CA1270337A
Expired / Lapsed
CA
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method for distributed processing in a computer network
Assignee: NCR Voyix Corp
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Filing: 1986-10-29
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Granted: 1990-06-12
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Expires: 2006-10-29
Abstract
Abstract A METHOD FOR DISTRIBUTED PROCESSING IN A COMPUTER NETWORK Abstract A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network is disclosed. A remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed, is transmitted from a requesting one of the computers (CLIENT) to a serving one of the computers. At both the requesting and the serving computers, a file addressing structure is established, so that a file reference by the remote process at the serving computer refers to a file located at the requesting computer. The remote process is activated at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request. In response to a file reference by the remote process, the file is automatically retrieved from the requesting computer in accordance with the addressing structure. The method includes a technique by means of which files may be selectively and automatically accessed from either the requesting computer or the serving computer, as desired by a user. A computer administrator may selectively override the file accessing instructions, if desired, thereby providing the ability to maintain file security for certain files.
Inventors
- 👤 Rakesh Agrawal
- 👤 Ahmed Kamal Ezzat
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
CA
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 14:23
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F13/00; G06F13/38; G06F16/00; G06F16/10; G06F16/18; G06F16/182; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S707/00; Y10S707/99941; Y10S707/99942
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 21
Claim 1
Independent Claim
133 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers each with separate file systems, comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed, from a requesting one of the computers to a serving one of the computers, and establishing a file addressing structure at both the requesting and the serving computers so that a file reference by the remote process at the serving computer refers to a file located at the requesting computer, and activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, whereby, in response to a file reference by the remote process, the file is automatically retrieved from the requesting computer in accordance with the addressing structure.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
133 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers each with separate file systems, comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed, from a requesting one of the computers to a serving one of the computers, and establishing a file addressing structure at both the requesting and the serving computers so that a file reference by the remote process at the serving computer refers to a file located at the requesting computer, and activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, whereby, in response to a file reference by the remote process, the file is automatically retrieved from the requesting computer in accordance with the addressing structure.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
52 words
The method of claim 1 wherein the step of establishing a file addressing structure further comprises establishing one or more communication channels at the requesting computer for file access by the serving computer, and including in the remote execution request message information by which the serving computer may address the communication channels.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of establishing at the requesting computer a completion communication channel for receiving a remote process completion signal from the serving computer, and including in the remote execution request message information by which the serving computer may address the completion communication channel.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of establishing a user process at the requesting computer in response to a login by the user, and generating the remote execution request message in response to a command from the user identifying the process to be remotely executed.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 4 further comprising the steps of including in the remote execution request message information stored at the requesting computer describing the operating environment of the user process, and at the server computer, establishing a remote process in response to the remote execution request to service the request, and establishing an operating environment for the remote process using the operating environment information in the remote execution request message.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
59 words
The method of claim 5 wherein the operating environment of a process includes one or more stored environment variables describing prescribed operating conditions for the process and wherein the step of including operating environment information further comprises the steps of reading the states of the environment variables, and including the environment variable states in the remote execution request message.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 6 wherein the step of establishing an operating environment for the remote process further comprises the steps of storing the environment variable states contained in the remote process request message in the equivalent environment variables associated with the remote process.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
77 words
The method of claim 7 wherein each computer has an individual status variable for each process active in the computer and which contains information describing prescribed states of the process, the method further comprising the steps of at the requesting computer, setting the status variable for the user process to a state identifying the process as an agent for the remote process, and placing the agent process in an inactive state awaiting completion of the remote process.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
45 words
The method of claim 8 further comprising the steps of including in the remote process execution request message file selection information identifying for any file that might be referenced by the remote process whether to address the file on the requesting or the serving computer.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
117 words
The method of claim 2 wherein the file systems of the requesting and serving computers are each hierarchically arranged into a tree structure of directories containing files, beginning with a root directory, and wherein each computer process has associated with it a default root directory pointer and an alternate root directory pointer, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of at the serving computer, setting the state of the default root directory pointer associated with the remote process to point to the root directory of the requesting computer and setting the state of the alternate root directory pointer to point to the root directory of the serving computer in response to the remote execution request message.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of at the serving computer, selecting either the default or the alternate root directory pointer to search for a file referenced by the remote process, in accordance with the file information from the requesting computer.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
144 words
