Method and apparatus for polling
OwnerPaul Nettle, Christopher Waldeninventors
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for performing polling is presented. Polling servers include the intelligence and as such may control polling clients. What is polled, when it is polled and how it is polled is controlled by the polling server and may be dynamically changed and any time. As such, the polling server may dynamically reconfigure the polling process for a polling client. In one embodiment, the polling server directs and controls the polling client(s) in a manner that effects load-balancing in a network.
Claims20
A method of polling, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a poll from a client;
- performing at least one client specific task in response to receiving the poll from the client;
- and
- controlling client operations in response to performing the client specific task.
A method of polling comprising the steps of:
- receiving a poll from a plurality of polling clients, each of the plurality of polling clients using a first polling process;
- performing a tasks associated with each of the plurality of polling clients in response to receiving the poll;
- and
- uniquely controlling each of the plurality of polling clients in response to performing the polling tasks.
A method of load balancing in a network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving polling information from a client;
- directing the client to randomly select a polling data server in response to receiving the polling information;
- and
- effecting load-balancing across the network in response to directing the client to randomly select a polling data server.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.