US 5,860,072 A · Method and apparatus for transporting interface definition language-defined data structures between heterogeneous systems

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transporting IDL-defined data structures to and from a format convenient for transport between two computers are disclosed. The data structures is originally described in a string. The string description is converted to a different format containing additional information about the alignment and size of the data structure. An application in the sending computer removes the alignment from the data structure and stores the data structure in a buffer. The data structure is stored in the output buffer in a predetermined format that is based upon the type of the data structure. The buffer is then transmitted to a data file or to the memory of the receiving computer. The receiving computer extracts the data structure from the buffer based upon the predetermined format. The data structure is realigned and stored in the memory of the second computer.

Claims30

Dependent claims

A method for transporting a data structure from a host computer to a client computer, the data structure having at least one field, the method comprising the steps of:

generating, by the host computer, a string description of the data structure;
generating, by the host computer, a host description of the string description, the host description describing the size, alignment, and type of each field in the data structure as used within the host computer;
generating, by the client computer, a client description of the string description, the client description describing the size, alignment, and type of each field in the data structure as used within the client computer;
packing, by the host computer, the data structure in an output buffer of the host computer based upon the description in the host description;
and
transporting, by the host computer, the output buffer to an input buffer of the client computer.

3 more elements

A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for transporting a data structure from a host computer to a client computer, the computer program product comprising:
first computer readable program code devices configured to cause the host computer system to generate a string description of the data structure;
second computer readable program code devices configured to cause the host computer system to generate a host description, the host description describing the size, alignment, and type of each field in the data structure as used within the host computer;
third computer readable program code devices configured to cause the client computer system to generate a client description, the client description describing the size, alignment, and type of each field in the data structure as used within the client computer;
fourth computer readable program code devices configured to cause the host computer system to pack the data structure in an output buffer of the host computer based upon the description in the host description;
and
fifth computer readable program code devices configured to cause the host computer system to transport the output buffer to an input buffer of the client computer.

4 more elements

A system for transporting a data structure from a host computer to a client computer, the system comprising:

means within the host computer system for generating a string description of the data structure;
means within the host computer system for generating a host description, the host description describing the size, alignment, and type of each field in the data structure as used within the host computer;
means within the client computer system for generating a client description, the client description describing the size, alignment, and type of each field in the data structure as used within the client computer;
means within the host computer system for packing the data structure in an output buffer of the host computer based upon the description in the host description;
and
means within the host computer system for transporting the output buffer to an input buffer of the client computer.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and apparatus for transporting interface definition language-defined data structures between heterogeneous systems

Life of this patent

Method and apparatus for transporting interface definition language-defined data structures between heterogeneous systems

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims30