Compensation for mismatched transport protocols in a data communications network

• US 5,224,098 A
• Filed: 07/17/1991
• Issued: 06/29/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chung, Tein-Yaw D., Yeung, Yue T., Chung, Winston W., Sarkar, Soumitra, Dykeman, Harold D., Britton, Kathryn H., Wilson, John H., Pozefsky, Diane P., Auerbach, Joshua S., Gray, James P., Bird, Raymond F., Doeringer, Willibald A., Mathew, Johny, Edwards, Allan K., Turner, Roger D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): HSU, ALPUS
• Application Number:
  US07/731,564
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 370/24, 370/32, 370/60, 370/85.1, 370/85.2, 370/85.4, 370/85.6, 370/85.13, 370/94.1, 370/94.3, 370/110.1, 340/825.5, 340/825.51, 395/200, 395/325, 395/725, 395/775, 395/800
• US Class Current: 709/233
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A Transport Layer Protocol Boundary (TLPB) architecture is described which will permit an application program to run over a non-native transport protocol without first generating a protocol compensation package tailored to the transport protocols assumed by the program'"'"'s application programming interface and by the available transport provider. All transport functions required by the program are converted to standardized or TLPB representations. When a connection between the first application program and a second remote application is requested, the individual required TLPB transport functions are compared to corresponding functions supported by the transport provider. Compensations are invoked only where there is a mismatch. The node on which the remote application program runs is informed of the compensations so that necessary de-compensation operations can be performed before the data is delivered to the remote application program.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a transport-level connection across a network between a first transport user and a second transport user, each of said users being served by its own transport provider at an interface to the network, said method comprising the steps of:

establishing a first set of transport functions consisting of those transport functions required by the first transport user;

establishing a second set of transport functions consisting of those functions supported by the transport provider for said first transport user;

comparing each function in the first set with the corresponding function in the second set to determine whether the required function matches the corresponding supported function; and

compensating for at least one mismatch between a user-required transport function and the corresponding provider-supported function as that function is being performed by adding control data to the data being passed through the network from the transport provider for the first transport user to the transport provider for the second transport user.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the control data added in the compensating step comprises compensatory headers.

3. A method of establishing a transport-level connection across a network between a first transport user and a second transport user, said method comprising the steps of:

selecting a transport provider for said first transport user from one of a set of available transport providers;

establishing a first set of transport functions required by the first transport user;

establishing a second set of transport functions supported by the selected transport provider;

comparing each function in the first set with the corresponding function in the second set to determine whether the required function matches the corresponding supported function; and

compensating for at least one mismatch between a user-required transport function and the corresponding provided-supported transport function during execution of the required function by the transport user by adding control data to data to be passed through the network from the first transport user to the second transport user.

4. A method as defined in claim 3 wherein a second transport provider matching the first transport provider is provided for the second transport user and wherein said second transport provider strips the control data from user data before it is delivered to the second transport user.

5. A method of establishing a transport-layer connection between a first application program at a first node in a computer network and a second application program at a second node in the network to permit data to be transported from the first application program through the network to the second application program independent of an application programming interface to which the first application program is written and of network transport protocols, said method comprising the steps of:

establishing a first set of transport functions required by the application programming interface of the first application program;

mapping the transport functions in said first set to a second, standard set of transport layer protocol boundary functions;

establishing a third set of transport functions supported by the network transport protocols;

comparing corresponding functions in the second and third sets to determine whether corresponding functions match each other; and

altering the data transferred from the first node to the second node to compensate for at least one of any mismatches found as a result of the comparison.

6. A method as defined in claim 5 wherein the step of altering the data comprises the specific step of adding a compensatory header to data supplied by the first application program.

7. A system for providing a transport-level connection across a network between a first transport user and a second transport user, each of said users being served by its own transport provider at the user'"'"'s interface to the network, said system comprising:

means for establishing a first set of transport functions consisting of transport functions required by the first transport user;

means for establishing a second set of transport functions consisting of functions supported by the transport provider for said first transport user;

means for comparing each function in the first set with the corresponding function in the second set to determine whether each user-required function matches a corresponding provider-supported function; and

means for introducing compensation into a stream of data to be sent through the network to compensate for at least one mismatch of any found between a user-required function and a provider-supported function.

8. A system as defined in claim 7 wherein said compensation-introducing means comprises means for adding compensating header to user data.

9. A system for providing a transport-level connection across a network between a first transport user and a second transport user, said system comprising:

means for selecting a transport provider for said first transport user from one of a set of available transport providers;

means for establishing a first set of transport functions required by the first transport user;

means for establishing a second set of transport functions supported by the selected transport provider;

means for comparing each function in the first set with a corresponding function in the second set to determine whether the user-required function matches a corresponding provider-supported function; and

means responsive to mismatches between user-required functions and corresponding provider-supported functions to compensate for at least one such mismatch during execution of the required function by the transport user by adding control data to user data to be passed through the network from the first transport user to the second transport user.

10. A system as defined in claim 9 further including a second transport provider matching the first transport provider, said second transport provider including means for removing the control data from the user data before it is delivered to the second transport user.

11. A system for providing a transport-layer connection between a first application program at a first node in a computer network and a second application program at a second node in the network to permit data to be transported from the first application program through the network even where an application programming interface to which the first application program is written uses protocols different from network transport protocols, said system comprising:

means for establishing a first set of transport functions required by the application programming interface of the first application program;

means for mapping the transport functions in said first set to a second, standard set of transport layer protocol boundary functions;

means for establishing a third set of transport functions supported by the network transport protocols;

means for comparing corresponding functions in the second and third sets to determined whether corresponding functions match each other; and

means for altering data transferred from the first node to the second node to compensate for any mismatches found as a result of the comparison.

12. A system as defined in claim 11 wherein said means for altering data comprises means for adding compensatory headers to data supplied by the first application program.