Control of data transfer and distributed data processing based on resource currently available at remote apparatus

• US 6,088,732 A
• Filed: 05/29/1998
• Issued: 07/11/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Grace, Andrew P, Smith, Alan P
• Primary Examiner(s): Lim, Krisna
• Application Number:
  US09/077,521
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• Field of Search: 709/229, 709/227, 709/232, 709/226
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method of providing a service over a plurality of terminals connected over a network comprises determining resources required for a service to be provided, determining resources currently available at each terminal, comparing the required resources with the available resources, and controlling the service provided at each terminal as a result of the comparison.

Claims

1. Control apparatus for controlling the transfer of information to a remote apparatus, the control apparatus comprising:

determining means for determining resources required at the remote apparatus to process the information;

monitoring means for monitoring the resources currently available at the remote apparatus which is to receive the information;

comparing means for comparing the resources required and the resources currently available at the remote apparatus; and

control means for controlling the transfer of information to the remote apparatus in accordance with the result of the comparison.

2. Control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control means is adapted to prevent the transference of information to the remote apparatus if it has insufficient resources currently available to process the information.

3. Control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control means is adapted to control the format of the information to be transferred to the remote apparatus.

4. Control apparatus according to claim 1 including user operable control means for setting preferred requirements for the remote apparatus;

said comparing means being operable to compare the resources required with both the resources currently available at the remote apparatus and the preferred requirements for the remote apparatus.

5. Control apparatus according to claim 1 including second determining means for determining resources available for communication links to said remote apparatus, wherein the first determining means is adapted to also determine the resources required for transmission of the information over the communication links, and said comparing means is adapted to also compare the resources required for transmission with the resources available for the communication links.

6. Control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control means is adapted to allow the transfer of information to the remote apparatus if the resources are capable of allowing the processing of the information.

7. Control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said resources required define requirements for the information to be processed in a plurality of formats by the remote apparatus, and said control means is adapted to allow the transfer of information in a format compatible with the resources of the remote apparatus.

8. Control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said information to be transferred comprises a plurality of types of information, and said control means is adapted to separately control the transfer of each type of information.

9. Control apparatus according to claim 8 including configuration means for configuring said remote apparatus to both transmit and receive at least one type of said information in dependence upon the result of the comparison.

10. Control apparatus according to claim 7 including means for determining the maximum resources of the remote apparatus, wherein, said comparing means is adapted to compare the resources required and the determined maximum resources, and said control means is adapted to control the transfer of the information in accordance with the result of the comparison.

11. Control apparatus according to claim 10 including means for indicating if the resources required exceed the resources currently available but are met by the determined maximum resources.

12. Control apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said control means is adapted to adaptively control the format of the information transferred in dependence upon the result of the comparison.

13. Control apparatus according to claim 12 including means for detecting errors during the transference and/or processing of the information, wherein if a format of the information is available which requires less resources, said control means is adapted to change the format of the information transferred to the format requiring less resources in response to the means for detecting-errors.

14. Control apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said control means is adapted to adaptively control the format of the information transferred in dependence upon the result of the comparison.

15. Control apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said control means is adapted to change the format of the information transferred to a format which requires more resources which can be met by the resources detected as being currently available.

16. Control apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said information types have priorities associated therewith, and said control means is adapted to control the transfer of each type of information taking the priorities into account.

17. A method of controlling the transfer of information to a remote apparatus, the method comprising:

a determining step of determining resources required at the remote apparatus to process the information;

a monitoring step of monitoring the resources currently available at the remote apparatus which is to receive the information;

a comparing step of comparing the resources required and the resources currently available at the remote apparatus; and

a control step of controlling the transfer of information to the remote apparatus in accordance with the result of the comparison step.

18. A method according to claim 17 wherein said control step comprises preventing the transference of information to the remote apparatus if it has insufficient resources currently available to process the information.

19. A method according to claim 17 wherein said control step comprises controlling the format of the information to be transferred to the remote apparatus.

20. A method according to claim 17 including the step of setting user preferred requirements for the remote apparatus;

wherein said comparing step includes the step of also comparing the resources required with the user preferred requirements for the remote apparatus.

21. A method according to claim 17 including a second determining step of determining resources available for communication links to said remote apparatus, wherein said first determining step includes determining the resources required for transmission of the information over the communication links and said comparing step includes the step of also comparing the resources required for transmission with the resources available for the communication links.

22. A method according to claim 17 wherein said control step allows the transfer of information to the remote apparatus if the resources are capable of allowing the processing of the information.

23. A method according to claim 17 wherein said resources required define requirements for the information to be processed in a plurality of formats by the remote apparatus, and said control step allows the transfer of information in a format compatible with the resources of the remote apparatus.

24. A method according to claim 17 wherein said information to be transferred comprises a plurality of types of information, and said control step comprises separately controlling the transfer of each type of information.

25. A method according to claim 24 including a configuration step of configuring said remote apparatus to both transmit and receive at least one type of information in dependence upon the result of the comparison step.

