Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer-to-computer protocol implementing – Computer-to-computer data framing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-06-17
2004-02-17
Maung, Zarni (Department: 2142)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer-to-computer protocol implementing
Computer-to-computer data framing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06694372
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to local area networks (LANs) and more particularly to achieving effective communication within a LAN in a media that is unsupported in all computer systems within the LAN.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The ability to share information across computer networks has been a significant achievement in the advancement of the computer industry. Certain protocols exist to support the communication of information across networks. Systems must therefore be able to provide data in accordance with these protocols in order to effectively utilize the networks.
From the software perspective of computer networks, application programs remain largely unaware of the presence of a network. The data they provide to or receive from the network is typically processed via software modules compatible with the network.
FIG. 1
illustrates two typical approaches to providing the processing capabilities suitable for supporting network access. An initial approach for processing support utilized implementation of monolithic network protocol software (box
10
) to achieve the translations and iterations necessary to take data from/to an application program (box
12
) and transfer it to/from a network adapter, e.g., an Ethernet adapter, (box
14
), as is well understood by those skilled in the art. Unfortunately, monolithic protocols
10
tend to be large with different adjustments required for each different vendor's version of the network adapter
14
. Further, any changes done to the network adapter
14
usually require replacement of the entire monolithic protocol
10
, which often results in inefficient and redundant development efforts for portions of the protocol
10
.
Improvements in operating system software provides another more direct and efficient approach for supporting the network adapter
14
by containing much of the necessary processing as a part of the operating system itself. With the incorporation of the processing into the operating system, data from the application program
12
becomes layered with an operating system (OS) provided network protocol layer that is independent of the media access controller (MAC) of the system (box
16
). Thus, a data packet
20
is appended with a protocol header
22
. An operating system provided network protocol multiplexer that is dependent on the MAC (box
24
) is further provided to pass the layered data through for addition of an independent hardware vendor (IHV) layer (box
26
). The software module, IHV-provided layer
26
suitably appends a network header
28
that is in conformance with the network protocol, e.g., Ethernet protocol, and the vendor-specific MAC and adapter
14
of the system, as is well appreciated by those skilled in the art.
Unfortunately, the ability to support new media and protocols by an operating system is limited. The updating or redesign of operating systems tends to lag developments in hardware. For example, the emergence of wireless local area networks (WLANs) and the corresponding draft IEEE 802.11 protocol is not currently a network media standard supported by operating systems, although increasing numbers of computer systems include appropriate hardware
etwork adapters for communicating in a WLAN. In the past, when a network media has been introduced, initial support for the network media occurs through provision of a new monolithic mechanism
30
that adds the appropriate protocol header
32
and media header
34
to the data
36
from an application
12
, as shown in FIG.
2
. The system's network media adapter
40
, e.g., an 802.11 adapter, then suitably transfers the packet across the media. The use of a monolithic approach does provide access for a system to the media, but as mentioned above, the monolithic approach is rather inefficient, since a variety of vendor-specific adapters and protocols must be supported. Thus, the monolithic mechanism
30
tends to become quite large with increases from the required awareness of multiple protocols.
Another typical solution for supporting the media attempts is to utilize existing operating system support for a known media standard. Thus, the initial process of transmitting data occurs as appears for a supported media, as described with reference to the boxes
12
,
16
,
24
, and
26
of the right-hand side of FIG.
1
. However, the packet is encapsulated with the data necessary for the unsupported media and protocol. Thus, as shown in
FIG. 2
, an IHV provided encapsulation layer
42
appends the media header
34
for the unsupported media standard to the encapsulated packet formed for the known media standard before being provided to a new media standard network adapter
44
.
While either solution does achieve transmission across the media, the ability of those systems performing encapsulation to communicate with those having the monolithic solution is substantially nonexistent. Systems that perform encapsulation are able to recognize and appropriately process the known media data within the encapsulated packet. However, the monolithic systems are usually incapable of understanding such an encapsulated packet. Further, the packet having the proper format for the media remains untranslatable to the encapsulating system, since the encapsulating system does not have appropriate means to process unsupported media data directly. Thus, a barrier exists, as represented by block
50
, between encapsulated packets and unencapsulated packets transmitted on the media. Proper communication is therefore not achieved, making the media highly ineffective for data transmission.
Accordingly, what is needed is a software-based solution that supports communication in a media by bridging data transfer between differing approaches to conformance with the media protocol.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides method and system aspects for achieving effective communication among end stations in a local area network when portions of the network lack operating system support for the media of data transmission within the network. A method aspect includes providing an encapsulated packet from one end station of the portion of the plurality of end stations, and utilizing a tag as an indicator of encapsulation within the encapsulated packet. In a further method aspect, a method for communicating in a wireless local area network (WLAN) includes forming a data packet in accordance with a known media standard in a portion of the plurality of end stations. The method further includes encapsulating the data packet in accordance with the wireless media standard, and tagging the data packet to indicate encapsulation.
A system for computer networking according to a new media standard includes at least one first system, the at least one first system capable of producing encapsulated data packets, the encapsulated data packets including a tag, and at least one second system, the at least one second system capable of producing pure data packets, wherein communication between the at least one first station and the at least one second station occurs through recognition of packet type in the at least one first system based on whether the tag is present in a communicated packet.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5313465 (1994-05-01), Perlman et al.
patent: 5331634 (1994-07-01), Fischer
patent: 5446736 (1995-08-01), Gleeson et al.
patent: 5742604 (1998-04-01), Edsall et al.
patent: 5774461 (1998-06-01), Hyden et al.
patent: 700231 (1996-03-01), None
patent: WO9508883 (1995-03-01), None
patent: WO9600468 (1996-01-01), None
patent: WO9601029 (1996-01-01), None
patent: WO962984 (1996-07-01), None
patent: WO9718657 (1997-05-01), None
Advanced Micro Devices , Inc.
Cardone Jason
Maung Zarni
Winstead Sechrest & Minick P.C.
LandOfFree
Method and system for effective network communication of an... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method and system for effective network communication of an..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method and system for effective network communication of an... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3351110