Universal electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system

Claims

We claim:

1. An electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system within a network which shares information resources among its user community, comprising:

a central registry computer whose action is directed by software components,

one or more local server computers whose actions are directed by software components and linked to the central registry computer;

one or more client computers whose actions are directed by software components, and linked to a local server computer;

wherein the software components in these computers operate in concert as a distributed entity to allow client computers to denote resources with aliases that are unique across said server computers and said client computers, and further allow client computers to retrieve information corresponding to said aliases; and

wherein said aliases are maintained in at least said central registry computer and one or more of said local server computers.

2. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 1 further comprising:

computer memory associated with the central registry computer containing alias records of valid electronic resource aliases in said network and wherein said alias records contain electronic resource aliases and electronic resource addresses associated with said aliases; and

wherein the central registry's computer software transmits at least a portion of an alias record to a local server computer on request.

3. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 2, further comprising:

one or more root server computers whose actions are directed by software components, associated with said central registry computer and linked to at least one of said local server computers; and

computer memory associated with the root server computers.

4. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 3, wherein said computer memory associated with a root server computer contains copies of records stored in the computer memory associated with said central registry computer;

wherein a root server computer's software periodically requests the central registry computer for updates of all records that have been added, deleted or altered since the last update, and upon receipt of this update, stores the new or updated records in the computer memory associated with said root server computer; and

wherein the software of a root server directs said root server to respond to a request for information in a manner similar to the central registry server.

5. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 4, wherein said software directs said root server computer to delete or invalidate records which correspond to said updated records or which have been superseded or deleted from the memory associated with said central registry computer.

6. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 3, further comprising:

computer memory associated with a local server computer containing copies of one or more of the alias records; and

wherein the software periodically directs the local server computer to send a list of all the aliases of the records it currently retains together with the time and date of their last known update to a recipient computer, wherein said recipient computer is the central registry computer or a root server computer, and wherein the software directs the recipient computer to return a list of retained aliases whose records have since changed; and wherein the software directs the local server computer to delete or invalidate the records associated with those aliases from its associated computer memory.

7. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 3, further comprising:

computer memory associated with the client computer containing copies of one or more of the alias records; and

wherein the software directs the client computers to accept requests for resource addresses by aliases from a user operating the client computer and to display the alias record corresponding an alias if said alias record is contained in the memory associated with the client computer; and if such an alias record is not present in the memory associated with the client computer to request that alias record from the local server so that it may be displayed or otherwise employed; and wherein the local server computer transmits that alias record if it is present in the computer memory associated with the local server computer; and wherein the local server computer requests the corresponding alias record from the central registry computer or a root server computer in order to fulfill a client computer request if that alias record is not present in the computer memory associated with said local server computer.

8. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 3 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a request by a user to retrieve an electronic resource associated with an alias by first retrieving the alias record corresponding to the alias from a local server computer if that alias record is not already stored in the client computer and then either (a) invoking further software components resident in the client computer capable of retrieving and displaying and/or storing the electronic resource, or (b) transmitting a resource delivery request to a value added server computer.

9. The electronic resource denotation request and delivery system of claim 8 wherein said resource delivery request specifies delivery by electronic mail or by facsimile or by postal service or by telephone.

10. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 3 further comprising:

client computer software components which periodically transmit a list of all resource aliases currently stored in said memory associated with said client computer together with times and dates the associated alias records were last updated to a local server computer; and

local server computer software components which in response to said periodically transmitted list, determines which alias records corresponding to the transmitted resource aliases are no longer current, by (a) checking the computer memory associated with the local server and, (b) requesting alias records from the central registry computer or a root server which are not contained in the memory associated with the local server computer and retaining alias records received in response to said request in the memory associated with the local server for fulfillment of the current and future requests; and wherein the client computer, upon receipt of the list of aliases which are no longer current, deletes corresponding alias records from its associated computer memory.

11. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 7 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a user request to retrieve an electronic resource associated with a character sequence which does not correspond to an alias stored in computer memory in the system by transmitting that character sequence to a local server computer, which in turn transmits it to the central registry computer in order to seek a corresponding alias record; wherein the central registry computer responds by acknowledging the request, and transmitting to the client computer, via the local server computer, a list of candidate aliases which approximate the character sequence; and wherein the client computer displays said list for user selection.

12. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 11, wherein the candidate aliases are proximate to the character sequence in that they all begin with the same character sequence or that they are the result of minor changes in the requested character sequence such as (a) omitting one or several characters in the sequence or (b) inserting one or several additional characters in the sequence or (c) altering several characters in the sequence.

13. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 2 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a user request to create a new alias for an electronic resource by eliciting from the user record information including an electronic resource address; wherein the client computer transmits the new alias record to the central registry computer; wherein the central registry computer either (a) approves the new alias and stores its record if the character sequence of the alias is valid and not in use; and wherein the central registry computer sends acknowledgement of acceptance to the client computer, or (b) denies approval of the new alias and transmits the reason for denial to the client computer; and wherein the client computer informs the user of the central registry computer's decision.

14. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 13 wherein said record information further comprises a resource format, text describing the resource, and other aliases whose corresponding resources are related to the resource.

15. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 2 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a user request to create a personal alias or nickname for an alias which is stored in associated computer memory by storing the personal alias and associating it with the resource alias; and wherein thereafter, in response to a request for the record corresponding to the personal alias or the request for the electronic resource associated with that personal alias, the software responds in the same manner as it would if the corresponding resource alias were used.

16. An electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system within a network which shares information resources among its user community, comprising:

a registry computer whose action is directed by software components;

one or more client computers whose actions are directed by software components, and linked to a registry computer; wherein the software components in these computers operate in concert as a distributed entity to allow client computers to denote resources with aliases that are unique across said registry computer and said client computers, and further allow client computers to retrieve information corresponding to said aliases; a

wherein said aliases are maintained in at least said registry computer and one or more of said client computers.

17. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 16 further comprising:

computer memory associated with the registry computer containing alias records of valid electronic resource aliases in said network and wherein said alias records contain electronic resource aliases and electronic resource addresses associated with said aliases; and

wherein the registry's computer software transmits at least a portion of an alias record to a client computer on request.

18. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 17, further comprising:

one or more mirror registry computers whose actions are directed by software components, associated with a central registry computer and linked to sat least one of said client computers; and

computer memory associated with the mirror registry computers.

19. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 18, wherein said computer memory associated with a mirror registry computer contains copies of records stored in the computer memory associated with said registry computer;

wherein a mirror registry computer's software periodically requests the registry computer for updates of all records that have been added, deleted or altered since the last update, and upon receipt of this update, stores the new or updated records in the computer memory associated with said mirror registry computer; and

wherein the software of a mirror registry computer directs said mirror registry computer to respond to a request for information in a manner similar to the central registry server.

20. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 19, wherein said software directs said mirror registry computer to delete or invalidate records which correspond to said updated records or which have been superseded or deleted from the memory associated with said central registry computer.

21. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 18, further comprising:

computer memory associated with a client computer containing copies of one or more of the alias records; and

wherein the software periodically directs the client computer to send a list of all the aliases of the records it currently retains together with the time and date of their last known update to a recipient computer, wherein said recipient computer is the central registry computer or a mirror registry computer, and wherein the software directs the recipient computer to return a list of retained aliases whose records have since changed; and wherein the software directs the local server computer to delete or invalidate the records associated with those aliases from its associated computer memory.

22. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 18, further comprising:

computer memory associated with the client computer containing copies of one or more of the alias records; and

wherein the software directs the client computers to accept requests for resource addresses by aliases from a user operating the client computer and to display the alias record corresponding an alias if said alias record is contained in the memory associated with the client computer; and if such an alias record is not present in the memory associated with the client computer to request that alias record from an associated registry computer so that it may be displayed or otherwise employed; and wherein the associated registry computer transmits that alias record if it is present in the computer memory associated with the associated registry computer.

23. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 18 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a request by a user to retrieve an electronic resource associated with an alias by first retrieving the alias record corresponding to the alias from an associated registry computer if that alias record is not already stored in the client computer and then either (a) invoking further software components resident in the client computer capable of retrieving and displaying and/or storing the electronic resource, or (b) transmitting a resource delivery request to a value added server computer.

