US PATENT CLASS 709
Class Notes


Current as of: June, 1999
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709 /   HD   ELECTRICAL COMPUTERS AND DIGITAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS: MULTIPLE COMPUTER OR PROCESS COORDINATING



DEFINITION

Classification: 709/

GENERAL STATEMENT OF THE CLASS SUBJECT MATTER

This class provides for an electrical computer or digital data processing system or corresponding data processing method including method or apparatus for transferring data or instruction information between a plurality of computers or processes wherein the computers or processes employ the data or instructions before or after transferring and the employing affects said transfer of data or instruction information. The class includes the following subject matter:

A. Process or apparatus for administrating process or job execution over a digital data processing system.

B. Process or apparatus for transferring data among a plurality of spatially distributed (i.e. situated, at plural locations) computers or digital data processing systems via one or more communications media (e.g., computer networks).

C. Process or apparatus for exchanging data or messages between two executing programs or processes, generally independent of the hardware used in the communication.

D. Process or apparatus for synchronizing control or regulation of clocking or timing operations of two or more processors.

SCOPE OF THE CLASS

This class is limited to digital data processing systems and functions for transferring unspecified data or instruction information and the processing thereof by digital data processing systems. Systems concerned with movement or processing of other specific types of information and digital signals, per se, are classified elsewhere. See the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below. LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES AND WITHIN THIS CLASS

A. Electrical Computers and Data Processing Systems, Related Systems and Functions in General

(1) Systems directed to a specific end use of information, for example, sensor data processed by a computer means for control purposes in systems classified external to this class, are classified elsewhere. See the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below.

B. Communications Classes

This class includes significant data processing in combination with communication of data, and allowed types of information, amongst digital data processing systems. For multiplexing see the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below. For systems directed to selective communication systems. See the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below. For systems directed to communication techniques such as pulse or digital communications. See the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below.

II

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS

235, Registers, various subclasses for basic machines and associated indicating mechanisms for ascertaining the number of movements of various devices and machines, plus machines made from these basic machines alone (e.g., cash registers,

voting machines), and in combination with various perfecting features, such as printers and recording means, and for various data bearing record controlled systems.

326, Electronic Digital Logic Circuitry, appropriate subclasses for generic digital logic devices, circuitry, and subcombinations thereof, wherein operations other than arithmetical are performed upon discrete electrical signals representing a value normally described by numerical digits.

340, Communications: Electrical,

825+, for controlling one or more devices to obtain a plurality of results by transmission of a designated one of plural distinctive control signals over a smaller number of communication lines or channels, particularly subclass 825.02 for tree or cascade selective communication, subclasses 825.03+ for channel selection, subclass 825.05 for a plurality of controlled devices connected by a communication line in a closed series configuration, subclasses 825.06+ for communication systems where status of a controlled device is communicated, subclasses 825.2+ for synchronizing selective communication systems, subclasses 825.5+ for lockout or priority in selective communication systems, subclasses 825.52+ for addressing, and subclasses 825.57+ for pulse responsive actuation in selective communication. 341, Coded Data Generation or Conversion,

50, 172 for electrical pulse and digit code converters (e.g., systems for originating or emitting a coded set of discrete signals or translating one code into another code wherein the meaning of the data remains the same but the formats may differ).

345, Computer Graphics Processing, Operator Interface Processing, And Selective Visual Display Systems,

1+, for visual display systems with selective electrical control including display memory organization and structure for storing image data and manipulating image data between a display memory and display device, and subclasses 30+ for the selective control of two or more light generating or light controlling display elements in accordance with a received image signal.

360, Dynamic Magnetic Information Storage or Retrieval, appropriate subclasses, for record carriers and systems wherein information is stored and retrieved by interaction with a magnetic medium and there is relative motion between said magnetic medium and a transducer, for example, a magnetic disk drive device, and control thereof, per se.

364, Electrical Computers and Data Computer Systems,

130+, for data computer control systems where there is a nominal claim recitation of an device or apparatus and

nominal data computer or computer structure claimed and when there is no class providing for the device or apparatus, and subclasses 400+ for applications of computers in various environments where there is significant claim recitation of the data computer system or calculating computer and only nominal recitation of an external art environment (where significant structure of an external device is claimed, classification is in the appropriate device class).

365, Static Information Storage and Retrieval, various subclasses for addressable static singular storage elements or plural singular storage elements of the same type (i.e., the internal elements of memory, per se).

369, Dynamic Information Storage or Retrieval, various subclasses for record carriers and systems wherein information is stored and retrieved by interaction with a medium and there is relative motion between a medium and a transducer.

