Patent ID: 6216169
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method implemented at a master workstation for generating a requested report from data stored in a plurality of remote workstations, said method comprising:receiving an instruction to generate a selected one of a plurality of selectable predefined report types, each of said plurality of predefined report types having associated therewith a report generating protocol comprising (1) a first phase algorithm which when executed generates an output from input data; and (2) a second phase algorithm which when executed uses the output from the first phase algorithm and generates therefrom a report of the corresponding predefined report type;in response to receiving said instruction, generating a request which specifies a named function that identifies the first phase algorithm for the selected predefined report type;sending said request to said plurality of remote workstations;receiving from each of said plurality of remote workstations a corresponding response to said request, at least some of the received responses containing a result generated by executing the first phase algorithm for the selected predefined report type at the remote workstation from which that response was received; andexecuting the second phase algorithm for the selected predefined report type to generate from the results received from said plurality of remote workstations the requested report.