26. A method according to claim 23 including the steps of determining the maximum resources of the remote apparatus, comparing the resources required and the determined maximum resources, and controlling the transfer of the information using the result of the comparison.

27. A method according to claim 26 including the step of indicating if the resources required exceed the resources currently available but are met by the determined maximum resources.

28. A method according to claim 23 wherein the format of the information transferred is controlled in dependence upon the result of the comparison step.

29. A method according to claim 28 including the steps of detecting errors during the transference and/or processing of the information, and, if a format of the information is available which requires less resources, changing the format of the information transferred to the format requiring less resources in response to the detected errors.

30. A method according to claim 17 wherein the format of the information transferred is adaptively controlled in dependence upon the result of the comparison.

31. A method according to claim 30 wherein the format of the information transferred is changed to a format which requires more resources which can be met by the resources detected as being currently available.

32. A method according to claim 24 wherein said information types have priorities associated therewith, and the transfer of each type of information is controlled taking the priorities into account.

33. Control apparatus for controlling the distributed processing of data by a plurality of remote apparatuses, the control apparatus comprising:

determining means for determining resources required at the or each remote apparatus to process the data in a distributed manner;

monitoring means for monitoring resources currently available at the or each remote apparatus;

comparing means for comparing the resources required and the resources currently available at the or each remote apparatus; and

control means for controlling the processing of data by the or each remote apparatus in accordance with the result of the comparison.

34. Control apparatus according to claim 33 wherein said data comprises a plurality of data types, and said control means is adapted to control the processing of the data types such that each remote apparatus only receives and processes data of the type which it is capable of processing as indicated by the respective resources of the respective remote apparatus.

35. A method of controlling the distributed processing of data by a plurality of remote apparatuses, the method comprising:

a determining step of determining resources required at the or each remote apparatus to process the data in a distributed manner;

a monitoring step of monitoring resources currently available at the or each remote apparatus;

a comparing step of comparing the resources required and the resources currently available at the or each remote apparatus; and

a control step of controlling the processing of data by the or each remote apparatus in accordance with the result of the comparison step.

36. A method according to claim 35 wherein said data comprises a plurality of data types, and said control step comprises controlling the processing of data such that each remote apparatus only receives and processes data of the type which it is capable of processing as indicated by the respective resources of the respective remote apparatus.

37. A method of providing a service over a plurality of terminals connected over a network, the method comprising:

a determining step of determining resources required at each terminal to provide the service;

a monitoring step of monitoring resources currently available at each terminal;

a comparison step of comparing the resources required and the resources currently available at each terminal; and

a control step of controlling the service provided at each terminal in response to the result of the comparison step.

38. A method according to claim 37 wherein said service requires the use of a plurality of data types by said terminals, said resources required by said service comprise a set of requirements for each data type, said comparison step comprises comparing each set of requirements and the resources of each terminal, and said control step comprises setting the type of service provided at each terminal in dependence upon the results. of the comparisons.

39. A method according to claim 38 wherein each data type may have more than one data format, each set of requirements includes requirements of the or each data format, and said control step includes the step of setting the format of the service provided at each terminal in dependence upon the results of the comparisons.

40. A method according to claim 37 including the step of setting user preferred requirements for each terminal, wherein said comparing step also includes the step of comparing the requirements of the service with the user preferred requirements, and the service provided at each respective terminal is controlled in response to the result of the comparison step.

41. A method according to claim 37 including a second determining step of determining resources of the network, wherein said comparing step includes the step of also comparing the requirements of the service with the resources of the network, and the. service provided at each terminal is controlled in response to the result of the comparison step.

42. A method according to claim 37 wherein said control step includes the step of configuring each terminal in response to said comparison step.

43. Apparatus for providing a service over a plurality of terminals connected over a network, said apparatus comprising

determining means for determining resources required at each terminal to provide the service;

monitoring means for monitoring resources currently available at each terminal;

comparison means for comparing the resources required and the resources currently available at each terminal; and

control means for controlling the service provided at each terminal in response to the result of the comparison.

44. Apparatus according to claim 43 wherein said service requires the use of a plurality of data types by said terminals, said requirements of said service comprise a set of requirements for each data type, said comparison means is adapted to compare each set of requirements with the resources of each terminal, and said control means is adapted to set the type of service provided at each terminal in dependence upon the results of the comparisons.

45. Apparatus according to claim 44 wherein each data type may have more than one data format, each set of requirements includes requirements of the or each data format, and said control means is adapted to set the format of the service provided at each terminal in dependence upon the results of the comparison.

46. Apparatus according to claim 43 including user operable means for setting preferred requirements for each terminal, wherein said comparing means is adapted to also compare the requirements of the service with the preferred requirements, and said control means is adapted to control the provision of the service at each respective terminal in response to the result of the comparison.

47. Apparatus according to claim 43 including second determining means for determining resources available in the network wherein said comparing means is adapted to also compare the requirements of the service with the resources of the network, and said control means is adapted to control the provision of the service at each terminal in dependence upon the result of the comparison.

48. Apparatus according to claim 43 wherein said control means includes configuration means for configuring each terminal in response to the comparison.