Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 7
Claim 1
Independent Claim
145 words
A distributed data processing system comprising a plurality of data procesdsing nodes (10) interconnected by a data communications network (12), wherein each node runs a plurality of agents (20)some of which are client agents and some of which are server agents which provide services for the client agents, and wherein each node has a message handler (21) for sending request messages from the client agents to the server agents and for returning responses from the server agents to the client agents, characterised in that at least some of the server (20) agents are replicated so as to provide a plurality of instances of the same service, and in the event that a server agent does not respond to a request message from a client agent, the message handler (21) sends the request message to another server agent providing an alternative instance of the same service.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
145 words
A distributed data processing system comprising a plurality of data procesdsing nodes (10) interconnected by a data communications network (12), wherein each node runs a plurality of agents (20)some of which are client agents and some of which are server agents which provide services for the client agents, and wherein each node has a message handler (21) for sending request messages from the client agents to the server agents and for returning responses from the server agents to the client agents, characterised in that at least some of the server (20) agents are replicated so as to provide a plurality of instances of the same service, and in the event that a server agent does not respond to a request message from a client agent, the message handler (21) sends the request message to another server agent providing an alternative instance of the same service.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
19 words
A system according to claim 1 wherein, server agents providing alternative instances of a service run on different nodes.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
29 words
A system according to claim 1 or 2, including means for maintaining a distributed database comprising information about server agents that are prepared to provide services to client agents.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
34 words
A system according to claim 3 wherein, when a server agent is prepared to provide a service, it makes a call to the message handler, which then updates the database to include this server.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
49 words
A system according to claim 3 or 4 wherein when a client agent initially requires to use a service, it makes call to the message handler, which then initiates a search through the database for server agents which provide the required service, and stores a list of those agents.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
55 words
A system according to claim 5 wherein, whenever a client agent requires to use a service, the message handler dynamically updates the list of server agents, to ensure that the list always represents the current set of matching server agents despite the emergence of some new server instances and the departure or failure of others.