Article View: gnu.misc.discuss
Article #73971Re: Patent on a standard-byte order for intermachine communication
From: Lance A. Brown
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1991 18:25
Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1991 18:25
52 lines
3248 bytes
3248 bytes
That may not help, but RFC 1014 may be helpful in proving prior art
regarding this patent. The beginning of that RFC follows:
Lance Brown
-------CUT HERE-----
Network Working Group Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Request for Comments: 1014 June 1987
XDR: External Data Representation Standard
STATUS OF THIS MEMO
This RFC describes a standard that Sun Microsystems, Inc., and others
are using, one we wish to propose for the Internet's consideration.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
1. INTRODUCTION
XDR is a standard for the description and encoding of data. It is
useful for transferring data between different computer
architectures, and has been used to communicate data between such
diverse machines as the SUN WORKSTATION*, VAX*, IBM-PC*, and Cray*.
XDR fits into the ISO presentation layer, and is roughly analogous in
purpose to X.409, ISO Abstract Syntax Notation. The major difference
between these two is that XDR uses implicit typing, while X.409 uses
explicit typing.
XDR uses a language to describe data formats. The language can only
be used only to describe data; it is not a programming language.
This language allows one to describe intricate data formats in a
concise manner. The alternative of using graphical representations
(itself an informal language) quickly becomes incomprehensible when
faced with complexity. The XDR language itself is similar to the C
language [1], just as Courier [4] is similar to Mesa. Protocols such
as Sun RPC (Remote Procedure Call) and the NFS* (Network File System)
use XDR to describe the format of their data.
The XDR standard makes the following assumption: that bytes (or
octets) are portable, where a byte is defined to be 8 bits of data.
A given hardware device should encode the bytes onto the various
media in such a way that other hardware devices may decode the bytes
without loss of meaning. For example, the Ethernet* standard
suggests that bytes be encoded in "little-endian" style [2], or least
significant bit first.
----------CUT HERE---------
--
Lance A. Brown <brown@cs.utk.edu>
The Crystal Wind is the Storm, and the Storm is Data,
and the Data is Life -- The Player's Litany
from _The Long Run_ by D.K. Moran
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<BROWN.91Jul16142541@thud.cs.utk.edu>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!utkcs2!brownReferences:
<9107131607.AA14833@mole.gnu.ai.mit.edu>Show Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1025b4,9a4c815047ed049b X-Google-Attributes: gid1025b4,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 1991-07-16 15:55:56 PST Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!gmdzi!unido!mcsun!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!emory!utkcs2!brown From: brown@cs.utk.edu (Lance A. Brown) Newsgroups: gnu.misc.discuss Subject: Re: Patent on a standard-byte order for intermachine communication Message-ID: <BROWN.91Jul16142541@thud.cs.utk.edu> Date: 16 Jul 91 18:25:41 GMT References: <9107131607.AA14833@mole.gnu.ai.mit.edu> Sender: usenet@cs.utk.edu (USENET News Poster) Followup-To: gnu.misc.discuss Organization: Univ. of Tenn., Knoxville - CS Department Lines: 46 In-Reply-To: rms@gnu.ai.mit.edu's message of 13 Jul 91 16:07:45 GMT