24. The electronic resource denotation request and delivery system of claim 23 wherein said resource delivery request specifies delivery by electronic mail or by facsimile or by postal service or by telephone.

25. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 18 further comprising:

client computer software components which periodically transmit a list of all resource aliases currently stored in said memory associated with said client computer together with times and dates the associated alias records were last updated to a mirror registry computer; and

mirror registry computer software components which in response to said periodically transmitted list, determines which alias records corresponding to the transmitted resource aliases are no longer current, by (a) checking the computer memory associated with the mirror registry computer and, (b) requesting alias records from the registry computer which are not contained in the memory associated with the mirror registry computer and retaining alias records received in response to said request in the memory associated with the mirror registry computer for fulfillment of the current and future requests; and wherein the client computer, upon receipt of the list of aliases which are no longer current, deletes corresponding alias records from its associated computer memory.

26. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 22 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a user request to retrieve an electronic resource associated with a character sequence which does not correspond to an alias stored in computer memory in the system by transmitting that character sequence to a registry computer in order to seek a corresponding alias record; wherein the registry computer responds by acknowledging the request, and transmitting to the client computer a list of candidate aliases which approximate the character sequence; and wherein the client computer displays said list for user selection.

27. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 26, wherein the candidate aliases are proximate to the character sequence in that they all begin with the same character sequence or that they are the result of minor changes in the requested character sequence such as (a) omitting one or several characters in the sequence or (b) inserting one or several additional characters in the sequence or (c) altering several characters in the sequence.

28. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 17 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a user request to create a new alias for an electronic resource by eliciting from the user record information including an electronic resource address; wherein the client computer transmits the new alias record to a registry computer; wherein the registry computer either (a) approves the new alias and stores its record if the character sequence of the alias is valid and not in use; and wherein the registry computer sends acknowledgement of acceptance to the client computer, or (b) denies approval of the new alias and transmits the reason for denial to the client computer; and wherein the client computer informs the user of the registry computer's decision.

29. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 28 wherein said record information further comprises a resource format, text describing the resource, and other aliases whose corresponding resources are related to the resource.

30. The electronic resource denotation, request and delivery system of claim 17 further comprising:

client computer software components which respond to a user request to create a personal alias or nickname for an alias which is stored in associated computer memory by storing the personal alias and associating it with the resource alias; and wherein thereafter, in response to a request for the record corresponding to the personal alias or the request for the electronic resource associated with that personal alias, the software responds in the same manner as it would if the corresponding resource alias were used.

31. A method for aliasing electronic resources comprising the steps of:

entering an alias into a client computer and polling an associated memory for an electronic resource address associated with said alias;

using said alias to poll a memory associated with a local server for an address corresponding to said alias if said address is not in said client computer memory;

using said alias to poll a memory associated with a master server for an address corresponding to said alias if said address is not in said local server memory; and

returning the results of the polls to the client computer; where the results of the poll include an address coupled to the alias if a corresponding address is found.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The field of the invention is that of a Network in which Electronic Resources are shared among such a system's community of users. A Network is a distributed communicating system of computers which are interconnected by various electronic communication links and computer software protocols. Electronic Resources are (a) documents, files and/or other information sources which are accessible on a Network to its user community, or (b) references to and/or means of accessing such documents, files and/or information sources. The invention relates to a system for denoting (naming) the Electronic Resources of a Network and a related system for the fulfillment of requests for and/or execution of delivery of these Electronic Resources to users of the Network's user community.

2. Description of the Related Technology

A particularly well-known Network is the international information infrastructure, commonly called the Internet. The Internet is a world-wide Network whose Electronic Resources include (but are not limited to) text files, graphic files in various formats, World Wide Web "pages" in HTML (HyperText Mark-Up Language) format, files in various and arbitrary binary formats, and electronic mail addresses. As in many other Networks, the scheme for denotation of an Electronic Resource on the Internet is an "electronic address" which uniquely identifies its location within the network and within the computer in which it resides. On the Internet, for example, such an electronic address is called a Universal Resource Locator or URL, and consists of a specially formatted concatenation of information about the type of protocol needed to access the resource, a Network Domain identifier, identification of the particular computer on which the Electronic Resource is located, a port number, directory path information within the computer's file structure, and the file name of the resource.

