Resource command messages and methods

Abstract

Resource command messages comprise commands and command urgency or importance information that is interpreted by a resource device and is coupled with information relating to the resource device to determine when to process the command within the resource command message. Resource devices comprising a plurality of resource nodes provide increased performance, responsiveness, and load balancing by multiple resource nodes processing the same resource command message in parallel.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An article of manufacture comprising:
 a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and 
 instructions within the computer-readable medium that, when executed, cause a node:
 to transmit, in a first multicast message, a first resource command message to a plurality of resource nodes over a communication path; 
 to receive responses to the first resource command message from the plurality of resource nodes; 
 to select a preferred provider from the plurality of resource nodes based at least in part on the responses received from the plurality of resource nodes; and 
 to transmit, in a second multicast message, a second resource command message to the plurality of resource nodes, the second resource command message including a command and an indication of the preferred provider selected from the plurality of resource nodes, said second resource command message to instruct the preferred provider to process the command with a first urgency and to instruct another resource node of the plurality of resource nodes to process the command with a second urgency that is less than the first urgency. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein each of the responses from the plurality of resource nodes include identical content. 
     
     
       3. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of resource nodes comprise a plurality of redundant resource nodes that manage duplicate resources. 
     
     
       4. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the second resource command message has a command urgency that includes the indication of the preferred provider. 
     
     
       5. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the first resource command message includes a command urgency that indicates a relative time to process a command in the first resource command message. 
     
     
       6. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the first resource command message includes a command urgency that indicates an absolute time to process a command in the first resource command message. 
     
     
       7. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the first resource command message includes a command importance that indicates an absolute priority to process a command in the first resource command message. 
     
     
       8. The article of manufacture of  claim 1 , wherein the second resource command message includes a command identifier that relates the second resource command message to the first resource command message. 
     
     
       9. A method comprising:
 transmitting, in a first multicast message, a first resource command message to a plurality of resource nodes; 
 receiving responses to the first resource command message from the plurality of resource nodes; 
 selecting a preferred provider from the plurality of resource nodes based at least in part on the responses received from the plurality of resource nodes; and 
 transmitting, in a second multicast message, a second resource command message to the plurality of resource nodes, the second resource command message including a command and an indication of the preferred provider selected from the plurality of resource nodes, said second resource command message to instruct the preferred provider to process the command with a first urgency and to instruct another resource node of the plurality of resource nodes to process the command with a second urgency that is less than the first urgency. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein each of the responses from the plurality of resource nodes include identical content. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the plurality of resource nodes comprise a plurality of redundant resource nodes that manage duplicate resources. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 providing the second resource command message with a command urgency that includes the indication of the preferred provider. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 providing the first resource command message with a command urgency that indicates a relative time to process a command within the first resource command message. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 providing the first resource command message with a command urgency that indicates an absolute time to process a command within the first resource command message. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 providing the first resource command message with a command importance that indicates an absolute priority to process a command within the first resource command. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 providing the second resource command message with a command identifier that relates the second resource command message to the first resource command message. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 transmitting a broadcast discovery message; 
 receiving a discovery response from a first resource node of the plurality of resource nodes, the discovery response including a name of the first resource node; and 
 determining, based at least in part on the name, an address to be used in sending communications to the first resource node over a communication path.