Distributed computation system incorporating agent network, paths and associated probes
First Claim
1. A distributed computing system, comprising:
- a plurality of interconnected host computing devices one or more of which are in communication with a control mechanism;
a plurality of agents, each agent implemented on a host computing device wherein each host computing device is operative to implement one or more agents, each agent in communication with neighboring agents on a defined ordered path thereby forming a distributed computing network and operative to receive, process and dispatch probes among said agents;
wherein probes are generated by agents and said control mechanism, contain data and/or code, and traverse said distributed computing network in accordance with one or more defined ordered paths, each path consisting of a unique ordered sequence of connected agents;
each agent comprising;
one or more probe queues operative to receive and hold probes for processing by a respective agent;
at least one task to be performed by said respective agent;
wherein communication among agents occurs only through an exchange of probes on a path;
wherein information is exchanged among agents, and tasks are distributed to agents in a particular path by sending and receiving probes among the agents in the particular path; and
wherein a computation is broken down into a sequence of tasks distributed via probes to agents along the particular path, the computation performed by combined action of all agents on the particular path.
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Abstract
A system and method of distributed computation based upon a novel partitioning of computer networks. In the distributed computing system of the present invention, instructions are disseminated to select agents on a computer network, each of which is a member of at least one “path,” a path being an ordered set of one or more connected agents within the network. The computation is then performed by the agents along the path, and any results then returned. A computation to be performed is broken down into instructions executed on a unique ordered sequence of agents making up a path. This vastly increases the expressive power of a single network to be not only the sum of its parts, but the sum of all possible configurations of those parts on a graph. The basic components of the computing system are agents, probes and paths. The agents are interconnected forming a network and a path is an ordered sequence of agents. Information is exchanged between agents by the sending and receiving of probes between the agents in the network.
52 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A distributed computing system, comprising:
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a plurality of interconnected host computing devices one or more of which are in communication with a control mechanism; a plurality of agents, each agent implemented on a host computing device wherein each host computing device is operative to implement one or more agents, each agent in communication with neighboring agents on a defined ordered path thereby forming a distributed computing network and operative to receive, process and dispatch probes among said agents; wherein probes are generated by agents and said control mechanism, contain data and/or code, and traverse said distributed computing network in accordance with one or more defined ordered paths, each path consisting of a unique ordered sequence of connected agents; each agent comprising; one or more probe queues operative to receive and hold probes for processing by a respective agent; at least one task to be performed by said respective agent; wherein communication among agents occurs only through an exchange of probes on a path; wherein information is exchanged among agents, and tasks are distributed to agents in a particular path by sending and receiving probes among the agents in the particular path; and wherein a computation is broken down into a sequence of tasks distributed via probes to agents along the particular path, the computation performed by combined action of all agents on the particular path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of distributed computing, the method comprising:
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providing a plurality of interconnected host computing devices one or more of which are in communication with a control mechanism; providing a plurality of agents, each agent implemented on a host computing device wherein each host computing device is operative to implement one or more agents, each agent in communication with neighboring agents on a defined ordered path thereby forming a distributed computing network; receiving, processing and dispatching probes containing at least one of data, object code and source code among said agents, wherein probes are generated by said agents, contain data and/or code, and traverse said distributed computing network in accordance with one or more defined ordered paths, each path consisting of a unique ordered sequence of agents; wherein communication among agents occurs only through an exchange of probes on a path; breaking down a computation into a sequence of tasks to be performed by the agents on a path, the computation performed by combined action of all agents on the path; wherein information is exchanged among agents, and said tasks are distributed to agents in a particular path by sending and receiving probes among the agents in the particular path; performing said computation by the agents within the particular path and returning any results; controlling said distributed computing network utilizing said control mechanism in communication with at least one agent; and generating control probes and injecting said control probes into said distributed computing network via an agent in communication with said control mechanism.
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Specification