Internet URLs and similar denotation schemes for Electronic Resources are cumbersome for human users. URLs are often more than 50 characters long and contain information which is neither interesting nor meaningful to seekers of information. For example, the NASA Internet web "homepage" has the URL "http://hypatia.gsfe.nasa.gov/NASA.sub.-- homepage.html."

The National Information Control (NIC) registers unique Internet domain names on a first come first served basis. Even if an entity can acquire a domain name which is mnemonic and easy to remember, the URLs associated with that domain may still be complex non-intuitive character sequences. Sometimes an entity cannot register a desired domain name because another entity has already registered that domain name with the NIC. The entity must then choose an alternate domain name, which often results in difficulty in finding that entity's Electronic Resources on the Internet. Additionally, due to length, software, and practicality considerations, domain names are often peculiar abbreviations, presenting additional confusion in locating an entity's Electronic Resources on the Internet. Furthermore, many entities do not possess their own computing equipment nor domain names, and must maintain their Electronic Resources in the domains of other entities, as in this example of a URL: "http://draco.centerline.com:8080/.about.franl/crypto.html," which denotes a web page on privacy and cryptography.

Thus, several difficulties face users attempting to locate Electronic Resources on a Network with a denotation system such as that in use on the Internet. They include the length, complexity and non-intuitive nature of denotations (URLs on the Internet), the need to type them correctly, and the difficulty in learning of the existence of the Electronic Resource and in discovering its correct denotation or URL.

Various software tools to facilitate the search for URLs have been proposed or developed for use on the Internet. These include "Yellow Pages," "White Pages." and "Web Crawlers." They all deal with compiling and maintaining classification systems of Electronic Resources on a Network. They all attempt to create and/or maintain a utility which presents an indexing scheme to a user so that he/she may learn of the existence of an Electronic Resource and retrieve its electronic address (or URL). "Yellow Page" indexes classify Electronic Resources by a hierarchy of subject areas in a manner similar to the telephone "yellow pages" or a library classification scheme. "White Page" indexes classify Electronic Resources by owner or name of the resource. These schemes inherit all the difficulties of classifying potentially huge name spaces, including the difficulties arising from overlapping and non-hierarchical subject areas and overlapping name spaces.

The Yellow Page approach suffers from the phenomenon of overlapping subject areas which occurs in any classification scheme. This can be illustrated by the difficulty of deciding whether to place "educational psychology" under "education" or "psychology" and that of classifying a document on Democracy and Fascism in Spain under possibly disparate subject areas of "democracy" or "fascism" or "Spanish history" in a classification scheme. These difficulties are well known in Library Science. The White Page approach is to classify by provider or owner. This is an excellent scheme providing that the information seeker knows the name(s) of potential providers of Electronic Resources. Neither of these schemes address the problem of complexity of the denotation of Electronic Resources. In some cases, the denotation need not be seen or dealt with by the user, as in the case of hypertext links ("hot links") within Internet Web pages. Web software automatically retrieves documents referred to in other documents without user intervention or entry of URLs. Web software ("browsers") also are able to retain URLs of Web pages in a user-created (usually hierarchical) classification scheme, and list these by page titles. This capability allows users to revisit (retrieve at a later time) web pages previously retrieved, as they may have changed.

Web crawlers and other search engines attempt to create indexes of the yellow or white page variety, together with their attendant classification scheme, by continually traversing Electronic Resources in a Network and compiling information about the resources encountered. In an environment similar to the World Wide Web in which documents link to other documents, search engines are able to extract the links from documents in order to extend their search to other documents. Various means are used to extrapolate subject areas and other classification schemes, ranging from author-provided keyword or indexing information through expert system techniques for ferreting index information from textual context. These engines participate in the construction apparatus for indexes such as yellow or white pages.

