Worldcom, Inc.

Brian Mair

Jeffrey Gold

David Pedersen

David Schear

Charles Combs

A method and system for allocating distributed resources connected to a computer network to application programs running on computers attached to the communications network. The distributed resource allocator system comprises a number of identical processes running on one or more computers attached to the communications network. Application programs request allocation of resources from a local distributed resource allocator system process running using a resource allocator applications programming interface. Application programs request allocation of resource from a remote distributed resource allocator system process via a resource allocator access protocol. The distributed resource allocator system is fault-tolerant and provides contention control and load balancing. The resource allocator system also manages information about the capacities and capabilities of resources connected to the communications network. Application programs can thus be easily written to make use of distributed resources connected to a communications network without having to manage global network information and without needing complex contention control and load balancing subroutines.

Method and system for load-balanced data exchange in distributed network-based resource allocation

A method and system for resolving contending requests for resources connected from a computer network by application programs running on computers attached to the communications network. The distributed resource allocator system comprises a number of identical processes running on one or more computers attached to the communications network. Application programs request allocation of resources from a local distributed resource allocator system process running using a resource allocator applications programming interface. Application programs request allocation of resource from a remote distributed resource allocator system process via a resource allocator access protocol. Contending resource requests are first resolved by the priority of the resource request. If contention cannot be resolved by priority alone, then contentions are next resolved by examining the resource request's time of arrival in light of its priority. The system allows quality of service time-outs for requests that cannot be timely processed. A resource request returned due to a quality of service time-out may be resubmitting having its original time of arrival.

Method and system for contention controlled data exchange in a distributed network-based resource allocation

A method and system for allocating distributed resources connected to a computer network to application programs running on computers attached to the communications network. The distributed resource allocator system comprises a number of identical processes running on one or more computers attached to the communications network. Application programs request allocation of resources from a local distributed resource allocator system process running using a resource allocator applications programming interface. Application programs request allocation of resource from a remote distributed resource allocator system process via a resource allocator access protocol. The distributed resource allocator system provides a means for the entry of new resources and new resource class and characteristics information in a shared directory. The resource allocator system also manages information about the capacities and capabilities of resources connected to the communications network. Application programs can thus be easily written to make use of distributed resources connected to a communications network without having to manage global network information without having to specify complex information regarding a resource or utilizing a variety of resource formats.

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New Canaan, CT, United States of America

Brian Mair