Communication multiplexor using listener process to detect newly active client connections and passes to dispatcher processes for handling the connections

Abstract

A communications multiplexor includes dispatcher processes for monitoring client connections. The dispatcher processes detect activity on those connections, and then pass active physical (client) connections to agent processes for servicing. Transfer is done through specific connection queues that are associated with a set of agents. A multi-queuing structure permits pooling of agents on a set of shared resources thereby reducing time required to switch between different client connections. After an agent has serviced a given connection, the agent returns that connection to the agent's dispatcher (there is a static assignment between connections and dispatchers), and then reads the next unit of work from the agent's associated connection queue. This structure may be scalable while allowing optimal performance when passing physical connections between processes.