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AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsDavid F. Bantz, Michel F. Choquet, Jack L. Rosenfeld
Estimating the term…
A communication system includes a plurality of requestors and a plurality of responders representing resources. A protocol exercised by all elements provides accurate and consistent interconnection of all elements in a system where messages may be delayed or lost. Requestors are provided with means to transmit a request for use of a plurality of resources, respond to acceptances from one or more responders and create a cooperative relationship by transmitting a confirmation to one responder and cancellation of the request to all other responders. Responders become committed to a requestor by signalling an acceptance to a request if a previous acceptance has not been transmitted, or if the resource is not already committed to another requestor, and a subsequent confirmation signal is received. The responder does not become committed after transmitting an acceptance if the next signal directed to it from the requestor is a request cancellation. Request signals and cancellation signals by a requestor can either be broadcast simultaneously to all responders of a class or transmitted to particular, designated responders, one at a time.
In a communication system including one or more requestors and one or more responders each representing a resource useable by the requestors, apparatus for establishing a message transmitting connection between a requestor and a responder in accordance with a protocol of signal transmissions between the requestors and responders, including, in combination:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.