Patent ID: 7548972

Claim:
A method of providing updates to views of group members in unstable group communication systems, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: a receiving node receiving a group message from a sender associated with a sending node in a network, wherein the group message includes a message view having a counter and an acknowledgment set, wherein the acknowledgment set contains information that identifies one or more receiving nodes to which the group message is directed; wherein a receiving node is a processing node that comprises one or more group members; deferring issuance of an acknowledgment of the group message to the sending node; delivering the group message to the one or more group members; receiving an acknowledgment of the group message from one of the receiving nodes; updating the message view by removing, from the acknowledgment set, information that identifies each receiving node that issues an acknowledgment; determining a number of group members of one of the receiving nodes that received the message; updating the message view by incrementing the counter to the number of group members that received the message; and providing the updated message view to the sender.