A method in a computer network for automatically detecting a most advantageous protocol for communication by a client computer, said client computer being configured to be coupled to a server computer via a computer network. The method includes initiating a plurality of protocol threads for sending from the client computer to the server computer, a plurality of data requests. Each of the data requests employs a different protocol and a different connection. The data requests are configured to solicit, responsive to the data requests, a set of responses from the server computer. Each of the responses employs a protocol associated with a respective one of the data requests. The method further includes receiving at the client computer at least a subset of the responses. The method also includes initiating a control thread at the client computer. The control thread monitors the subset of the responses as each response is received from the server computer to select the most advantageous protocol from protocols associated with the subset of the responses, wherein the most advantageous protocol is determined based on a predefined protocol priority.
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C 119 (e) of a provisional application entitled "VCR CONTROL FUNCTIONS" filed Jan. 30, 1997 by inventors Anthony W. Cannon, Anders E. Klemets, Hemanth S. Ravi, and David del Val (application Ser. No. 60/036,661) and a provisional application entitled "METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR AUTODETECTING PROTOCOLS IN A COMPUTER NETWORK" filed Jan. 30, 1997 by inventors Anthony W. Cannon, Anders E. Klemets, Hemanth S. Ravi, and David del Val (application Ser. No. 60/036,662).
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/818,805, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Implementing Motion Detection in Video Compression", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/819,507, filed Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Digital Video Signal Encoder and Encoding Method", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/818,804, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Production of a Video Stream with Synchronized Annotations over a Computer Network", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/819,586, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Implementing Control Functions in a Streamed Video Display System", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/818,769, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Automatically Detecting Protocols in a Computer Network," U.S. application Ser. No.08/818,127, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Dynamic Bandwidth Selection for Efficient Transmission of Multimedia Streams in a Computer Network," U.S. application Ser. No. 08/819,585, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Streaming and Display of a Video Stream with Synchronized Annotations over a Computer Network", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/818,664, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Selective Retransmission for Efficient and Reliable Streaming of Multimedia Packets in a Computer Network", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/819,579, filed Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Table-Based Compression with Embedded Coding", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/818,826, filed on Mar. 14, 1997, entitled "Digital Video Signal Encoder and Encoding Method", all filed concurrently herewith, U.S. application Ser. No. 08/822,156, filed on Mar. 17, 1997, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Communication Media Commands and Data Using the HTTP Protocol", provisional U.S. application Ser. No. 60/036,662, filed on Jan. 30, 1997, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Autodetecting Protocols in a Computer Network" U.S. application Ser. No. 08/625,650, filed on Mar. 29, 1996, entitled "Table-Based Low-Level Image Classification System", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/714,447, filed on Sep. 16, 1996, entitled "Multimedia Compression System with Additive Temporal Layers", and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/623,299, filed on Mar. 28, 1996, entitled "Table-Based Compression with Embedded Coding", which are all incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
A method and system for recommending an available network protocol operatively connected to at least one client computer via a network. The method includes the steps of determining whether a first network protocol in a network protocol list having a number of types of network protocols is supported by the client computer and the peripheral device, verifying communication between the client computer and the peripheral device over the network protocol when the network protocol is supported by the client computer and the peripheral device, determining whether a next network protocol in the network protocol list is supported by the client computer and the peripheral device when the first network protocol is not supported by the client computer and the peripheral device, and recommending the network protocol with verified communication to the user.
The present invention relates to the communication between a client and a server. A communication control method has a step for specifying a relay apparatus corresponding to a designated apparatus to be communicated with based on relay definition information which relates information for specifying the apparatus to be communicated with to information for specifying the relay apparatus to relay the communication with the apparatus to be communicated with and a step for establishing a relay connection with the specified relay apparatus.
An invention is provided for affording asynchronous fault-tolerant and adaptive communication in a distributed computing environment. The invention includes periodically updating a stored connection state value, which is received from an application. The connection state value indicates the number of data elements processed by the application. An interruption in a digital connection is then detected on a network between two endpoints. Upon detection, the stored connection state value is exchanged with the opposite endpoint over the network. In this manner, remaining data elements of the transaction can be received sequentially over the network from the opposite endpoint. In particular, the remaining data elements begin with a data element at a point indicated by the connection state value plus one.
The invention provides a generic naming scheme for remote access and firewall traversal in the form of a uniform resource locator (RAFT URL). The RAFT URL may be provided to any client, regardless of compatibility with the remote access/firewall traversal method, which then launches an operating environment code module. The operating environment code module performs the remote access/firewall traversal method and interacts with the operating environment to obtain data transport mechanisms. These mechanisms permit the client application to transact with private resources beyond the firewall. The remote access/firewall traversal procedure is made transparent to the client application, and thus, a wider array of client applications may be chosen for the data session with the resources beyond the firewall.
A session manager has a session timeout mechanism to selectively timeout client-server sessions. The session timeout mechanism has multiple timeout buckets to hold corresponding groups of sessions according to the sessions' timeout periods. Sessions located in different ones of the timeout buckets are set to timeout at different times. The session manager also has a session timeout clock that is incremented every predetermined time unit (e.g., every minute). The session timeout clock maintains a pointer to one of the timeout buckets and advances that pointer with each clock increment. The session timeout clock advances the pointer through all of the timeout buckets, one bucket at a time. The session timeout clock advances the pointer repeatedly through all the buckets. The cycle time for the session timeout clock to reference every timeout bucket is equal to the incremental time unit multiplied by the number of buckets. A new session (or one that recently received a request and is restarting its timeout period) is inserted into a timeout bucket that is one or more buckets ahead of the clock pointer, depending upon the session's timeout period. When the timeout clock references a particular bucket, the sessions in that bucket are analyzed for possible timeout. Sessions whose timeout period has run without receiving any new requests are timed out and removed from the bucket.
