Patent ID: 7734681

Claim:
A method for providing virtual circuits for inter-process messaging, wherein the method comprises: opening a network connection between a first computer system and a second computer system by opening a first socket on the first computer system and a second socket on the second computer system, wherein the first and second sockets comprise connections to a network protocol; opening a first virtual circuit over the network connection between a first process and a second process, wherein the first process comprises a first application having write access for the first socket, and wherein the second process comprises a second application having read access for the second socket; opening a second virtual circuit over the network connection between a third process and a fourth process, wherein the third process comprises a third application having write access for the first socket, and wherein the fourth process comprises a fourth application having read access for the second socket; sending a first message over the first virtual circuit from the first process to the second process; sending a second message over the second virtual circuit from the third process to the fourth process.