Some Networks include protocols such as the Internet "Finger" for finding an electronic mail address of a person. These protocols and their attendant software have the drawback of being unable to search a very large e-mail address space, and thus require additional information for their search, such as a Domain Name in the Internet. Other Internet protocols such as "Who Is" request registered information about different Domains (from NIC in the Internet).

Thus, there are many tools in Networks for locating and classifying Electronic Resources. All deal with using user-provided information regarding the subject matter, owner or electronic location of an Electronic Resource in order to identify its electronic address (URL in the Internet). Other tools attempt to create, update or extend such classification systems automatically by continually searching the Network's Electronic Resource space. Still other tools construct and retain user-classified lists of these addresses for later use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Using current technology, an user of a resource-sharing distributed or networked computer system such as the Internet cannot quickly and conveniently locate and access a specific network resource unless the user knows the precise network address of the desired resource. Indexes assist users in locating such resources, but as information grows exponentially, indexes are larger and thus more difficult to traverse and may not be able to remain current. Information providers may choose to advertise electronic addresses of their resources (such as URLs on the Internet) by other means (newspapers, radio, television and other media, for example); electronic addresses advertised by these means are often cumbersome and difficult to remember, especially since they are often expressions of physical locations of resources and include non-intuitive arbitrary-seeming information. Seekers of information thrive on short mnemonic denotations for informational resources. In the telephone system this is demonstrated by competition for use of scarce alphabetically meaningful telephone numbers such as "800-FLOWERS," and on the Internet it is demonstrated by competition for mnemonic Domain names such as "www.ibm.com."

This invention deals with a mnemonic denotation system for Electronic Resources on a Network such as the Internet and a concomitant system of request and delivery services for these Electronic Resources. Specifically, this invention is a system for providing and maintaining short aliases for information resources and their providers and a system for translation of these aliases to meaningful electronic addresses such as URL's, facsimile and voice telephone numbers and electronic mail addresses, and for accessing the resources by means of these addresses.

The system according to the invention need not implement an information utility, nor need it store the information which information providers make available to user communities. Nor does a system according to the invention need to classify or index information in such a utility or network. This invention concerns itself primarily with a system for "aliasing" information resources with short mnemonic names chosen by the information providers and with a system for providing users with pointers to (access to) the information or actually delivering the information in a variety of formats on behalf of the information providers.

1. Definitions

A Network is a distributed communicating system of computers which are interconnected by various electronic communication links and computer software protocols for the purpose of sharing files, documents and other electronic resources among its community of users (such as the Internet).

An Electronic Resource is (a) a document, file and/or other information source which is accessible on a Network to its user community, or (b) a references to and implied means of accessing such a document, file and/or information source; thus, a text file, a web page, a Telnet connection, and an e-mail address are Electronic Resources; a URL on the Internet is also an Electronic Resource.

An Address is a character sequence which can be used directly to locate, communicate with and access an Electronic Resource, such as a URL on the Internet, an e-mail address, or a voice or facsimile telephone number.

A Denotation of an Electronic Resource is a name for that resource chosen by a naming convention delineated below.

A Request and Delivery System is the distributed software system delineated in this document for uncovering the "address" on an Electronic Resource in a Network, and for transporting or transmitting that resource in some desirable form to the requester.

Mnemonic means a denotation which is intended to be easy to remember for human users.

2. Objects of the Invention

An object of this invention is to a provide shortened, convenient, mnemonic method for denoting and accessing Electronic Resources on a Network such the Internet. Another object of this invention is to provide a distributed computer system that implements this method by associating (mapping) mnemonic denotations of Electronic Resources with their electronic addresses (such as URLs) and retrieving Addresses associated with the Denotations of the invention. Another object of this invention is to provide a mechanism for assuring that every Denotation of an Electronic Resource of a Network is unique within the Network and controlled by the owner and/or provider of the resource. Another object of this invention is to facilitate and/or provide a mechanism for the delivery of Electronic Resources associated with Denotations to users by electronic or other means. Still another object of this invention is to provide mechanism for users to identify the Denotations of Electronic Resources of an information provider. A further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism and distributed software system for guaranteeing that the mnemonic Denotations of Electronic Resources remain current and are continually associated with their correct physical or electronic Addresses and/or locations even when these Addresses or locations change.

