Patent ID: 7219128

Claim:
A computer system comprising: plural nodes that share plural data objects, the plural nodes connected to one another via a computer network, the plural nodes comprising one or more computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for performing a method comprising: creating an arbitration object on a first node of the plural nodes that share the plural data objects, the arbitration object on the first node comprising a list of active proposals in an arbitration process relating to a first shared data object of the plural shared data objects; creating an arbitration object on one or more other nodes of the plural nodes that share the plural data objects, the arbitration object on each of the one or more other nodes comprising a list of active proposals in the arbitration process relating to the first shared data object; by the first node, sending a proposal message to the one or more other nodes; by the first node and the one or more other nodes, adding a proposal from the proposal message to the list of active proposals of their respective arbitration objects; by the first node, receiving a proposal response message from each of the one or more other nodes in response to the sent proposal message; by the first node, evaluating the arbitration object on the first node to determine whether the first node is a winning node for the arbitration process; by the first node, sending a closure message to the one or more other nodes if the first node is the winning node for the arbitration process; by the first node, applying ordered changes to the first shared data object at the first node based on the list of active proposals of the arbitration object on the first node; and by each of the one or more other nodes, applying the ordered changes to the first shared data object at the respective other node based on the list of active proposals of the respective arbitration object on the respective other node.