Patent ID: 6981051

Claim:
A method to transfer data from a sending application to a receiving application in a computer environment having a plurality of data transfer modes and at least one system area network, the method comprising: detecting a transfer behavior of the receiving application; and switching the data transfer mode to one of the plurality of data transfer modes based upon the transfer behavior, wherein the step of detecting a transfer behavior of the receiving application comprises the steps of: transferring in an initial transfer mode from the sending application to the receiving application a pre-selected number of initial data blocks each having a size greater than a pre-selected threshold size; the transferring of each of the initial data blocks in the initial transfer mode including: (i) receiving a transfer request for said each initial data block sent by the sending application; (ii) sending a pilot message for informing the receiving application that said each initial data block is available to be sent; (iii) detecting whether the receiving application posts a receive buffer when receiving the transfer request for said each initial data block or when the receiving application is informed that said each data block is available to be sent; and (iv) determining whether the receive buffer exceeds the threshold size.