Prior art

The USPTO database search for patent number 7712080 returned a result for US7712080B2, titled "Systems and methods for parallel distributed programming". This patent is currently active and is assigned to the University of California San Diego UCSD.

The patent itself lists numerous prior art references under the "Cited By" and "Family Cites Families" sections, as well as "Non-Patent Citations". Additionally, Unified Patents has identified prior art for this patent through a public contest.

Here's an analysis of the most relevant prior art cited within US7712080B2 and mentioned by Unified Patents, focusing on potential anticipation under 35 U.S.C. § 102. Please note that a full anticipation analysis would require a detailed claim construction and comparison, but this provides a high-level assessment.

Prior Art from US7712080B2 (Cited by Examiner/Applicant):

• US5551047A: Method for distributed redundant execution of program modules

  • Full Citation: US5551047A
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed January 28, 1993; Published August 27, 1996
  • Brief Description: This patent describes a method for distributed redundant execution of program modules, which involves distributing program modules across multiple processors for fault tolerance.
  • Potential Anticipation: This patent generally covers distributing program modules and execution, which could be relevant to the broad concept of parallel distributed programming. The general notion of distributing and executing program modules across multiple processors might anticipate elements of Claim 1 and Claim 9 regarding programs operating across multiple processors.

• US6044438A: Memory controller for controlling memory accesses across networks in distributed shared memory processing systems

  • Full Citation: US6044438A
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed July 10, 1997; Published March 28, 2000
  • Brief Description: This patent describes a memory controller for managing memory accesses in distributed shared memory (DSM) systems, specifically controlling access across networks.
  • Potential Anticipation: Given that US7712080B2 mentions using distributed shared variables and can operate within a DSM system (Claims 15, 17, 18), this reference could potentially anticipate aspects related to the management and access of distributed shared variables and the underlying DSM infrastructure.

• US6496871B1: Distributed agent software system and method having enhanced process mobility and communication in a computer network

  • Full Citation: US6496871B1
  • Publication/Filing Date: Filed June 30, 1998; Published December 17, 2002
  • Brief Description: This patent details a distributed agent software system with enhanced process mobility and communication in a computer network. This aligns with the "self-migrating threads" and "mobile agents" described in US7712080B2.
  • Potential Anticipation: This reference is highly relevant as US7712080B2 explicitly mentions self-migrating threads being in the form of mobile agents (Claim 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14). The concept of mobile agents moving between processors and maintaining state (strong mobility) is a core aspect of both. The detailed description of mobile agent systems in US7712080B2, particularly MESSENGERS, suggests a direct conceptual overlap.

• Fukuda et al., Messengers: Distributed Programming Using Mobile Agents, Transactions of the SDPS, Dec. 2001, vol .5, No. 4, pp. 95-112.

  • Full Citation: Fukuda et al., Messengers: Distributed Programming Using Mobile Agents, Transactions of the SDPS, Dec. 2001, vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 95-112.
  • Publication Date: December 2001
  • Brief Description: This non-patent literature describes the "Messengers" system, which uses mobile agents for distributed programming. The MESSENGERS system is extensively detailed in US7712080B2 as an example of how self-migrating threads can be implemented.
  • Potential Anticipation: This document is extremely relevant, potentially anticipating aspects of all claims that rely on or describe the use of self-migrating threads or mobile agents for distributed computing, especially in the context of "navigational programming" and the MESSENGERS system described in the patent. The discussion of agent variables, control blocks, and the compilation into functions separated by hop() commands in US7712080B2 directly references concepts found in this paper.

• Pan et al., Mobile Agents-The Right Vehicle for Distributed Sequential Computing, Springer-Verlag Berlin Jeidelberg 2002, pp. 575-584.

  • Full Citation: Pan et al., Mobile Agents-The Right Vehicle for Distributed Sequential Computing, Springer-Verlag Berlin Jeidelberg 2002, pp. 575-584.
  • Publication Date: 2002
  • Brief Description: This non-patent literature focuses on mobile agents for "Distributed Sequential Computing (DSC)," a core concept of US7712080B2.
  • Potential Anticipation: This publication is highly relevant to Claims 1 and 9, which involve developing a distributed sequential computing program to access distributed shared variables and then transforming it into a distributed parallel computing program. The paper likely delves into the mechanics of using mobile agents for DSC, directly addressing the foundational concepts of the independent claims.

• Suzuki et al., Self-Migrating Threads for Multi-Agent Applications, 1st IEEE computer society international workshop, 1999, pp. 1-8.

  • Full Citation: Suzuki et al., Self-Migrating Threads for Multi-Agent Applications, publication data: 1999, published by 1st IEEE computer society international workshop, pp. 1-8.
  • Publication Date: 1999
  • Brief Description: This publication discusses self-migrating threads in the context of multi-agent applications.
  • Potential Anticipation: Similar to the Fukuda et al. paper, this reference directly addresses the "self-migrating threads" feature of US7712080B2, particularly those described in Claim 2, 8, 11, and 14.

Prior Art Identified by Unified Patents for US7712080:

Unified Patents explicitly mentions a "WINNING SUBMISSION for US 7712080 - Parallel Distributed Programming". While the full details of this submission are not provided in the snippet, it refers to specific patents:

• US6292822: (No further details provided in snippet, but mentioned as prior art for US7712080).

  • Potential Anticipation: Without the full text, it is difficult to determine specific claims, but as it's cited as prior art for this patent, it likely relates to aspects of parallel or distributed programming, data distribution, or agent-based systems.

• US5197137: (No further details provided in snippet, but mentioned as prior art for US7712080).

  • Potential Anticipation: Similar to US6292822, more information would be needed for a precise assessment. However, its inclusion by Unified Patents suggests it pertains to the core concepts of US7712080B2.

• “An Execution Order Control Method of Distributed Processes for Sharing Global Variables”: (No publication details or patent number in snippet, but mentioned as prior art for US7712080).

  • Potential Anticipation: This title strongly suggests relevance to the "distributed shared variable" and "distributed sequential computing program" aspects of Claim 1 and Claim 9, as it directly addresses distributed processes and sharing global variables (which is analogous to distributed shared variables).

Summary of Potential Anticipation:

The prior art heavily points towards the concepts of mobile agents, self-migrating threads, distributed shared memory, and distributed sequential/parallel computing being known prior to the priority date of US7712080B2. Specifically, the "Messengers" work by Fukuda et al. and Pan et al. seems to be directly foundational to the concepts of "navigational programming," DSC, and the implementation of mobile agents described in the patent. These references would particularly challenge the novelty of claims related to the use and mechanism of self-migrating threads/mobile agents (Claims 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) and the underlying distributed shared variable concept (Claims 1, 3, 9). The transformation methods for DPC (Claim 1, 9) might also be anticipated if these prior art documents describe similar techniques for achieving parallelization through agent spawning or similar mechanisms based on intermediate results.