Patent · US Expired

System and method for distributed computation based upon the movement, execution, and interaction of processes in a network

US6016393A · kind A · utility

103Cited by
24References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 10, 1997
Grant dateJan 18, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateFeb 10, 2017

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/54
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A distributed computing environment in which agent processes direct their own movement through a computer network. Place processes provide a computing context within which agent processes are interpreted. An agent process controls its movement from one place process to another within the network by using a ticket. An agent process which moves from one place process to another transports definitions of classes of which objects included in the agent process are members. An agent process which moves from one place process to a second place process avoids unnecessary transportation of objects included in the agent process by substituting equivalent objects which are found in the second place process. An agent process sends clones of the agent process to several place processes simultaneously. If two clones travel along paths which are coextensive for an initial portion thereof, a single clone is transported along the initial portion of the paths and other clones are formed from the single clone, thereby avoiding transferring redundant information along communications media. Two agent processes, which occupy a single place process, interact by exchanging references to one another. The s…

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