Patent ID: 7206810

Claim:
One or more tangible computer-readable media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for causing plural computers to perform a method comprising: creating an arbitration object on a first node connected to plural other nodes via a computer network, the arbitration object on the first node comprising a list of active proposals in an arbitration cycle, wherein the first node shares a shared data entity with the plural other nodes; creating an arbitration object on each of the plural other nodes, the arbitration object on each of the plural other nodes comprising a list of active proposals in the arbitration cycle; by the first node, sending a proposal message data structure to the plural other nodes; by the first node and the plural other nodes, adding a proposal corresponding to the proposal message data structure to the list of active proposals of their respective arbitration objects: by the first node, receiving a proposal response message data structure from each of the plural other nodes in response to the sent proposal message data structure: 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 cycle: by the first node, sending a closure message data structure to the plural other nodes if the first node is the winning node for the arbitration cycle; by the first node, applying ordered changes to the shared data entity at the first node based on the list of active proposals of the arbitration object on the first node; and by each of the plural other nodes, applying the ordered changes to the shared data entity at the respective other node based on the list of active proposals of their respective arbitration objects; wherein the proposal message data structure and the proposal response message data structures and the closure message data structure have two fields common to each of the data structures, the two fields common to each of the data structures comprising; an entity identifier field containing data representing an identifier for the shared data entity; and a message type field containing data representing a message type.