(12) (10) Patent N0.: US 6,973,656 B1 Huynh et al. (45) Date of Patent: Dec. 6, 2005 (54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR LINKING OTHER PUBLICATIONS DATA IN A DISTRIBUTED DATA . Olf PIQTSOT, Mar. craW-1,nc., .,.. (75) Inventors: Tien Huynh, Yorktown Heights, NY * eited by exaininei (US); Robert Evan Strom, Ridgefield, _ _ CT (US); Michal Z. Ukelson, Primary Examiner —S11e Lee _ Haitsdaiet NY (US); Danie] M_ Ye]]in, (74) Attorney, Agent, or F1rm—Michael J . Buchenhorner; Suffern, NY (US) Casey P- August (73) Assignee: International Business Machines (57) ABSTRACT Corporation, Armonk, NY (US) _ _ _ _ An apparatus for implementing “links” between objects or ( * ) Notice; Snbjeet to any diseiaiinen tne tenn of this content items in applications or documents in a distributed patent is extended Oi adjusted nndei 35 system such that changes to the source objects or items are U_S_C_ 154(b) by Q dayS_ retl11ected in changes dto the tetilrget objects (H content items. T e apparatus inc u es mec anisms or a owing users to (21) App1_ NQ_; ()3/515,778 establish links, to break individual links, to copy documents or content including links, and to determine locations and/or 22 Filed: Au . 16, 1995 descri tions of the source of a iven tar et or an or all of g h P1 _ 1 f _ g g Y t e mu tip e targets o a given source. (51) Int. Cl.7 ............................................... .. G06F 9/44 (52) U.S. Cl. ..................................... .. 719/315; 719/332 Advantageously, the apparatus Of this irlvehtieh 1l$e$ rerhete (58) Field of Search ...................... .. 395/683; 709/315, rhessage Passlhg tor e0rhrh1lh1eat10h> thereby Perrhlttlhg 799/316, 197, 198; 719/315, 316, 332, 331, links to. be established even when the source and target 719/319; 713/197, 193; 717/165, 164, 162; applications execute on different platforms and even when 715/599 they share no common file system. (56) References Cited The apparatus inclufdes anltavailability Eerver Wl11Cl11 can serve as a surrogate or app ications W 1C are current y not U~S- PATENT DOCUMENTS running. This permits targets of links to query the state of a 571757848 A * 12/1992 Dysart et at _________ __ 707/103 R link source, to register/unregister with the link source in 5,135,335 A * 2/1993 Dyseit et e1_ 707/100 order to receive notification of updates, create new links 5,303,379 A * 4/1994 Khoyi et al. 717/166 linked to the saine link source, and to break their link to the 5,404,525 A * 4/1995 Endicott et al. - - - - - - - -- 395/700 link source, even though the application containing the link A SChflCfiCI Ct al. Source is unaVaflab1e_ 5,608,909 A * 3/1997 Atkinson et al. 395/703 5594489 A * 9/ 1997 Bennett et at - - - - - - - - ~~ 395/920 The apparatus of the availability server can be generalized to 5558351 A * 5/1998 Gibson 5151' """"" " 707/1041 support the ability to support transparent access from one 5’8O2’367 A 5 9/1998 Held ct 51' """""""" " 395/685 a lication to ob'ects of a second a lication in the face of 5,896,533 A * 4/1999 Ramos et al. 709/217 PP .1 bu flth d 1. ti? 5,913,033 A * 6/1999 Grout ................ .. 709/219 “naval a 1 1 Y ° 5 “Con apt’ 1“ 1°“ 6,104,963 A * 8/2000 Cebasek et al. 700/86 6,223,344 B1 * 4/2001 Gerard et al. ............... .. 717/11 15 Claims, 18 Drawing Sheets
