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:
Mar. 25, 2003
Filed:
Nov. 16, 1999
Mark S. Larsen, Hoffman Estates, IL (US);
Christopher D. Liesen, Naperville, IL (US);
Alan R. Zorn, Naperville, IL (US);
Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
In a distributed computer program, active software probes in the form of small functions built into an application are invoked by another application. When invoked, an active probe provides a positive response if the service being requested is available from the probed package. If the service is not available, the probe will fail alerting the software package installer that there is a problem. The active probes thus perform a functionality check for the software package, not a check merely based on the package's release number. Because the probe is active, it is capable of checking for subtending capabilities that the calling application may not realize are necessary for this service. This ensures full coverage of the test while hiding some implementation details from the calling application. By invoking these active probes upon installation of a new package, the installer can know immediately if the package has all services necessary to run correctly, thus reducing the possibility of a bad software package installation. The active software probes are thus capable of verifying software package compatibility at the time of program compilation as well as for program upgrades.