Method of propagating resource information in a computer network
First Claim
1. A method of propagating resource information among computers of a computer network, comprising the steps ofat each computer,dynamically advertising the availability or unavailability of a resource at the computer to other computers of the network in response to the resource becoming available or unavailable, respectively, for use by the other computers,soliciting the availability or unavailability of a resource at other computers of the network each time the computer is placed on-line in the network,maintaining a database of the availability or unavailability of the resource at other computers of the network, andverifying from the database that a resource at a specified computer is available from attempting to use the resource at the specified computer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of propagating resource information among computers of a computer network in a fully distributed (or decentralized) fashion. A solicit message from a client one of the computers is transmitted to one or more prescribed server ones of the computers each time the client computer is made operative in the newtork. In response to the solicit message, each of the prescribed server computers determines if it is available as a resource to the client computer. The server then transmits a positive response message or a negative response message to the client computer if the server computer is available or unavailable, respectively.
In addition, when a server computer becomes available as a resource to one or more client computers, it transmits an advertisement message to the prospective client or clients.
201 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of propagating resource information among computers of a computer network, comprising the steps of
at each computer, dynamically advertising the availability or unavailability of a resource at the computer to other computers of the network in response to the resource becoming available or unavailable, respectively, for use by the other computers, soliciting the availability or unavailability of a resource at other computers of the network each time the computer is placed on-line in the network, maintaining a database of the availability or unavailability of the resource at other computers of the network, and verifying from the database that a resource at a specified computer is available from attempting to use the resource at the specified computer.
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2. A method of propagating resource information among computers of a computer network, comprising the steps of
transmitting an advertisement message from a server one of the computers to one or more potential client computers when the server computer becomes available as a resource to the client computers, and responsive to receipt of advertisement messages, updating a database at each potential client computer of the computers that are available to the potential client computer as a resource.
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13. A method of propagating resource information among computers of a computer network, comprising the steps of
transmitting an advertisement message from a potential server one of the computers to one or more potential client computers when a prescribed resource at the server computer becomes available to the client computers, and updating a database at each potential client computer of the server computer resources that are available to the potential client computer responsive to the advertisement message.
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17. A method of propagating resource information among computers of a computer network, comprising the steps of
maintaining a server database and a client database at each network computer, each client database having entries identifying each other network computer for which this computer may act as a resource and each server database having entries identifying each other network computer which may act as a resource for this computer, transmitting advertisement messages from server ones of the computers to client ones of the computers as the server computers become available in resources to the client computers, in response to receipt of advertisement messages at each computer, marking the advertising computer as being available in the server databases of the computers receiving the advertisement messages, transmitting unadvertisement messages from server ones of the computers to client ones of the computers as the server computers become unavailable as resources to the client computers, in response to receipt of unadvertisement messages at each computer, removing the availability markings of the unadvertising computers in the server databases of the computers receiving the unadvertisement messages, transmitting availability solicitation messages from ones of the computers to server computers as the soliciting computers are placed on-line in the network, marking as being available in the server databases of the soliciting computers those computers that respond as being available to the solicitation messages, and at each computer, determining the availability of a potential server from the server database of the computer before attempting to use the potential server as a resource.
Specification