370, Multiplex Communications, appropriate subclasses, for the simultaneous transmission of two or more signals over a common medium, particularly

351+, for multiplex switching. 375, Pulse or Digital Communications, various subclasses for generic pulse or digital communication systems and synchronization of clocking signals from input data.

377, Electrical Pulse Counters, Pulse Dividers, and Shift Registers: Circuits and Systems, various subclasses for generic electric circuits for pulse counting

379, Telephonic Communications, various subclasses for two-way electrical communication of intelligible audio information of arbitrary content over a communication link

380, Cryptography, appropriate subclasses and particularly

3+, for stored computer access or copy prevention (e.g., software program protection or computer virus detection) in combination with data encryption, and subclasses 22 through 25 and 50 for electric signal modification.

381, Electrical Audio Signal Processing Systems and Devices, various subclasses for wired one-way audio systems, per se.

382, Image Analysis, various subclasses for operations performed on image data with the aim of measuring a characteristic of an image, detecting variations, detecting structures, or transforming the image data, and for procedures for analyzing and categorizing patterns present in image data.

388, Electricity: Motor Control Systems, cross-reference art collection 907.5 for computer or processor control of DC

motor acceleration or speed.

395, Information Processing System Organization, appropriate subclasses for organization of information processing systems.

455, Telecommunications, appropriate subclasses for modulated carrier wave communication, per se, and

26.1, for subject matter which blocks access to a signal source or otherwise limits usage of modulated carrier equipment 701, Data Processing: Vehicles and Navigation, appropriate subclasses, for applications of computers in vehicular and navigational environments.

702, Data Processing: Measuring and Testing, appropriate subclasses, for applications of computers in measuring and testing.

704, Data Processing: Speech Signal Processing, Linguistics, Language Translation, and Audio Compression/Decompression,

1+, for applications of computers in linguistics, subclasses 200+ for applications of computers in speech signal processing, and subclasses 500 to 504 for applications of computers in audio compression/decompression.

705, Data Processing: Financial, Business Practice, Management, or Cost/Price Determination, various subclasses, for applications of computers and calculators in business and management environments.

706, Data Processing: Artificial Intelligence, various subclasses, for subject matter directed to artificial intelligence data computer which is disclosed or claimed in plural diverse arts both in combination and in the alternative (e.g., digital data computer system for use in image analysis or electrical audio signal computer, and for artificial intelligence per se).

707, Data Processing: Databases and File Management, Data Structures, and Document Processing,

1, 206 for database processing and subclasses 500+ for document processing.

708, Data Processing: Arithmetic Processing and Calculating;

1+, for hybrid computers; and subclasses 100+ for calculators, digital signal computer, and arithmetical and logical computer, per se; and subclasses 800+ for electric analog computers.

710, Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Input/Output, various subclasses, for computer input or

output. 711, Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Memory, appropriate subclasses, for memory addressing and management in a computer system.

712, Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Processing Architecture and Instruction Processing (e.g., Processors), various subclasses, for computer architecture and instruction processing.

713, Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Support,

1+, for digital data processing system initialization and configuration (e.g., initializing, setup, configuration, resetting), subclasses 100 for reconfiguring digital data computer system (e.g., changing system settings), subclasses 200+ for computer security, subclasses 300+ for computer power control, subclasses 400+ for synchronization of computer clocks, data, signals, or pulses, and subclasses 500+ for computer clock, pulse, or timing signal generation or analysis.

714, Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Error Detection/Correction and Fault Detection/Recovery, various subclasses for detecting or correcting errors in generic electrical pulse or pulse data and for detecting and recovering from faults of computers, digital data computer systems, and logic level based systems.

III GLOSSARY:

ACCESS

To obtain entry to, or to locate, read into memory, and make ready for, some operation, for example, regarding disks, files, records, and network entry procedures.

APPLICATION PROGRAM

A computer program designed to perform a certain type of work, such as an application to manipulate text, numbers, graphics, or a combination of these elements. An application differs from an operating system (which runs a computer), a utility (which performs maintenance or general-purpose chores), and a language (with which computer programs are created).

BUS

A conductor used for transferring data, signals, or power. COMPUTER

A machine that inputs data, processes data, stores data, and outputs data.

DATA

Representation of information in a coded manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Address data: data that represent or identify a source or destination. Instruction data: data that represent an operation and identify its operands, if any. Status data: data that represent conditions of data, digital data processing systems, computers, peripherals, memory, etc. Streamed data: data consisting of a more-or-less continuous series of bits, bytes, or other small, structurally uniform units. User data: data other than address data, instruction data, or status data.

Representation of information in a coded manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Address data: data that represent or identify a source or destination. Instruction data: data that represent an operation and identify its operands, if any. Status data: data that represent conditions of data, digital data processing systems, computers, peripherals, memory, etc. Streamed data: data consisting of a more-or-less continuous series of bits, bytes, or other small, structurally uniform units. User data: data other than address data, instruction data, or status data.

