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CLASS 719, ELECTRICAL COMPUTERS AND DIGITAL PROCESSING SYSTEMS: INTERPROGRAM COMMUNICATION OR INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION (IPC)

311	COMMON GATEWAY INTERFACE PROGRAM COMMUNICATION:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter wherein a server program, or script is executed at the request of a client program through a web browser.

(1) Note. User input information is passed to the programs/scripts using the Common Gateway Interface (CGI) convention and the server side CGI program sends the result back to the client using dynamic html.

312	INTERPROGRAM COMMUNICATION USING SHARED MEMORY:

	This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between plural processes or application programs using a memory which can be shared between those processes or programs.

313	INTERPROGRAM COMMUNICATION USING MESSAGE:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between processes or application programs using pieces of information which suggest actions to be taken or indicate conditions or indicate that an event has occurred.

(1) Note. Sending a message to an object is equivalent to calling a procedure in traditional programming languages, except that the actual code executed is selected at run-time depending on the class of the object. For example, in response to a message to draw an object, the code invoked would be different if the object were a circle or a square.

SEE OR SEARCH THIS CLASS, SUBCLASS:

312,	for sending a message between processes via a shared memory.
314,	for sending a message between processes using a queue.

314	. Message using queue:

This subclass is indented under subclass 313. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between processes or application programs using messages that are lined up in a particular order.

(1) Note. Examples of queues are FIFOs, named pipes, streams, and the like.

315	. Object oriented message:

This subclass is indented under subclass 313. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between objects (e.g., a message tells a receiving object what to do) wherein a method or member function of a receiving object is invoked or called by a sending method of a sending object and the message passing may involve passing actual parameters (e.g., either by reference or by value) to the target object.

(1) Note. Object-oriented data structure principles employed in message passing are properly classified here. Mere recitations to object oriented data structures, per se, do not automatically cause classification in this subclass. Object-oriented data structures, per se, are classified elsewhere, see the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below.

(2) Note. Messaging techniques abound in the data communications arts in the form of signaling protocols, message protocols, semaphore techniques, token passing, etc. An object oriented paradigm will present generalized functionality in a neatly reusable or customizable program code "module", therefore, a concept search for a messaging technique should also consider the other communications classes as appropriate.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

307,	Electrical Transmission or Interconnection Systems, appropriate subclassesfor residual subject matter related to transmission or interconnection systems.
340,	Communications: Electrical, subclasses 1.1 through 16.1for 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.
342,	Communications: Directive Radio Wave Systems and Devices (e.g., Radar, Radio Navigation), various subclassesfor systems and processes for transmission or reception of radio wave energy for obtaining or utilizing information (using radio wave transmitters or receivers), as to an object, or as to the directional characteristics of the radio wave energy, per se.
358,	Facsimile and Static Presentation Processing, various subclassesfor the recordation, reproduction and transmission of images of arbitrary composition.
370,	Multiplex Communications, appropriate subclassesfor the simultaneous transmission of two or more signals over a common medium.
375,	Pulse or Digital Communications, various subclassesfor digital communications processing including modulating, demodulating, encoding, decoding, and phase locking.
379,	Telephonic Communications, various subclassesfor two-way electrical communication of audio information of arbitrary content.
380,	Cryptography, appropriate subclassesfor concealing, obscuring and extracting intelligence by for example coding and decoding.
455,	Telecommunications, appropriate subclassesfor modulated carrier wave communications, per se.
707,	Data Processing: Database, Data Mining, and File Management or Data Structures, subclasses 790 through 812for database design including data structures and database structure management.
709,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, appropriate subclassesfor multicomputing, data transferring, per se, particularly subclasses 213-219 for transferring data via shared memory.
710,	Electrical Computers and Digital Data Processing Systems: Input/Output, subclass 105 for bus protocols, per se.
712,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Processing Architectures and Instruction Processing (e.g., Processors), subclasses 220 through 248for processing control inclu ding branch instruction processing.
714,	Error Detection/Correction and Fault Detection/Recovery, subclasses 746 through 797for correcting errors by transmittal data such as party checking and cyclical redundancy checking.
715,	Data Processing: Presentation Processing of Document, Operator Interface Processing, and Screen Saver Display Processing, subclasses 804 through 805for interwindow links and communication, and subclasses 835-839 for icons and metaphoric icon objects.

316	.. Managed object system:

This subclass is indented under subclass 315. Subject matter comprising means or steps for managing an object system that may include distributed object systems or distributed object models.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

707,	Data Processing: Database, Data Mining, and File Management or Data Structures, subclasses 790 through 812for database design including data structures and database structure management.

317	. Agent:

	This subclass is indented under subclass 313. Subject matter comprising means or steps for using a software program that automatically performs some information gathering or processing task in the background on behalf of another entity which would otherwise require some form of manual or directed intervention.

318	EVENT HANDLING OR EVENT NOTIFICATION:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication of events between application programs or processes or within the context of application programs or processes.

(1) Note. Event handling, event notification and system level exception processing are properly classified here.

319	DATA TRANSFER BETWEEN OPERATING SYSTEMS:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication of data or messages between discrete operating systems.

