting the at least one message packet to the destination node over the communication interface, wherein including the address of the destination node in the message causes the destination node to read the at least one message packet transmitted on the bus.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein each node is associated with one component of a system, wherein a first node comprises a controller node and at least one second node comprises a component node that controls an electro-mechanical component of the system, wherein the source object comprises a work management object in the controller node that manages system commands and the message includes a command to instruct a motion object in the component node to control the electro-mechanical component to perform an operation, wherein the system comprises a storage library system, and the electro-mechanical component comprises a component of a storage library system.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein each object is assigned a unique object identifier in the system, and wherein the unique identifier is used within all nodes to identify the destination object to receive the message.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the operating system command invoked to transmit the message to the destination object if the destination node is the source node and if the destination node is not the source node comprises a same operating system function.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operating system command invoked in the source node in response to determining that the destination node and the source node are the same queues the message in a message queue of the destination object, wherein the source program logic further performs:

invoking the operating system command in the source node to queue the message in a communication interface object queue in response to determining that the destination node is not the source node, wherein a communication interface object transmits the message from the communication interface object queue to the destination node.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein the operating system command invoked to transmit the message to the destination object if the destination node is the source node and if the destination node is not the source node comprises a same operating system function.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 24 wherein the operating system command invoked in the source node in response to determining that the destination node and the source node are the same queues the message in a message queue of the destination object, wherein the source program logic further performs:

invoking the operating system command in the source node to queue the message in a communication interface object queue in response to determining that the destination node is not the source node, wherein a communication interface object transmits the message from the communication interface object queue to the destination node.

17. An article of manufacture for allowing communication among processing nodes in a system, wherein each node includes a processor, wherein a communication interface enables communication between the nodes, wherein the article of manufacture includes program logic for controlling the node processor operations, comprising:

source program logic implemented in the nodes, wherein the node executing the source logic comprises a source node, wherein the source program logic causes the source node processor to perform;

receiving a request from a source object executing in the source node to send a message to a destination object executing in a destination node,

determining whether the destination node and source node are a same node;

invoking an operating system command to transmit the message to the destination object within the source node if the destination node is the source node; and

transmitting the message to the destination node through the communication interface if the destination node is not the source node; and

destination program logic implemented in the nodes, wherein the node executing the destination logic comprises a destination node, wherein the destination program logic causes the destination node processor to invoke an operating system command to transmit the message received from the source node to the destination object within the destination node.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein there is a message queue associated with each object in each node, and wherein the invoked operating system command transmits the message to the message queue associated with the destination object.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the communication interface comprises a bus, wherein the source program logic node transmits the message to the destination node over the communication interface by:

determining an address of the destination node that addresses the destination node when transmitting messages through the communication interface;

generating at least one message packet including the message, the determined address, and an address of the destination object; and

transmitting the at least one message packet to the destination node over the communication interface, wherein including the address of the destination node in the message causes the destination node to read the at least one message packet transmitted on the bus.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the source program logic includes an a source network object to transmit the message to the destination node by:

invoking an operating system command, with the source object, to send the message to a message queue associated with the source network object in the source node;

determining, with the source network object, an address of the destination node that addresses the destination node when transmitting messages through the communication interface;

generating, with the source network object, at least one message packet including the message, the determined address of the destination node, and an address of the destination object;

transmitting, with the source network object, the at least one message packet to the destination node over the communication interface; and

wherein the destination program logic includes a destination network object that receives, the at least one message packet, wherein the destination network object invokes the operating system command to transmit the message to a message queue associated with the destination object in the destination node.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 20, wherein the destination network object routes the message in the destination node to the destination object by:

determining the destination object for the at least one message packet;

extracting the message from the message packet wherein the operating system command is invoked to transmit the message to a message queue associated with the destination object.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein each node is associated with one component of a system, wherein a first node comprises a controller node and at least one second node comprises a component node that controls an electro-mechanical component of the system, wherein the source object comprises a work management object in the controller node that manages system commands and the message includes a command to instruct a motion object in the component node to control the electro-mechanical component to perform an operation, and wherein the system comprises a storage library system, and the electro-mechanical component comprises a component of a storage library system.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein each object is assigned a unique object identifier in the system, and wherein the unique identifier is used within all nodes to identify the destination object to receive the message.