Method and arrangement for suppressing duplicate network resources

• US 8,825,868 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2013
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Arnold, Kevin, O'Rourke, David M.
• Primary Examiner(s): TRUONG, LAN DAI T
• Application Number:
  US13/742,766
• Publication Number:
  US 20130166756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 594 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 709/223, 709/229, 709/230
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/26 using dedicated tools for LAN [Local Area Network] management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5058 Service discovery by the service manager
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/82 Miscellaneous aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1004 Server selection for load balancing

Abstract

A duplicate suppression protocol is introduced in order to suppress duplicate entries from appearing in a list of available network resources. With the duplicate suppression protocol of the present invention, a computer that wishes to query for network resources also asks for duplicate suppression information from the responding network resources. The duplicate suppression information for a particular network resource specifies identifiers associated with that network resource for various protocols. Thus, if a particular network resource responds to more than one network resource request from a single requesting entity, that requesting entity will be able to locate duplicate network resource information. Thus, a single unified list of network resources available for various different protocols may be presented with all duplicate network resources removed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor in a network resource, identifies network resources on a computer network, the computer program comprising sets of instructions to cause the network resource to:

send, from the network resource, a plurality of identifier requests to a plurality of other network resources requesting that the other network resources provide identifiers for a plurality of different protocols;

receive one or more identifiers from each of the other network resources in response to the identifier requests, each identifier associated with a respective network resource for one of the protocols, wherein a first plurality of identifiers is received from a first network resource;

use the first plurality of identifiers to identify the first network resource uniquely; and

provide a single identifier of the one or more identifiers received from each of the other network resources in a list of network resources.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions to display the list of network resources.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein at least one of the network resources is a printer.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of identifiers comprises a first identifier for the first network resource for a first one of the plurality of different protocols, and a second identifier for the first network resource for a second one of the plurality of different protocols, wherein the second identifier is different from the first identifier.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the single identifier for the first network resource in the list of network resources is an identifier of the first network resource in a preferred protocol.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer program further comprises a set of instructions to send a plurality of duplicate suppression requests to the plurality of network resources requesting that each of the network resources provide a duplicate suppression message indicating whether that respective network resource has different identifiers in different protocols.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the set of instructions to provide a single identifier for each of the network resources comprises sets of instructions to:

compare each of the plurality of identifiers to a plurality of duplicate suppression messages provided in response to the duplicate suppression requests, wherein each of the duplicate suppression messages comprises the different identifiers of the respective network resource; and

store a single identifier for each of the network resources in a list of network resources.

8. A method for identifying computer network resources on a computer network by a network resource, the method comprising:

sending a plurality of identifier requests to a plurality of other network resources requesting that the other network resources provide identifiers for a plurality of different protocols;

receiving one or more identifiers from each of the other network resources in response to the identifier requests, each identifier associated with a respective network resource for one of the protocols, wherein a first plurality of identifiers is received from a first network resource;

using the first plurality of identifiers to identify the first network resource uniquely; and

providing a single identifier of the one or more identifiers received from each of the other network resources in a list of network resources.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising displaying the list of network resources.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the other network resources is a printer.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first plurality of identifiers comprises a first identifier for the first network resource for a first one of the plurality of different protocols, and a second identifier for the first network resource for a second one of the plurality of different protocols, wherein the second identifier is different from the first identifier.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the single identifier for the first network resource in the list of network resources is an identifier of the first network resource in a preferred protocol.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising sending a plurality of duplicate suppression requests to the plurality of network resources requesting that each of the network resources provide a duplicate suppression message indicating whether that respective network resource has different identifiers in different protocols.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said providing a single identifier for each of the network resources comprises:

comparing each of the plurality of identifiers to a plurality of duplicate suppression messages provided in response to the duplicate suppression requests, wherein each of the duplicate suppression messages comprises the different identifiers of the respective network resource; and

storing a single identifier for each of the network resources in a list of network resources.

15. A method for identifying computer network resources on a computer network by a network resource, the method comprising:

sending a plurality of identifier requests to a plurality of other network resources requesting that the other network resources provide identifiers for a plurality of different protocols;

sending a plurality of duplicate suppression requests to the plurality of other network resources requesting that each of the other network resources provide a duplicate suppression message indicating whether that respective network resource has different identifiers in different protocols;

using a plurality of identifiers provided in response to the identifier requests to identify each of the other network resources uniquely; and

providing a single identifier for each of the other network resources in a list of network resources.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said providing a single identifier for each of the network resources comprises:

comparing each of the plurality of identifiers to a plurality of duplicate suppression messages provided in response to the duplicate suppression requests, wherein each of the duplicate suppression messages comprises the different identifiers of the respective network resource; and

storing a single identifier for each of the network resources in a list of network resources.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the other network resources is a printer.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of identifiers comprises a first identifier for a particular network resource for a first one of the plurality of different protocols, and a second identifier for the particular network resource for a second one of the plurality of different protocols, wherein the second identifier is different from the first identifier.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the single identifier for the particular network resource in the list of network resources is an identifier of the particular network resource in a preferred protocol.