Communicating data between computers by harmonizing data types

A computer program product that, when loaded into a memory of a first computer and being executed by at least one processor of the computer, performs a computer-implemented method for transmitting data from the first computer to a second computer using a first protocol, wherein the first computer belongs to a first computer group and the second computer belongs to a second computer group, wherein inter-group communication is restricted to communicating data packets that only contain first type data, the method being implemented on the first computer, with the following steps:

• by a client module of the first computer, providing data packets that contain first type data and second type data;
• by an intermediate module of the first computer, receiving the data packets from the client module;
• by the intermediate module, forwarding the data packets to a modifier module of an auxiliary computer, using a second protocol, wherein the auxiliary computer also belongs to the first computer group;
• by the intermediate module, receiving modified data packets from the modifier module of the auxiliary computer, using the second protocol, wherein the modified data packets contain data of first type data only;
• by the intermediate module, forwarding the modified data packets to a protocol module on the first computer;
• by the protocol module, encoding the modified data packets to encoded modified data packets;
• and
• by the protocol module, transmitting the encoded modified data packets to the second computer, using the first protocol.

A computer for transmitting data to a further computer, using a first protocol, wherein the computer belongs to a first computer group and the further computer belongs to a second computer group, wherein inter-group communication is restricted to communicating data packets that only contain first type data, the computer comprising:

• a client module adapted to provide data packets that contain first type data and second type data;
• an intermediate module adapted to receive the data packets from the client module and adapted to forward the data packets to a modifier module of an auxiliary computer, using a second protocol, wherein the auxiliary computer also belongs to the first computer group;
• the intermediate module further adapted to receive modified data packets from the modifier module of the auxiliary computer, using the second protocol, wherein the modified data packets contain data of first type data only;
• the intermediate module further adapted to forward the modified data packets to a protocol module;
• the protocol module further adapted to encode the modified data packets to encoded modified data packets;
• and
• the protocol module further adapted to transmit the encoded modified data packets to the second computer, using the first protocol.