3. Denotation Method for Information Resources

At the core of this invention is a system for associating any Electronic Resource within a Network with a special Denotation made up of a unique sequence of characters. For purposes of description herein, the Denotation of a particular Electronic Resource shall be referred to as its "Resource Alias." A Resource Alias includes a sequence of characters which together attempt to describe the resource in a mnemonically meaningful way. The system according to the invention may require a Resource Alias to always begin with a character sequence identifying the provider of an Electronic Resource which shall be referred to herein as a "Source Alias."

Source Aliases are made unique by constricting each Source Alias to exactly one information provider, be it an organization or an individual. A Source Alias uniquely describes and denotes the owner, source or distributer of the resource. Fictional examples of Source Aliases may be "US Senate," "IBM." "Harvard University" and "Red Cross." An information provider may create Resource Aliases by appending a separator character and another sequence of characters to his/her Source Alias. Each Resource Alias uniquely denotes and represents an Electronic Resource, while many Electronic Resources may be associated with each Source Alias. Fictional examples of Resource Aliases might be "US Senate/Dole Bio" and "XYZ Appliance Company/four-slice toaster," wherein the separator character is `slash` (`/`). The first example might be the Resource Alias associated with a biographical sketch of Senator Dole provided by the U.S. Senate, while the second might be a description of a particular toaster vended by the XYZ Appliance Company.

Source Aliases may be made unique by their registration in a central registry. Resource Aliases may be constructed by information providers. Both Source and Resource Aliases are expected to be Mnemonic and easy to convey to information seekers. It is also expected that entities will want to use short Source and Resource Aliases whenever possible. For example, the U.S. Department of Defense may desire to use "DoD" or "US DoD" as a Source Alias rather than (or in addition to) using its complete name. Some commonly used character strings may be reserved for use as Source Aliases or Resource Aliases by public entities and advertised as such; an example might be "911/poison."

In order to extend the name range for Source and Resource aliases, various non-alphabetic characters shall be allowed in their expression. Thus, for example, "Smith&Jones," "USA Today," and "CBS|" may be valid Source Aliases, while "MicroSoft/C++," "Boeing/767 Info," "IBM/PC=Value," and "Chase Manhattan/$Exchange" might be valid Resource Aliases. A system according to the invention may display a predetermined grammar and include a reserved vocabulary.

4. Central Registry of Denotations

According to the invention, there will be a central registry system for registration of Source Aliases. In addition, Resource Aliases may also be specified on a central registry system. Source Aliases would preferably be chosen on a first-come first-served basis, but there could be some criteria which prevents information providers from assuming Source Aliases which commonly indicate any well known public entity such as a national or international corporation or a non-profit or governmental agency. Aliases which denote information resources must be centrally registered for two reasons. First, in order to guarantee uniqueness, particularly of Source Aliases. Secondly, in order to allow Resource Aliases to be globally associated with the correct Addresses of the Electronic Resources they denote, and so that these associations may be made accessible to all users of the Network.

5. The Software and The Software Sites

The implementation of this invention comprises a distributed computer system including different computer and software implemented systems which communicate with each other on their Network. The description of this invention shall refer to various types of Network sites (computers) which are partially configured by and shall contain and operate according to different software programs. These sites shall be referred to as a "Central Registry" (the unique site which is responsible for registration of Source and Resource Aliases), "Clients" (computers such as workstations and personal computers used by human users), "Local Servers" (intermediate Network nodes to which Clients may be connected to and which provide immediate service for Clients), "Root Servers" (computers which contain essentially the same information as the Central Registry and provide this information to other computers so as to distribute the load which would otherwise fall on the Central Registry computer), and "Value Added Servers" (computers which provide additional services to Clients and their users as described below). The aggregate of software of this invention shall have component programs at each of these types of sites, and these component programs shall work in concert in order to provide the stated operational features to users and meet the stated objects of this invention.

The Central Registry is the site wherein the official versions of all Source and Resource Aliases, together with any relevant information associated with them, shall reside. It is the responsibility of this site to store and disseminate all Resource Alias-related information, to