| 摘要 |
<p>A communication system includes a plurality of machines 21-24, 30, 33-35, etc) having unique identifiers and interconnected by a network of message switching nodes (10-14, 40, etc). Each node includes a dynamic routing table containing a plurality of machine identifiers and, for each, the next place in the network where a message to that machine should be directed to. The system includes a Directory Information Base (DIB) which includes a machine listing. For each machine, the listing has an entry including attributes of the machine. The attributes include updating and routing information. The former identifies the parts of the system need to be be updated to maintain consistency if some part of the entry is changed, including in particular information as to which nodes require their dynamic routing tables to be updated in response to a change in that entry (as if the routing tables were part of the DIB). The latter gives node identifications and routes from those nodes to the potential receiving machines. The DIB includes updating means which, on a change in an entry, use the updating attribute of that entry to transmit updating information to the rest of the DIB, in a format defined for the whole of the DIB. Such information is thus also sent to the relevant nodes. Each node includes means for updating the routing table in response to such transmissions from the updating means, including format conversion means for converting such transmissions to the format of the routing table.</p> |
