Tandem Computers Incorporated

Peter Bonham

Ulrich Klein

Harri Mauria

A method and apparatus for providing kernel mode support for fast IPC between a client process and a server process. A client application accesses a kernel mode of an operating system via a device driver or similar method. The client creates an abstract 'resource' data type and derives a client port therefrom. The client port references a call structure containing object call data. The call is transported via a transport agent to the server. The server accesses the kernel mode of the operating system and creates a resource data type and a server port derived from the resource type. The server awaits calls from the clients using the server port. When a call arrives, the server port extracts the data from the call structure and performs the requested service. The server port then transmits a response back to the client. The use of the abstract resource data type permits portability across different operating systems and platforms.

Method and apparatus for providing portable kernel-mode support for fast

A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a method and apparatus for sending messages between memory spaces included in a computer network. More specifically, for a preferred embodiment, each memory space included in a computer network is identified by a site id that is composed of a manufacturer id and a machine id. When messages are sent between memory spaces, the site id of the sending memory space is compared to the site id of the receiving memory space. If the site ids match, the message is sent using an intra-memory copy. Otherwise a networking protocol is invoked. Importantly, the comparison between site ids occurs relatively early in the sending of the message. As a result, efficiency is increased in cases where a message is being sent within the same memory space.

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Friedrichsdorf, Germany

Peter Bonham