Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Oracle America, Inc.

Other

Hewlett-packard Company

San Microsystems, Inc.

James H Waldo

Ann M Wollrath

Kenneth C R C Arnold

Robert W Scheifler

Roger S Riggs

Peter C Jones

John W F McClain

Kenneth C Arnold

Timothy J Blackman

Brian T Murphy

Zane Pan

Robert F Sproull

Jane Alice Loizeaux

Kenneth Crc Arnold

Graham Hamilton

Peter B Kessler

Andrew Franklin Seaborne

Daniel Joseph Ellard

Brian W McBride

Eduardo Pelegri-Llopart

Peter S Showman

Michael P Warres

Brian D Harrison

Douglas B Robinson

Bryan O'Sullivan

Keith Benjamin Thompson

Michael J Cannon

Lamar D Smith

D Jeffrey Hoffman

Marlena E Erdos

Ann W Wollrath

Krishna Bharat

Use of a smart proxy as a wrapper around a stub in a distributed system. Instead of receiving a stub as a result of a remote procedure call, a caller receives a smart proxy including the stub as an embedded object. The smart proxy performs predefined processing associated with a remote procedure call, the processing possibly occurring before, during, or after a response to the call.

Downloadable smart proxies for performing processing associated with a remote procedure call in a distributed system

Location-independent references include a live reference containing a location of a remote object and a universally unique identifier (UUID) which provides a unique global reference to that remote object. If a method call to the remote object using the live reference fails, the UUID is used to obtain a new reference to the remote object and the new reference is then used to make another method call. A new reference can be obtained from an identifier directory that contains a mapping between UUIDs and location-independent references. When a remote object is first created, or when a remote object is moved from one location to another, the remote object registers with any and all such directories that it can find in its environment. These registrations are leased; that is, if they are not occasionally refreshed by the remote object which registered them, they are dropped from the directory.

Method and apparatus for generating and using location-independent distributed object references

An improved lookup service is provided that allows for the dynamic addition and deletion of services. This lookup service allows for the addition and deletion of services automatically, without user intervention. As a result, clients of the lookup service may continue using the lookup service and its associated services while the updates occur. Additionally, the lookup service provides a notification mechanism that can be used by clients to receive a notification when the lookup service is updated. By receiving such a notification, clients can avoid attempting to access a service that is no longer available and can make use of new services as soon as they are added to the lookup service.

Dynamic lookup service in a distributed system

In at least one embodiment, an apparatus for determining one or more affinity groups in a distributed network is provided. A first distributed computing device is operably coupled to a plurality of clients for enabling electronic interactive activities therebetween. The first distributed computing device is configured to detect at least one network interaction among the plurality of clients. The first distributed computing device is further configured to generate at least one weighted value based on the number of detected network interactions. The first distributed computing device is further configured to establish an affinity group comprising at least one client from the plurality of clients based on the at least one weighted value.

System and method for determining affinity groups and co-locating the affinity groups in a distributing network

Universal Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) are generated using a variety of algorithms and these algorithms are themselves encoded into the UUID. Each UUID includes two parts: a first part that is an identifier, which is unique to the second part. The second part identifies the algorithm that was used to generate the identifier. Thus, the uniqueness of the identifier is based on how the identifier was created not the entity that created it. The identity of two UUIDs is determined by comparing both the generator algorithm ID and the relative ID.

Method and apparatus for generating location independent unique identifiers

A method for using dependency-based grouping to establish class identity comprises categorizing a plurality of classes into a set of class groups based at least in part on one or more dependencies between the classes, and generating metadata to be use for loading the classes, where the metadata includes a mapping between the set of class groups and the plurality of classes. The metadata may also include respective signatures for class groups and/or the individual classes. The method may also include validating, using at least a portion of the metadata, the identity of a particular version of a class of the plurality of classes, prior to loading the version for execution.

Dependency-based grouping to establish class identity

In accordance with the present invention a process is provided for allocating and deallocating resources in a distributed processing system having a requester platform and a server platform. The process involves receiving a request from the requestor platform referring to a system resource and specifying a requested lease period, permitting shared access to the system resource for a lease period, sending a return call to the requestor platform advising of the lease period, and deallocating the system resource when the lease period expires.

Methods, apparatus, and product for distributed garbage collection

A homogeneous execution environment operates within a heterogeneous client-server network. A client selects a server and transmits a procedure call with parameters. In response, a server dynamically and securely downloads code to a compute server; invokes a generic compute method; executes the code on the compute server; and returns the results to the calling client method, preserving the result on the compute server if requested. This technique is efficient in that it does not require multiple copies of code to be downloaded or compiled since server byte-codes can be executed on each of the different systems, therefore downloading or compiling multiple copies of code can be avoided. The code can be compiled once and downloaded as needed to the various servers as byte-codes and then executed.

Method and apparatus for dynamic distributed computing over a network

Use of a policy object for verification in a distributed system. A machine downloads a policy object containing a reference to code governing verification of data. The machine uses the reference to obtain the code and locally verify data or other information. As particular rules for the data change, the policy object may be updated to provide a reference to the code for the new rules when it is downloaded.

Apparatus and method for dynamically verifying information in a distributed system

A stub retrieval and loading subsystem is disclosed for use in connection with a remote method invocation system. The stub retrieval and loading subsystem controls the retrieval and loading of a stub for a remote method, into an execution environment, to facilitate invocation of the remote method by a program executing in the execution environment. The stub retrieval subsystem includes a stub retriever for initiating a retrieval of the stub and stub loader for, when the stub is received by the stub retriever, loading the stub into the execution environment, thereby to make the stub available for use in remote invocation of the remote method. In one embodiment, the stub retrieval and loading subsystem effects the retrieval and loading for a program operating in one address space provided by one computer, of stub class instances to effect the remote invocation of methods which are provided by objects operating in another address space, which may be provided by the same computer or a different computer.

System and method for facilitating dynamic loading of stub information to enable a program operating in one address space to invoke processing of a remote method or procedure in another space

A distributed computer system uses a single interface at the client site to handle calls to call both active and passive remote objects. Accordingly, the calling process does not need to be aware of distinctions between active and passive objects. Further, remote objects are aggregated into common groups of objects, thereby providing greater security between objects of disparate groups and efficiency between related objects of the same group. Preferably, different groups are run on different Java virtual machines.

Remote object activation in a distributed system

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FACILITATING DYNAMIC LOADING OF 'STUB' INFORMATION TO ENABLE A PROGRAM OPERATING IN ONE ADDRESS SPACE TO INVOKE PROCESSING OF A REMOTE METHOD OR PROCEDURE IN ANOTHER ADDRESS SPACE

A system for leasing a group membership in a distributed processing system is provided. In accordance with this system, a remote object requests from an activation group a membership in the activation group for a period of time. Responsive to this request, the activation group determines an appropriate lease period during which time the remote object becomes a member of the activation group and runs in the same address space as other objects of the activation group.

Method, apparatus, and product for leasing of group membership in a distributed system

Growing community of inventors

Dracut, MA, United States of America

James H Waldo