Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Distributed data processing – Processing agent
Reexamination Certificate
1997-02-04
2001-02-27
Luu, Le Hein (Department: 2756)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Distributed data processing
Processing agent
C709S219000, C709S213000, C709S203000, C709S216000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06195678
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a remote resource management system for maintaining remote resources in a distributed computing environment. More specifically, the present invention relates to a remote resource management system for maintaining remote resources downloadable to terminal computers, which are typically personal computers, in a distributed heterogeneous computing environment where a plurality of platforms for different applications are interconnected by a public telecommunications service or a local area network (LAN).
2. Description of the Related Art
Unlike stand-alone systems, terminal computers working in a network computing environment need not have all software and data resources in their local storage. Instead, they can download such resources from a server computer via a network, when a specific application is requested.
Assume here that a user has a video data file, for example, and he/she is attempting to play it on his terminal computer. The video requires a movie player program of a certain version or later, but the terminal computer may not have such a program or, even if the computer has one, the version of the movie player program may be too old to support the data format of that video data file. If this is the case, the terminal computer will download the required movie player program from an appropriate server before playing the video.
As illustrated above, terminal computers in a distributed environment can share some software resources and/or data resources, which are referred to as downloadable resources. Such downloadable resources, however, must be managed and maintained in a proper way to ensure reliable operations in the terminal computers.
FIG. 12
shows an example of a conventional management system for shared software resources. In this example, a network N
101
interconnects a server computer A
101
and three terminal computers T
101
, T
102
, and T
103
, thereby forming a distributed computing system. The server computer A
101
has downloadable resource storage D
101
to hold downloadable resources and a downloadable resource directory B
101
to manage the resources. Specifically, the downloadable resource storage D
101
stores three resources F
101
, F
102
, and F
103
in separate files.
Those resource files are classified into groups according to their respective usage in the terminal computers T
101
-T
103
. In this example, the resource F
101
belongs to a resource group G
1
, while the other resources F
102
and F
103
belong to a resource group G
2
.
The downloadable resource directory B
101
manages the relationship between the terminal computers and the resources available in the downloadable resource storage D
101
. As noted in
FIG. 12
, the downloadable resource directory B
101
defines that the group-G
1
resource is destined for the terminal computer T
101
, and that the group-G
2
resources are for the terminal computers T
102
and T
103
.
In one type of operation, the server computer A
101
takes the initiative in downloading the resources. The server computer A
101
first sets up a logical connection to each of the terminal computers T
101
-T
103
, and then transfers the resource files F
101
-F
103
to them according to the terminal-resource relationships which are registered in the downloadable resource directory B
101
. That is, the resource file F
101
belonging to the resource group G
1
is downloaded to the terminal computer T
101
, while the resource files F
102
and F
103
belonging to the resource group G
2
are delivered together to the terminal computers T
102
and T
103
.
In another type of operation, each terminal computer takes the initiative in downloading resource files. For example, the terminal computers T
101
, T
102
, and T
103
establish a logical connection to the server computer A
101
upon their power-up, and independently download the resource files F
101
-F
103
from the server computer A
101
according to the downloadable resource directory B
101
.
In the above-described distributed computing system, however, the resource group definition registered in the downloadable resource directory B
101
may include some files that are not immediately necessary for a terminal computer. Downloading of resource files including such unnecessary ones can impact the storage capacity of a local hard disk in the terminal computer, as well as consuming much time to transfer a large amount of data. Since data resources for multimedia applications are generally large in size, such concentrated downloading of a predefined group of multimedia data files is particularly time-consuming and storage-intensive.
FIG. 13
shows another example of a conventional remote resource management system. In this system, a server computer A
111
working as a file server and a plurality of terminal computers, say, three terminal computers T
111
, T
112
, and T
113
are interconnected by a network N
111
. The server computer A
111
has downloadable resource storage D
111
, where all resources F
111
, F
112
, and so on are collected.
Upon demand, the terminal computers T
111
, T
112
, and T
113
download necessary resources selected from among the resources F
111
, F
112
, and so on, which are stored in the server computer A
111
as the common resources. The server computer A
111
is maintained by a system operator who reloads necessary resource files when some programs should be updated.
On the terminal side, however, there is no such specialist or management mechanism responsible for maintenance of the downloadable resources. Therefore, each terminal user must maintain the local resources by downloading new program files individually from the server to his/her own terminal computer, when it becomes necessary. That is, the latest resource files in the server computer are not automatically delivered to the terminal computers. In the case that some resources are updated quite often, the terminal users are frequently requested to maintain the versions of such resources. Frequent update of those downloadable resources will force the terminal users to spend much time for reinstallation of them.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Taking the above into consideration, an object of the present invention is to provide a system for maintaining remote resources in a distributed computing system where only such resources that are necessary and the most suitable for an application will be downloaded.
To accomplish the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a remote resource management system for maintaining remote resources shared in a distributed computing system. In the distributed computing system, a plurality of computers are interconnected by a network and the shared remote resources are downloaded from a resource server computer to a requesting computer on demand. The remote resource management system comprises the following four elements.
A first element is downloadable resource storage means, which is disposed in the resource server computer, for storing downloadable resources each containing at least one file. A second element is downloadable resource management means, which is disposed in the resource server computer, for managing information concerning the downloadable resources. A third element is download agent means, which is stored in a computer on the network and delivered to the requesting computer in response to a request from the requesting computer, for executing a download operation to fetch one of the downloadable resources from the downloadable resource storage means, according to a system environment of the requesting computer. A fourth element is local resource information management means, which is disposed in the requesting computer, for storing information concerning local resources in the requesting computer, under control of the download agent means that is delivered to the requesting computer.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description when taken in
Fujitsu Limited
Luu Le Hein
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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