Representation of information in a coded manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Address data: data that represent or identify a source or destination. Instruction data: data that represent an operation and identify its operands, if any. Status data: data that represent conditions of data, digital data processing systems, computers, peripherals, memory, etc. Streamed data: data consisting of a more-or-less continuous series of bits, bytes, or other small, structurally uniform units. User data: data other than address data, instruction data, or status data.

Representation of information in a coded manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Address data: data that represent or identify a source or destination. Instruction data: data that represent an operation and identify its operands, if any. Status data: data that represent conditions of data, digital data processing systems, computers, peripherals, memory, etc. Streamed data: data consisting of a more-or-less continuous series of bits, bytes, or other small, structurally uniform units. User data: data other than address data, instruction data, or status data.

Representation of information in a coded manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Address data: data that represent or identify a source or destination. Instruction data: data that represent an operation and identify its operands, if any. Status data: data that represent conditions of data, digital data processing

systems, computers, peripherals, memory, etc. Streamed data: data consisting of a more-or-less continuous series of bits, bytes, or other small, structurally uniform units. User data: data other than address data, instruction data, or status data.

Representation of information in a coded manner suitable for communication, interpretation, or processing. Address data: data that represent or identify a source or destination. Instruction data: data that represent an operation and identify its operands, if any. Status data: data that represent conditions of data, digital data processing systems, computers, peripherals, memory, etc. Streamed data: data consisting of a more-or-less continuous series of bits, bytes, or other small, structurally uniform units. User data: data other than address data, instruction data, or status data.

DATA PROCESSING See PROCESSING, below.

DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM

An arrangement of processor(s) in combination with either memory or peripherals, or both, performing data processing.

ENTITY

A computer or process that can be treated as a unit and, often, as a member of a particular category or type.

ENVIRONMENT

A set of resources made available to the user of a system which defines specifications such as the command path (where to look for files), the system prompt and, sometimes, the location of resources or working files.

INFORMATION

Meaning that a human being assigns to data by means of the conventions applied to that data.

INTERFACE

A connection between two elements so that they can work with one another.

MEMORY A functional unit to which data can be stored and from which data can be retrieved.

MULTITASKING

A mode of operation in which a computer works on more than

one task at a time.

NETWORK

A group of computers and associated devices that are connected by communications facilities which exists to provide computer users with the means of communicating and transferring information electronically. Some types of communication are simple user-to-user messages; others, of the type known as distributed processes, can involve several computers and the sharing of workloads or cooperative efforts in performing a task.

OBJECT

A variable comprising routines and data that is treated as a discrete entity.

OPERATING SYSTEM

Software responsible for controlling the allocation and usage of hardware resources such as memory, central processing unit (CPU) time, disk space, and peripheral devices. The operating system is the foundation on which applications programs (e.g.; word processing, spreadsheets) are built.

PERIPHERAL

A functional unit that transmits data to or receives data from a computer to which it is coupled. PROCESS

A coherent sequence of steps undertaken by a program to manipulate data such as an internal or external data-transfer operation, handling an interrupt, or evaluation of a function.

PROCESSING

Methods or apparatus performing systematic operations upon data or information exemplified by functions such as data or information transferring, merging, sorting, and computing (e.g., arithmetic operations or logical operations).

(1) Note. In this class, the glossary term data is used to modify processing in the term data processing; whereas the term digital data processing system refers to a machine performing data processing.

(2) Note. In an effort to avoid redundant constructions, in this class, where appropriate, the term address data processing is used in place of address data processing.

PROCESSOR

A functional unit that interprets and executes instruction

data.

PROTOCOL

A set of rules or processes which enable computers to exchange information with as little error as possible.

RESOURCE Any part of computer system or a network, such as a disk drive, printer, or memory, that can be allotted to a program or process while it is running. In programming, a resource can be used by more than one program or in more than one place in a program; for example, dialog boxes, bitmaps, and fonts are resources in many windowing programs.

ROUTING

Receiving transmitted messages within a network and forwarding them to their correct destinations over a available route selected according to a predetermined criteria.

SERVER

A computer running administrative software that controls access to all or part of a network and its resources (such as disk drives and printers). A computer acting as a server makes resources available to computers acting as workstations on the network.

SYNCHRONIZATION

Matching of timing between separate computers or among the components of a system so that all are coordinated.

TASK

A standalone application or a subprogram that is run as an independent entity.

THREAD

A path of processing execution within a larger process or program.

TRANSFER The movement of data from one location to another or the passing of program control from one portion of a program to another.