Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for subcontracts in distributed processing systems

US5787251A · kind A · utility

90Cited by
8References
22Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 18, 1996
Grant dateJul 28, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 18, 2016

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/548
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention provides an elegant and simple way to provide mechanisms for invocation of objects by client applications and for argument passing between client applications and object implementations, without the client application or the operating system knowing the details of how these mechanisms work. Moreover, these mechanisms functions in a distributed computer environment with similar ease and efficiency, where client applications may be on one computer node and object implementations on another. The invention includes a new type of object, termed a "spring object," which includes a method table, a subcontract mechanism and a data structure which represents the subcontract's local private state.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.