(1) Note. An operating system is a software platform on top of which application programs run.

320	HIGH LEVEL APPLICATION CONTROL:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication of data, commands, or messages between at least one controlling script, macro or other high level controlling program, and at least one controlled application program.

(1) Note. The high-level control program, macro, or script automatically controls the flow of input commands or data to the application program so as to provide automated high level control of at least one application program.

321	DEVICE DRIVER COMMUNICATION:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between application programs or operating systems and callable interfacing programs (i.e., device driver programs) which further facilitate communication or control of peripheral hardware devices such as printers, disk drives, tape drives, CRT displays, etc.

(1) Note. Subject matter under this subclass is directed to high-level communication from an operating system or application program to a device driver program (i.e., program to program). Device drivers are software programs which are custom designed to handle the low-level implementation details required to directly access and control a particular peripheral device (i.e., program to hardware). See the appropriate peripheral device area for details of how the low-level control of the hardware device is implemented.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

358,	Facsimile and Static Presentation Processing, subclasses 1.1 through 1.18,various subclasses for the recordation, reproduction and transmission of images of arbitrary composition, particularly for a static presentation computer per se, and specifically subclasses 1.14 and 1.15 for reliability and data communication, per se.
709,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, subclasses 220 through 222for configuring a network computer.
710,	Electrical Computers and Digital Data Processing Systems: Input/Output, subclasses 1 through 74for Input/Output data processing, per se, including subclass 8 for generalized peripheral configuration, per se, subclass 10 for address assignment and configuration initialization, subclass 11 for protocol selection, and subclass 20 for concurrent Input/Output computer and data transfer.
711,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Memory, subclasses 100 through 173,for managing memory and for memory accessing and control.

322	. Multimedia device driver:

	This subclass is indented under subclass 321. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between application programs or operating systems and callable interfacing programs (i.e., device driver programs) which further facilitate communication or control of peripheral multimedia hardware devices, such as CD-ROM and audio peripheral devices.

323	. Video graphics device driver:

	This subclass is indented under subclass 321. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between application programs or operating systems and callable interfacing programs (i.e., device driver programs) which further facilitate communication or control of peripheral video graphics hardware devices.

324	. Virtual device driver (VxD):

This subclass is indented under subclass 321. Subject matter comprising software which virtualizes physical hardware by intercepting application requests to use the hardware and arbitrating between requests to access physical hardware from different applications.

(1) Note. In the more extreme case, VxDs can provide a "virtual" device that is not actually present at all, by emulating the behavior of a hardware device. VxDs, by virtue of their privileged access to the system, can also be used to implement software monitors, debuggers, and to modify the behavior of other software on the system.

325	. RAID metadriver:

	This subclass is indented under subclass 321. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between an operating system and meta device drivers associated with a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) disk drive array.

326	. SCSI device driver:

	This subclass is indented under subclass 321. Subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between application programs or operating systems and callable interfacing programs (i.e., device driver programs) which further facilitate communication or control of SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) peripheral devices.

327	. Device driver configuration:

This subclass is indented under subclass 321. Subject matter comprising means or steps for configuring or matching a peripheral hardware device with its appropriate corresponding software device driver using lists, device description tables, device managers, device libraries, dynamic matching techniques, device binding techniques, and the like.

(1) Note. Device driver configuration or matching may be performed dynamically at any time, but is typically performed subsequent to the physical installation of a new peripheral hardware device.

(2) Note. Device driver matching may also be performed during the booting process, and whenever the computer system is configured or reconfigured.

328	APPLICATION PROGRAM INTERFACE (API):

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising a set of routines, procedures, or interfaces which facilitate requests or calls from one or more application programs to lower-level operating system routines.

(1) Note. This subclass is directed to the tools which allow application programs to utilize an operating system, application programs for specific information processing tasks, such as, simulation and design. Program development environments, business data processing, database systems, machine translation and document processing are classified elsewhere, see the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below.

(2) Note. This subclass is directed to the tools which allow application programs to utilize an operating system. Programming tools, per se, are classified elsewhere, SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below.

(3) Note. Object oriented data structure principles may be employed in the development of an API and are properly classified here. Object oriented data structures, per se, are classified elsewhere. See the SEE OR SEARCH CLASS notes below.

(4) Note. An application program interface (API) is a set of programming tools included with a software program or operating system that allows a programmer to write applications that work with that program or operating system. APIs save programmers much work by giving them easy ways to "hook into" the various capabilities of a program or operating system, instead of "reinventing the wheel" themselves.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

703,	Data Processing: Structural Design, Modeling, Simulation, and Emulation, subclasses 23 through 28for emulation of computer system components.
705,	Data Processing: Financial Business Practice, Management, or Cost/Price Determination, various subclassesfor applications of computers and calculators in business and management environments.
707,	Data Processing: Database, Data Mining, and File Management or Data Structures, subclasses 790 through 812for database design including data structures and database structure management.
709,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, appropriate subclassesfor multicomputer data transferring, per se.
710,	Electrical Computers and Digital Data Processing Systems: Input/Output, subclasses 360 through 269for interrupt processing, per se.
712,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Processing Architectures and Instruction Processing (e.g., Processors), subclasses 220 through 248for computer control including branch instruction computer.
715,	Data Processing: Presentation Processing of Document, Operator Interface Processing, and Screen Saver Display Processing, subclasses 733 through 749for operator interface aspects of workgroup for plural users or sites; subclasses 764-862 for on-screen workspaces or objects; and subclasses 804-805 for interwindow links and communication.
717,	Data Processing: Software Development Installation, and Management, subclass 100 through 167for software development tools, per se.

