US 5,493,607 A · Multi-system network addressing

Abstract

Storage locations, such as voice mailboxes are addressed on a plurality of widely distributed host systems, connect via a network, by defining logical domains Bach of which may include storage locations on more than one host system. The domains are defined by address tables which indicate which host systems provide ranges of address locations. Transfer of data between domains is simplified by the use of translation tables. One type of translation table is an alias table which has entries containing a range in the originating domain, a new domain and a starting point for a range in the new domain, thus defining a one-to-one correspondence between the ranges in the two domains. Another translation table is a gateway table which defines a gateway to a new domain when an input address has characteristics matching a prefix, number of digits, or both, of an entry in the gateway table. Upon finding the closest possible match in the gateway table, the portion of the input address after the prefix, if any, is used as the address in the new domain.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A method of addressing in a distributed data processing system including at least two computer systems having storage units and processors and providing information services to subscribers using the storage units and the processors in the at least two computer systems, comprising the steps of:

(a) defining domains of storage locations, including application accounts, in the storage units independent of any physical relationship between the domains and the storage units containing the storage locations;
(b) storing at least one translation table to identify the domains for input addresses;
(c) receiving the input addresses after said storing in step (b);
and
(d) identifying an addressed location for each of the input addresses by determining an addressed domain and then the addressed location within the addressed domain.

2 more elements

A method of addressing in a distributed data processing system including host systems and providing information services to subscribers using storage units and processors in the host systems, each host system including at least one of the storage units and at least one of the processors, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) defining domains, including addressed domains, of storage locations in the storage units independent of any physical relationship between the domains and the storage units containing the storage locations, said defining including the substep of (a1) storing an address table for each one of the domains in at least one of the storage units accessible to each of the processors, the address table defining physical locations of the storage locations within the one of the domains, such that each of the storage locations is defined as located on one of the host systems and one or more of the host systems provides the storage locations within any of the domains;
(b) storing at least one translation table to identify the domains for input addresses:
(c) receiving the input addresses after said storing in step (b);
and
(d) identifying an addressed location for each of the input addresses by determining one of the addressed domains and then the addressed location within the one of the addressed domains.

2 more elements

A method of operating information services for subscribers, the information services provided by host systems having processors and storage units containing storage locations, with at least one kilometer separating at least two of the host systems, the subscribers accessing the host systems via a telephone system, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) assigning at least one domain for each of the subscribers, resulting in a plurality of domains being assigned, each domain having a unique name within the telephone system;
(b) storing for each domain:
(b1) an address table having entries, each entry containing an identifier of one of the host systems, a first range of the storage locations provided by the one of the host systems and a second range of addresses within the domain of the address table, corresponding to the first range of the storage locations, the first and second ranges each having a scope of at least one:
(b2) an alias table having entries, each entry containing a first name of an alias domain, a third range of the addresses in the alias domain and a fourth range of address codes in the domain of the alias table, the third and fourth ranges having a one-to-one correspondence and each having a scope of at least one:
and
(b3) a gateway table having entries, each entry containing a second name of an alternate domain and at least one of a prefix and a number of digits:
(c) receiving an input address from a user of the telephone system currently assigned an originating domain;
(d) translating the input address into a first storage location corresponding to an alias address in the address table for the alias domain if the input address contains one of the address codes in the fourth range in one of the entries in the alias table;
(e) translating the input address into a second storage location corresponding to an alternate domain address in the address table for the alternate domain if the input address does not include the address codes in the fourth range in any of the entries in the alias table and one of the entries in the gateway table is a closer match to the input address than any other entry in the gateway table;
(f) identifying a third storage location corresponding to the input address using the address table for the originating domain if said translating in steps (d) and (e) is not performed:
and
(g) accessing one of the first, second and third storage locations in dependence upon which of steps (d), (e) and (f) was performed.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Multi-system network addressing

Life of this patent

Multi-system network addressing

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11