Communication socket migration among different devices

A method of migrating a communication socket of an application operating on a first host device, the communication socket forming one end of a connection between the first host device and a second host device, the method comprising:

• a) suspending the transfer of input/output data between an application and a migrateable socket operable with the application on the first host device;
• b) buffering an input datastream received by the migrateable socket over the connection;
• c) migrating the application, the buffered input datastream and the migrateable socket to a third host device;
• d) reestablishing the connection between the second host device and the third host device as a function of the migrateable socket;
• and
• e) providing the buffered input datastream to the application as a function of the migrateable socket.

A method of migrating a communication socket of an application, the communication socket and application operable on a host device to communicate with other host devices over a network, the method comprising:

• a) communicating between a plurality of host devices with a communication protocol, each host device comprising an application, a migrateable socket and an association table;
• b) storing identifying information exchanged between the host devices in each respective association table to form an association link;
• c) migrating a first application, a first migrateable socket and a first association table from a first host device to a second host device;
• d) sending a re-association message from the second host device to a host device identified in the first association table as a function of the first migrateable socket;
• and
• e) receiving a re-association acknowledgment message from the identified host device with the first migrateable socket.

A socket migration architecture for migrating a communication socket of an application, the communication socket for communication between a first host device and a second host device over a network, the socket migration architecture comprising:

• a migrateable socket operable on the first host device, wherein the migrateable socket is operable to form one end of a connection between the first and second host devices;
• and
• a synchronization buffer operable with the migrateable socket on the first host device, the synchronization buffer operable to store an input datastream provided by the second host device during a migration event,
• the synchronization buffer and the migrateable socket operable to migrate from the first host device to a third host device,
• the migrateable socket operable on the third host device to reestablish the connection between the second and third host devices,
• the migrateable socket operable to extract the stored input datastream from the synchronization buffer once the connection is reestablished.

A socket migration architecture for migrating a communication socket of an application, the communication socket and application operable on a host device to communicate with other host devices over a network, the socket migration architecture comprising:

• a migrateable socket operable in a first host device to communicate with at least one other host device with a communication protocol;
• and
• an association table operable in the first host device to store identifying information provided with the communication protocol from the at least one other host device,
• the migrateable socket and the association table migrateable from the first host device to a second host device,
• the migrateable socket operable in the second host device to send a re-association message with the communication protocol to the at least one other host device as a function of the identifying information,
• the migrateable socket operable to receive a re-association acknowledgement message with the communication protocol from the at least one other host device.