Local area network for digital data processing system

Claim 1

A local area network for interconnecting service users (12) and service providers (14), including a plurality of device server units (24) each of which connects to a service user (12) and a plurality of nodes (34) each connected to a service provider (14) and a communications link (16) to effect communications between the nodes and device server units to enable said service users and service providers to communicate, characterized by A. each node (34) including means for periodically transmitting a service advertising message (Fig. 2A) over said communications link to identify the services (54) provided by the service providers connected thereto, and B. each device server unit (24) including: i. advertising message receiving means connected to said communications link for receiving said service advertising message; ii. service table means (Fig. 2B) for establishing a service table including a plurality of entries each including a node field which lists said plurality of nodes and a service field which lists services provided by the service providers connected to an identified node in said plurality of nodes; and iii. selection means responsive to an operator requesting a service for using said service table to select the node and service provider to provide the requested service.

Claim 3

A device server unit (24) for connection in a local area network, the network interconnecting service users (12) and service providers (14) and including a plurality of device server units (24) each of which connects to a service user (12) and a plurality of nodes (34) each connected to a service provider (14) and a communications link (16) to effect communications between the nodes and device server units to enable said service users and service providers to communicate, each node (34) including means for periodically transmitting a service advertising message (Fig. 2A) over said communications link to identify the services provided by the service providers connected thereto, the device server unit (24) being characterized by: A. advertising message receiving means connected to said communications link for receiving said service advertising message; B. service table means for establishing a service table (Fig. 2B) including a plurality of entries each including a node field which lists said plurality of nodes and a service field which lists services provided by the service providers connected to an identified node in said plurality of nodes; and C. selection means responsive to an operator requesting a service for using said service table to select the node and service provider to provide the requested service.