Distributed means of organizing an arbitrarily large number of computers

• US 8,086,738 B2
• Filed: 05/24/2007
• Issued: 12/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Russell Fish
• Original Assignee: Russell Fish
• Inventors: Fish, Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): EL CHANTI, HUSSEIN A
• Application Number:
  US11/805,643
• Publication Number:
  US 20080294762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,678 Days
• Field of Search: 709/220, 709223-224, 709/252, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

A technique for organizing a plurality of computers such that message broadcast, content searching, and computer identification of the entire collection or a subset of the entire collection may be performed quickly without the use of a controlling computer. The technique describes the creation, operation, and maintenance of a connection scheme by which each computer in the collection appears to be the top level of a hierarchical array. The maintenance of this hierarchical connection scheme allows one to many communications throughout the collection of computers to scale geometrically rather than linearly.

Claims

1. A distributed computer network, comprising:

a collection of computers;

means for an added computer to locate the collection of computers;

means for the added computer to establish a connection to the collection of computers;

means for each computer in the collection of computers, including the added computer, to establish a logical arrangement such that each computer in the collection of computers acts interchangeably as a top computer in a logical hierarchy, wherein the logical hierarchy is adaptably based on a bandwidth size associated with each computer in the connection of computers.

2. The distributed computer network of claim 1, wherein the hierarchy comprises a set of member computers, a membership of which depends upon a logical location of the top computer.

3. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising means for the top computer to initiate a search for one of a specified computer and specified data.

4. The distributed computer network of claim 3, wherein each computer in the collection of computers includes a searchable index of the contents of the computer for facilitating said search.

5. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising means for the top computer to broadcast information throughout the collection of computers.

6. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising means to control a bandwidth utilization of the collection of computers.

7. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of lower level computers, wherein information regarding the lower level computers is stored in a respective one of the computers in the collection of computers.

8. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising means for rebuilding a logical arrangement of the collection of computers following a loss of at least one computer from the collection of computers.

9. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising means for distributing software updates throughout the collection of computers.

10. The distributed computer network of claim 1, wherein each computer in the collection of computers includes a dynamic physical address.

11. The distributed computer network of claim 1, further comprising means for generating the logical arrangement to substantially minimize a logical distance between a logical center of the collection of computers and a logical collection edge.