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:
Nov. 02, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 11, 2000
William A. Clayton, Redwood City, CA (US);
Lee A. Warner, Redwood City, CA (US);
Wayne F. Seltzer, San Jose, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates packet communication between a device within a computing system and one or more additional devices of the computing system. The system receives either a point-to-point packet or a broadcast packet from the devices and inspects the header of the packet to determine the type of packet. The system also examines the state of the computing system to determine whether the state of the computer system is broadcast preferred or point-to-point only. If the type of the packet is broadcast and the state of the computing system is broadcast preferred, the system sends the packet to all of the additional devices. If the type of the packet is broadcast and the state of the computing system is point-to-point only, the system delays sending the packet until the state of the computing system changes to broadcast preferred. If the type of the packet is point-to-point and the state of the computing system is broadcast preferred, the system delays sending the packet while broadcast packets are available to be sent. Finally, if the type of the packet is point-to-point and the state of the computing system is point-to-point only, the system sends the packet to the addressed device.