The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 06, 1993
Filed:
Aug. 20, 1990
William D Westaway, Andover, MA (US);
David P Roberts, Santa Fe, NM (US);
Thomas R Caron, Chelsea, MA (US);
Microsystems, Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
Apparatus and methods are disclosed having application for use in data processing systems which include a plurality of data processing devices ('agents') coupled to a communication network and at least one system software resource. The system software resource may comprise a floppy disk drive, hard disk drive, magnetic tape, optical storage device or other data storage device. All programs, data and the like accessible to the system software resource are indexed and 'clustered', such that the data/programs are grouped as they relate to one another to assure full functionality of the software being loaded. In the event that the desired program/data to be accessed by an agent is not stored in the system software resource, the method of the present invention includes the steps of suspending any further data processing operations by the agent. The system software resource, by scanning through the index of all available data/programs accessible to the system software resource. In the event that the desired program/data is accessible to the system software resource, the desired data/programs are loaded into the system software resource and data processing operations are then resumed by the agent requiring the data/programs. If the desired data/programs are not available to the system software resource, then the current data processing operations are terminated.