Techniques for using the network as a memory device
AssigneeNovell, Inc.
InventorStephen R Carter
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques for using the network as a memory device are provided. Network packets continue to circulate on a network using the network communication channel as a memory device. Nodes of the network are configured to selectively copy, use, verify, modify, create, and purge the network packets using file management semantics.
Claims18
A method implemented and residing within a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that is executed by one or more processors of a network to perform the method, comprising:
- configuring network nodes of the network to detect network packets of a predefined type and to forward those network packets among the network nodes without removing the network packets from the network, the network packets are identified as memory objects of the network,
- each network node retrieves particular memory objects of the predefined type and reinserts those particular memory objects, without storing those particular memory objects on that node, back into the network for acquisition and inspection by other ones of the network nodes when that network node determines that the particular memory objects are not needed by particular applications residing on that network node;
- and
- using, by each of the network nodes, the network packets that are cyclically traversing the network as a memory device shared among the network nodes, information housed in the memory objects resides in network transmission lines and bandwidth of the network without being written to memory or storage of any of the network nodes operating on the network until consumed or needed by applications interfaced to the network nodes, wherein configuring further includes configuring the network nodes to take a copy of particular ones of the network packets that applications in communication with the network nodes are looking for or requesting, and once the copy is taken the particular ones of the network packets are re-injected into the network by the network nodes.
A method implemented and residing within a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that is executed by one or more processors of a node on a network to perform the method, comprising:
- detecting one or more network packets on the network as being associated with a network memory object that is cyclically traversing the network using the network as a memory device where the network memory object and information housed in the network memory object reside on network transmission lines of the network and does not reside on any specific network node operating on the network until an application interfaced to the specific network node consumes or needs the memory object;
- copying the memory object off the network as a copied memory object when the network memory object includes a predefined tag indicating that the application needs the memory object, otherwise the network memory object is not copied and is reinserted back into the network for delivery and inspection by other nodes of the network;
- passing the copied memory object to a service that is configured to process the copied memory object when the application needs the memory object;
- and
- injecting the network memory object back into the network over the network transmission lines for use by other nodes of the network when the application needs the memory object.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.