Method of communicating asynchronous events to remote procedure call clients

• US 6,901,596 B1
• Filed: 05/07/1998
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Company)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Galloway, Jeffery L.
• Primary Examiner(s): LAO, SUE X
• Application Number:
  US09/074,109
• Time in Patent Office: 2,581 Days
• Field of Search: 709/304, 709/318, 709/330, 709/203, 718/107, 718/102, 719/330, 719/318, 719/310
• US Class Current: 719/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/544 Buffers; Shared memory; Pipes

Abstract

A computer system in accordance with the present invention provides a method of communicating events from a server to remote procedure call clients. The disclosed technique begins with a remote procedure call by a remote procedure call client to a server to establish an initial client-server connection. Next, there is a remote procedure call to create a guaranteed delivery communication conduit, such as a named pipe, between the server and client and to create a server asynchronous event thread in a blocked state for blocking execution of the server asynchronous event thread. A client asynchronous event thread in the client is then created to open the named pipe. If the server detects an event, an event message is generated which places the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state to allow execution of the server asynchronous event thread. Event data may then be transmitted across the named pipe from the server to the client. After transfer of the event data is complete, the server asynchronous event thread is blocked. By unblocking the server asynchronous event thread when an event is detected and blocking the server asynchronous event thread following transmission of the event through a named pipe to the client, asynchronous events may be communicated by a server to remote procedure call clients. As a result, it is not necessary for a remote procedure call client to poll a server to receive asynchronous event information.

Claims

1. A method of communicating asynchronous events from a server to a remote procedure call client, comprising the steps of:

generating a first remote procedure call by the remote procedure call client to establish an initial client-server connection;

generating a second remote procedure call by the remote procedure call client to create a guaranteed delivery communication conduit between the server and the remote procedure call client and to create a server asynchronous event thread in the server, the server asynchronous event thread being in a blocked state for blocking execution of the server asynchronous event thread;

creating a client asynchronous event thread in the remote procedure call client to open the guaranteed delivery communication conduit;

placing the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state in response to an event message to allow execution of the server asynchronous event thread; and

transmitting event data associated with the event message across the guaranteed delivery communication conduit from the server to the remote procedure call client, without polling by the remote procedure call client.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

blocking the server asynchronous event thread following transmission of the event data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the guaranteed delivery communication conduit is a named pipe.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating a third remote procedure call to close the guaranteed delivery communication conduit;

terminating the server asynchronous event thread; and

terminating the client asynchronous event thread.

5. The method of claim 4, the step of terminating the server asynchronous event thread comprising the step of:

waking up the server asynchronous event thread to exit in response to an exit message.

6. The method of claim 1, the step of placing the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state comprising the step of:

waking up the server asynchronous event thread in response to an event message to place the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state.

7. The method of claim 1, the step of generating a first remote procedure call comprising the step of:

assigning the remote procedure call client a unique client identification variable.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

reading the event data from the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by the remote procedure call client.

9. The method of claim 8, the step of reading the event data from the guaranteed delivery communication conduit comprising the step of:

reading event data from the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by the remote procedure call client if the event data is of an event type registered with the remote procedure call client.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

detecting an asynchronous event; and

generating an event message responsive to detection of the asynchronous event.

11. The method of claim 10, the server including a mini-port driver, wherein the asynchronous event is a mini-port driver event.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the event data comprises a plurality of events.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the event data can have zero length.

13. A computer network system for communicating asynchronous events from a server to multiple remote procedure call clients, comprising:

a plurality of remote procedure call clients, each remote procedure call client, comprising;

a client processor;

a medium readable by the client processor, storing;

client code for establishing an initial client-server connection;

client code for creating a guaranteed delivery communication conduit between a server and a remote procedure call client; and

client code for creating a client asynchronous event thread to open a guaranteed delivery communication conduit to receive asynchronous events from a server; and

a server, comprising;

a server processor;

a medium readable by the server processor, storing;

server code for creating a server asynchronous event thread, the server asynchronous event thread being in a blocked state for blocking execution of the server asynchronous event thread; and

server code for placing the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state in response to an event message to allow execution of the server asynchronous event thread and transmitting event data associated with the event message across a guaranteed delivery communication conduit, without polling by the remote procedure call client.

14. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the server processor further storing:

server code for blocking the server asynchronous event thread following transmission of the event data.

15. The computer network system of claim 13, wherein the guaranteed delivery communication conduit is a named pipe.

16. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the server processor, further storing:

server code for closing the guaranteed delivery communication conduit.

17. The computer network system of claim 16, wherein the server code for closing a guaranteed delivery communication conduit closes the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by generating a remote procedure call.

18. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the server processor, further storing:

server code for terminating the server asynchronous event thread.

19. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the client processor, further storing:

client code for terminating the client asynchronous event thread.

20. The computer network system of claim 13, wherein the client code for establishing an initial client-server connection establishes the initial client-server connection by generating a remote procedure call.

21. The computer network system of claim 13, wherein the client code for creating a guaranteed delivery communication conduit on the server creates the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by generating a remote procedure call.

22. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the server processor, further storing:

server code for waking up the server asynchronous event thread to exit in response to an exit message.

23. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the server processor, further storing:

server code for waking up the server asynchronous event thread to place the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state in response to an event message.

24. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the client processor further storing:

client code for selectively reading event data from the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by a remote procedure call client.

25. The computer network system of claim 13, the medium readable by the server processor, further storing:

server code for generating an event message responsive to detection of an asynchronous event.

26. The computer network system of claim 25, the server including a mini-port driver, wherein the asynchronous event is a mini-port driver event.

27. The computer network system of claim 13, wherein the event data comprises a plurality of events.

42. The computer network system of claim 13, wherein the event data can have zero length.

28. A medium readable by a remote procedure call client for use in communicating asynchronous events from a server to the remote procedure call client, the medium storing:

client code for establishing an initial client-server connection;

client code for creating a guaranteed delivery communication conduit between the server and the remote procedure call client for delivery of data associated with asynchronous events;

client code for creating a client asynchronous event thread to open the guaranteed delivery communication conduit to receive the data associated with asynchronous events from the server, without polling by the remote procedure call client;

wherein the client code for establishing an initial client-server connection establishes the initial client-server connection by generating a first remote procedure call; and

wherein the client code for creating a guaranteed delivery communication conduit on the server creates the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by generating a second remote procedure call.

29. The medium of claim 28, further storing:

client code for terminating the client asynchronous event thread.

30. The medium of claim 28, further storing:

client code for selectively reading event data from the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by the remote procedure call client.

31. The medium of claim 28, wherein the guaranteed delivery communication conduit is a named pipe.

32. A medium readable by a server for use in communicating asynchronous events from the server to a remote procedure call client, the medium storing:

server code for creating a server asynchronous event thread, the server asynchronous event thread being in a blocked state for blocking execution of the server asynchronous event thread;

server code for placing the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state in response to an event message to allow execution of the server asynchronous event thread and transmitting data associated with the event message across the guaranteed delivery communication conduit, without polling by the remote procedure call client; and

wherein the remote procedure call client establishes an initial client-server connection by generating a first remote procedure call and creates the guaranteed delivery communication conduit by generating a second remote procedure call.

33. The medium of claim 32, further storing:

server code for blocking of the server asynchronous event thread following transmission of the event data.

34. The medium of claim 32, further storing:

server code for closing the guaranteed delivery communication conduit.

35. The medium of claim 32, further storing:

server code for terminating the served asynchronous event thread.

36. The medium of claim 32, further storing:

server code for waking up the server asynchronous event thread to exit in response to an exit code.

37. The medium of claim 32, further storing:

server code for waking up the server asynchronous event thread to place the server asynchronous event thread in an unblocked state.

38. The medium of claim 32, further storing:

server code for generating an event message responsive to detection of an asynchronous event.

39. The medium of claim 36, wherein the asynchronous event is a mini-port driver event.

40. The medium of claim 32, wherein the guaranteed delivery communication conduit is a named pipe.

43. The medium of claim 32, wherein the data associated with the event message can have zero length.