Patent ID: 6891806

Claim:
A network management apparatus, which is provided for each of any partial networks arbitrarily determined by combining any nodes of a network, comprising: a message passing operator operable to receive a token for connection request, which is output via a node in a partial network the network management apparatus manages, having destination information specifying contents of communication including a desired function, information of an object, or information of a problem domain relating to the function; a token processor operable to detect a route having the possibility of existence of the destination for connection on the basis of the destination information of the received token; and a token generator operable to output the other destination information which is useful for selecting one route having the possibility of connection among the detected routes to the token processor when a plurality of routes are detected, co-operate with the token processor to select the one route by constructing hypothetically a path for connection and output a token for connection request to the selected one route.