Method for process-specific exchange of data between...

Details Method for process-specific exchange of data between... Method for process-specific exchange of data between...

1998-12-17

2002-01-08

Vu, Viet D. (Department: 2154)

Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput

Multicomputer data transferring via shared memory

Plural shared memories

C709S213000, C709S241000, C709S241000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06338084

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to computer networks, and more particularly to the exchanging of data between different machines in a network.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Computer networks contain several machines which often need to exchange data with each other. One conventional way to perform this exchange of data is to use a clipboard. A conventional clipboard is machine-specific memory to which one or more processes running on the machine may write data An example of a conventional protocol which uses a clipboard is the Network Dynamic Data Exchange (Network DDE) protocol.
FIG. 1
illustrates a conventional network which uses the Network DDE protocol. The network
100
includes a plurality of machines
102
-
108
. Each machine runs processes, or programs, such as Processes A-D
110
-
116
. Each machine also has its corresponding clipboard
118
-
124
. These clipboards
118
-
124
are global in nature, i.e., all processes running on the specific machine write data to the same clipboard which resides on the specific machine. In the Network DDE protocol, the machines in the network
100
may access each other's clipboards. For example, machine
102
(Machine
1
) has its own clipboard
118
. The processes A-D
110
running on machine
102
each write data to the global clipboard
118
. As data is written onto the clipboard
118
, older data already residing on the clipboard is overwritten. Thus, the clipboard
118
contains the latest data written to it. For example, process A on machine
102
first write data into the clipboard
118
. Later, process B writes data into the clipboard
118
. The data from process A is overwritten by the data from process B. The data concerning process A is thus no longer available. However, a user may wish to obtain the latest data concerning process A. With the conventional clipboards, this is not possible. The conventional clipboards also present a problem if any of the machines fail or is otherwise unavailable. When a machine fails, the data on its clipboard is lost.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method for a process-specific exchange of data between machines in a computer network. The method should be able to avoid the problem of losing data concerning processes on a particular machine if that machine fails. The present invention addresses such a need.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method for process-specific exchange of data between machines in a computer network. Each machine runs a plurality of processes. The method includes providing a plurality of clipboards for a first machine in the computer network, where each clipboard of the plurality of clipboards corresponds to one of the processes running on the first machine; and storing data concerning a process of the plurality of processes onto its corresponding clipboard. Because the method of the present invention is process-based, machines may obtain data concerning certain processes on certain machines without the problem of the latest data on a process being overwritten by another process. Since the clipboards of the present invention may reside on a third party, if one or more of the machines in the network fail or are otherwise unavailable, the data on their clipboards are not lost.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5765165 (1998-06-01), Harper
patent: 5926633 (1999-07-01), Takagi et al.
patent: 5964834 (1999-10-01), Crutcher

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