Forming and maintaining access groups at the lan/wan interface
First Claim
1. For use in a plural network communication system having multiple access agents at a network-to-network interface, a cooperative method for use by each of the access agents so that the access agents form and maintain the access agents common to the interface into a group for operative use as a group by the communication system, said method in each access agent comprising the steps of:
- negotiating for leadership of the group with all other access agents common to the interface by testing whether or not a group leader message has been received from another access agent in a predetermined interval of time, and sending a negotiation message to the other access agents if a group leader message has not been received;
resolving conflicts in negotiation and assuming a role of group leader or a role of member of the group; and
maintaining group operation integrity after the group has been formed whereby the communication system may manage the access agents as a group.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Access agents in nodes at the LAN/WAN interface are formed into a group of access agents so that the access agents may be managed by the WAN as a group. The group must maintain group operation integrity in that if communications between agents in the group are broken, the access agents will coalesce into subgroups and continue performing communication jobs as a group activity. Each of the access agents contains a finite state machine to perform the tasks of group formation and maintenance. The formation of interconnected access agents into a group is accomplished by one access agent being identified as a group leader. All other access agents communicating with the group leader within the LAN may then join the group. The maintenance of group activity integrity is accomplished by detecting a break in group communication integrity and thereafter reforming the group into multiple smaller groups. The maintenance of group operation integrity also includes the merger of small groups into a large group when a bridge is added between LAN segments.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. For use in a plural network communication system having multiple access agents at a network-to-network interface, a cooperative method for use by each of the access agents so that the access agents form and maintain the access agents common to the interface into a group for operative use as a group by the communication system, said method in each access agent comprising the steps of:
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negotiating for leadership of the group with all other access agents common to the interface by testing whether or not a group leader message has been received from another access agent in a predetermined interval of time, and sending a negotiation message to the other access agents if a group leader message has not been received; resolving conflicts in negotiation and assuming a role of group leader or a role of member of the group; and maintaining group operation integrity after the group has been formed whereby the communication system may manage the access agents as a group. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. For use in a plural network communication system having multiple access agents at a network-to-network interface, a cooperative method for use by each of the access agents so that the access agents form and maintain the access agents common to the interface into a group for operative use as a group by the communication system, said method in each access agent comprising the steps of:
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negotiating for leadership of the group with all other access agents common to the interface; resolving conflicts in negotiation and assuming a role of group leader or a role of member of the group; maintaining group operation integrity after the group has been formed by testing whether or not a group leader message with a membership list message has been received from another access agent in a predetermined interval of time, sending a negotiation message to the other access agents if a group leader message has not been received, testing the membership list message to determine whether a group membership change has occurred if a group leader message is received, and updating the group membership list in the current access agent if group membership has changed. - View Dependent Claims (4)
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5. For use in a plural network communication system having multiple access agents at a LAN/WAN interface, acooperative method for use by each of the access agents so that the access agents form and maintain the access agents common to the interface into a group for operative use as a group by the communication system, said method in each access agent comprising the steps of:
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negotiating for leadership of the group with all other access agents common to the interface by testing whether or not a group leader message has been received from another access agent in a predetermined interval of time, said group leader message identifies the WAN attached to said another access agent, testing, if a group leader message is received, whether the group leader message comes from an access agent attached to the same WAN as the current access agent, and sending a negotiation message to the other access agents if a group leader message from an access agent attached to the same WAN has not been received; resolving conflicts in negotiation and assuming a of group leader or a role of member of the group; and maintaining group operation integrity after the group has been formed whereby the communication system may manage the access agents as group. - View Dependent Claims (6)
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7. In a LAN/WAN communication system with network nodes at a LAN/WAN interface having access agents, each access agent for managing communications across the interface for its network node, said system having a group management system for managing communications through multiple access agents as a group, apparatus in each of said access agents for forming and maintaining as a multiple access group a plurality of access agents that share a common LAN/WAN interface and provide parallel access paths across the interface, said apparatus in each access agent comprising:
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means for sending a negotiate message to other access agents in the access group to negotiate for leadership of the access group; means for listening for negotiate message from other access agents in the access group; means in response to no other negotiate messages within a predetermined time interval for sending a group leader message to other access agents in the access group; and means responsive to a group leader message for joining the group; whereby one access agent sending a group leader message becomes a monitor access agent and all other access agents in the access group become members of the access group. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. In a LAN/WAN communication system with network nodes at a LAN/WAN interface having access agents, each access agent for managing communications across the interface for its network node, said system having a group management system for managing communications through multiple access agents as a group, apparatus in each of said access agents for forming and maintaining as a multiple access group a plurality of access agents that share a common LAN/WAN interface and provide parallel access paths across the interface, said apparatus in each access agent comprising;
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means for sending a negotiate message to other access agents in the access group to negotiate for leadership of the access group; means for listening for negotiate message from other access agents in the access group; means in response to no other negotiate messages within a predetermined time interval for sending a group leader message to other access agents in the access group; means in response to a negotiate message from other access agents for resolving leadership conflict between two or more access agents negotiating for group leadership; means in response to conflict resolution by said resolving means for sending a group leader message; and means responsive to a group leader message for joining the group; whereby one access agent sending a group leader message becomes a monitor access agent and all other access agents in the access group become members of the access group. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. In a plural network communication system having multiple access agents at a network-to-network interface, apparatus in each access agent cooperating with similar apparatus in the other access agents for forming and maintaining the access agents common to the interface into a group for operative use as a group by the communication system, said apparatus in each access agent comprises:
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negotiation means for negotiating for leadership of the group by sending a negotiate message to all other access agents common to the interface; means responsive to a negotiate message from another access agent for resolving conflicts in negotiation and sending a group leader message if the current access agent wins the conflict resolution or a merge message if the current access agent loses the conflict resolution; and maintaining group operation integrity after the group has been formed whereby the communication system may manage the access agents as a group. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification