Importance

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Abstract

A computer-implemented method and apparatus for identifying and locating computer network services. The invention gives an application the ability to search for network services in a manner independent of the network communication protocol used by the network. The invention can thus operate as a layer of abstraction between the Transport and Network Layers and the Application Layer of the Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model of network architecture and suite of protocols. The invention gives the client application the ability to browse for network services based on the type of service (such as remote file access, mail, Web, domain name registration, etc.), rather than having to know the name or location of the service or the underlying network communication protocol used by the service. Some of the contemplated service name identification protocols used to find the requested types of services include Internet-related protocols such as Domain Name Service (DNS) and Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), as well as Service Location Protocol (SLP), running on top of the Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).

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First Claim