Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer-to-computer session/connection establishing
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-23
2002-04-23
Muang, Zarni (Department: 2154)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer-to-computer session/connection establishing
C709S250000, C370S463000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06377992
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Present invention relates to a system and method for effecting bi-directional communication between computing systems, and more particularly to a method and system for effecting communications over multiple data channels of different bandwidths wherein the user computer usually sends data over a narrow bandwidth channel and the server returns data over a broad bandwidth channel. The method and system functions in a manner transparent to layers #3 and above of the OSI model while also being transparent to layer #1 and #2.
There are products available for interactive data communications between computing systems by which the users request and receive a large volume of information but generate much less data, as is the usual case of internet navigation and communication. The users typically demand much larger amounts of data, multimedia Web pages for example, than what they themselves generate. The users usually generate just a few mouse clicks and the TCP/IP packet reception acknowledgments in exchange for the multimedia Web pages. This fact has prompted the discussion and implementation of bi-directional communications that are “asymmetric” regarding the transmission capacities in the two communication directions.
Examples of the aforementioned products are the so called “cable modems” which allow a cable TV subscriber who wishes to navigate (“surf”) the Internet, to receive the Internet data at a very fast rate (500 Kbps to 5-10 Mbps) from a cable TV coaxial cable network, while sending the requests to the Internet via a regular telephone line. A similar implementation for high speed asymmetric communications is the system known as DirecPC, from Hughes Corporation, which provides fast Internet navigation using a satellite downlink as a broadband channel and a an interface card which embeds unidirectional high speed modem.
However, standard interactive data transmission protocols such as TCP/IP are devised for dealing with symmetric communications using a single physical communications interface and logical identifier per node (for instance, in TCP/IP the so called “IP address”). The protocols cannot deal with the fact that, for such asymmetric communications, two different transmission media are better suited for the task of bi-directional communication such as a high bandwidth broadcast unidirectional channel from the network server to the user, such as fiber optic, coaxial cable, satellite, microwaves, etc., and a narrowband bi-directional channel from the user to the network such as standard telephone lines. Such communication demands the use of two physical interfaces per node, one for each communication direction, and accordingly, two logical network identifications or IP addresses (in TCP/IP) per node.
Hence, there is a need for an open method and system able to accommodate two communication links in standard data transmission protocols, such as TCP/IP, without altering the interface to the upper levels of the protocols that are more directly linked to user applications such as levels #3 and above in the OSI model. This is necessary to permit any off-the-shelf application software, such as standard Web browsers, to run in a dual path communication environment without modification, and without altering them as well in a noticeable way regarding interfacing to the lower levels that deal with the physical communications, levels #1 and #2, so as to permit using the standard communication protocols dealing with the physical and logical link between two communicating computers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a system and method for bi-directional communication which overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and system permitting the use of different transmission media for each direction of communication but a single identification of nodes at layer #3 of the OSI model, through an Integrated Virtual Interface (IVI) that controls two or more physical (or virtual) interfaces in conjunction with a single identification from layer level #3, without modifying the characteristics of the protocol used, permitting the identification of an information processing node through a name or direction independent from the various connection interface identifications.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a method and system utilizing the OSI model and incorporating a one-way channel as part of a single bi-directional virtual link, as long as there is at least one communication link available for each direction of communication.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a method and system utilizing the OSI model and permitting a shared one-way broadcast channel to be used for interactive data communications, keeping communication costs down by accommodating in it many simultaneous users who benefit from its high bandwidth, due to the bursty nature of most data communications like Internet surfing.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and system permitting highly asymmetric data flow with regard to the balance between both communication directions wherein one or more physical links is a broadband channel and one or more physical links is a narrowband channel used for the opposite direction of communication.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for increasing communication speed and/or reliability by providing communication in any directions which may be split through diverse communication links to increase the available bandwidth and/or the transmission redundancy.
Additionally, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and system for increasing a capacity of a conventional network over a determined physical medium, adding a new transmission medium for one of the communication directions, without any alteration of the original network, the services or the applications of the remote nodes, permitting the reduction in the required capacity in the original network for the same services or even an increase in service capabilities, as a result of diverting the traffic in one of the directions through the new medium.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method and system providing increased communication reliability which in the case of a temporary failure of one physical link, data transmission is switched to another physical link provided there is at least one communication link available for each direction of communication.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a system and method for using several physical communication paths during a communication session for data transmission between any two computers, in particular computers effecting asymmetric data communications such as Internet traffic, or to provide several parallel communication paths for increasing communication speed or implementing fault tolerant communication links for mission critical communications. An embodiment of the invention uses a combination of a high bandwidth broadcast unidirectional channel from a network server to a user, such as a satellite, microwave or fiber optic link, and narrowband bi-directional channel from the user to the network server, such as a standard telephone, X.25 or Frame relay line.
The present invention provides an apparatus and method for implementing an Integrated Virtual Interface (hereinafter IVI) which permits use of unaltered standard routable data communication protocols, such as TCP/IP, for multipath communications, wherein the standard data communications protocols are not configured for multipath communication, thus ensuring compatibility with existing application software and operating systems.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a computer system is configured by an IVI program inserted between the OSI model sub-layers #2.1 (Media Access Control sub-layer) and #2.2 (Logical Link Control sub-layer), which provides a switching service at layer lev
Aguilar Ruiz Jaime
Garcia Gómez Francisco Manuel
Guzmán José Ignacio
Macarrón Larumbe Alejandro
Merchán Sanzano Ramón
Caldwell Andrew
Ladas & Parry
Muang Zarni
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