A distributed system framework and a distributed system architecture that includes
three features: it can accommodate a large number of addressable entities, it is
possible to connect any arbitrary group of entities together into a virtual network,
and the infrastructure supports large numbers of concurrent virtual networks. In
one aspect, the invention includes a distributed system framework for a networked
environment, including a plurality of process objects, each process object including:
a program method for creating at least one inbox for storing messages received
from another process object; a program method for creating at least one outbox
for storing messages to be transmitted to another process object; a freeze method
that saves the state of the process object to persistent storage, thereby changing
the process object to a frozen process object; a thaw method that restores the
frozen process object from the persistent storage, thereby changing the frozen
process object to a ready process object; a program method for interconnecting
each created outbox of the process object to a created inbox of at least one other
process object, thereby establishing a personal network between the process object
and such other process objects within a communication session to perform at least
one task by passing messages between the interconnected outboxes and in-boxes.