329	. Data transfer between application windows:

This subclass is indented under subclass 328. Subject matter comprising means or steps for effecting communication or data transfer between application programs or processes executing within a graphical windowing environment.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

715,	Data Processing: Presentation Processing of Document, Operator Interface Processing, and Screen Saver Display Processing, subclasses 804 through 805for interwindow links and communication.

330	REMOTE PROCEDURE CALL (RPC):

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter comprising means or steps for invoking a target procedure in a remote address space.

(1) Note. A remote procedure call is distinguished from local subroutine calls because the target procedure of a RPC is invoked in a remote address space, therefore, pointers or references to local data are invalid within the address space of the remote machine. Addressing, per se, branch instruction processing and compilers, per se, are classified elsewhere.

(2) Note. For clarification, remote procedure calls are used in a distributed programming environment, communication with a remote environment is simplified in that programmers of distributed applications need not concern themselves with implementation details of communication with another address space, as support for the remote procedure call is provided by a kernel of each machine, distributed data processing, per se, and software development tools, however, are classified elsewhere.

(3) Note. The subject matter of this subclass is directed to remote procedure calls (RPC), although RPCs look a lot like local procedure calls to the programmer, there are slight differences in the calling semantics. In addition, branching is a related topic. A concept search on RPC, branching or local procedure calling should consider these related topics.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

709,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Multicomputer Data Transferring, subclasses 201 through 203for a distributed data computer.
712,	Electrical Computers and Digital Processing Systems: Processing Architectures and Instruction Processing (e.g., Processors), subclasses 220 through 248for computer control including branch instruction handling.
717,	Data Processing: Software Development Installation, and Management, subclass 100 through 167for software development tools, per se.

331	DYNAMIC LINKING, LATE BINDING:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter wherein functions contained within one or more executable code libraries (e.g., a dynamic link library or DLL) are called as needed at runtime by one or more application programs.

(1) Note. For clarification, dynamic linking is distinguished from static linking in that very large programs can be executed in a limited memory space by loading and invoking external executable libraries only when needed at run time. The main executable program is much smaller than would result if the libraries and object files had been statically linked prior to runtime. In addition, multiple applications may reference a single dynamic link library (DLL). This eliminates redundant code and results in a more modular system. Also, existing programs can be readily updated without recompilation by providing updated DLLs.

(2) Note. In implicit dynamic linking, links between calls in the application and functions in the DLL are resolved at link time. In explicit dynamic linking, links between calls in the application and functions in the DLL are resolved at run time.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

717,	Data Processing: Software Development, Installation, and Management, subclasses 162 through 167for generic linking.

332	. Object oriented dynamic linking, late binding:

	This subclass is indented under subclass 331. Subject matter wherein dynamic linking or binding occurs in the context of an object oriented environment.

310	MISCELLANEOUS:

This subclass is indented under the class definition. Subject matter not provided for in any of the above subclasses of this class.

SEE OR SEARCH CLASS:

715,	Data Processing: Presentation Processing of Document, Operator Interface Processing, and Screen Saver Display Processing, subclasses 804 through 805for interwindow links and communication.

FOR000

CLASS-RELATED FOREIGN DOCUMENTS

	This subclass has no definition.

FOR 168

INTERPROGRAM COMMUNICATION, INTERPROCESS COMMUNICATION:

	Foreign art collection including subject matter comprising means or steps for exchanging data or messages between two executing programs or processes, independent of the hardware used in the communication.

FOR 169

. Device driver communication:

	Foreign art collection including subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between application programs or operating systems and callable interfacing programs (i.e., device driver programs) which further facilitate communication or control of peripheral hardware devices such as printers, disk drives, tape drives, CRT displays, etc.

FOR 170

. Application program interfacing (API):

	Foreign art collection including subject matter comprising a set of routines, procedures, or interfaces which facilitate requests or calls from one or more application programs to lower-level operating system routines.

FOR 171

. Object-oriented messaging:

Foreign art collection including subject matter comprising means or steps for communication between objects (e.g., a message tells a receiving object what to do) wherein a method or member function of a receiving object is invoked or called by a sending method of a sending object and the message passing may involve passing actual parameters (i.e., for example, either by reference or by value) to the target object.

FOR 172

. Remote procedure calling (RPC):

	Foreign art collection including subject matter comprising means or steps for invoking a target procedure in a remote address space.

FOR 173

. Dynamic linking, late binding:

	Foreign art collection including subject matter wherein functions contained within one or more executable code libraries (e.g., a dynamic link library or DLL) are called as needed at runtime by one or more application programs.