The method of claim 11 wherein files are identified by path names comprising a sequence of directories to follow in the file system and ending with a name of a file to be located in the last named directory, wherein the file information from the requesting computer further comprises one or more directory path names, and wherein the step of selecting either the default or the alternate root directory pointer further comprises the steps of comparing the path name of the referenced file to the one or more directory path names from the requesting computer, and selecting the alternate root directory pointer to search for the referenced file if any one of the one or more directory path names in the file information from the requesting computer is a prefix of the referenced file path name and otherwise selecting the default root directory pointer.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
90 words
The method of claim 12 wherein each computer comprises a local DISALLOWED variable which may contain one or more directory path names and wherein the method further comprises the step of at the serving computer, in response to the remote execution request message, comparing each of the one or more directory path names in the file information to each of the path names in the DISALLOWED variable, and deleting from the file information any directory path name which has a directory path name as a prefix in the DISALLOWED variable.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
95 words
The invention of claim 13 wherein one of the environmental variables of a process identifies a present directory in which the process resides, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of at the requesting computer, establishing a completion communication channel for receiving a remote process completion signal from the server computer, establishing root directory and present directory communication channels for access by the server computer of the client computer root directory and the present directory, respectively, and including addressing information of each said communication channel in the remote execution request to the server computer.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
122 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers, comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed by a serving one of the computers, from a requesting one of the computers to the serving computer, the request further including file location information identifying whether to locate files referenced by the remote process at the requesting or the serving computer, activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, and in response to a file reference by the remote process, retrieving the referenced file from the serving or the requesting computer in accordance with the file location data.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
122 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers, comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed by a serving one of the computers, from a requesting one of the computers to the serving computer, the request further including file location information identifying whether to locate files referenced by the remote process at the requesting or the serving computer, activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, and in response to a file reference by the remote process, retrieving the referenced file from the serving or the requesting computer in accordance with the file location data.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
162 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers, each computer comprising a data structure including a first file system pointer pointing to its file system, a second file system pointer settable to point to a file system of another one of the computers, and a data word selectively settable to indicate which of the first and second pointers to use to locate referenced files, the method comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process and data for setting the data word, from a requesting one of the computers to a serving one of the computers, setting the data word and activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, and in response to a file reference by the process, interrogating the data word to determine whether to locate the referenced file on the requesting computer or the serving computer.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
162 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers, each computer comprising a data structure including a first file system pointer pointing to its file system, a second file system pointer settable to point to a file system of another one of the computers, and a data word selectively settable to indicate which of the first and second pointers to use to locate referenced files, the method comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process and data for setting the data word, from a requesting one of the computers to a serving one of the computers, setting the data word and activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, and in response to a file reference by the process, interrogating the data word to determine whether to locate the referenced file on the requesting computer or the serving computer.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
234 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers in which each computer has a hierarchically arranged file structure, each computer further comprising an operating system, including a file system function for accessing a file when the file is referenced by an executing process, a data structure, including a first pointer pointing to the beginning of the file system, a second pointer settable to point to the beginning of the file system of another one of the computers, a data word settable to indicate which of the first and second pointers to use to locate a referenced file, and a remote execution server program, the method comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed, data for addressing the file system of the transmitting computer, and data for setting the data word, from a requesting one of the computers to the remote execution server program of a serving one of the computers, setting the data word, setting the second pointer to the addressing data of the requesting computer file system, activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, and in response to a file reference by the process, interrogating the data word to determine whether to search the requesting computer or the serving computer to locate the referenced file.
Claim 21
Independent Claim
234 words
A method of performing remote process execution in a computer network having a plurality of computers in which each computer has a hierarchically arranged file structure, each computer further comprising an operating system, including a file system function for accessing a file when the file is referenced by an executing process, a data structure, including a first pointer pointing to the beginning of the file system, a second pointer settable to point to the beginning of the file system of another one of the computers, a data word settable to indicate which of the first and second pointers to use to locate a referenced file, and a remote execution server program, the method comprising the steps of transmitting a remote process execution request, including an identification of a process to be executed, data for addressing the file system of the transmitting computer, and data for setting the data word, from a requesting one of the computers to the remote execution server program of a serving one of the computers, setting the data word, setting the second pointer to the addressing data of the requesting computer file system, activating the identified process at the serving computer in response to the remote process execution request, and in response to a file reference by the process, interrogating the data word to determine whether to search the requesting computer or the serving computer to locate the referenced file.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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