Patent ID: 6941554

Claim:
A software system comprising: a server system comprising an operating system, the operating system operable to support a well-known address, the well-known address operable to receive data, the operating system further operable to provide interprocess communication; the operating system further operable to support a buffer associated with the well-known address, the buffer operable to store data received by the well-known address; a plurality of handler processes associated with the server system and available to service pending client requests, the handler processes being operable to access a notification system in parallel, to accept pending requests in parallel, and to provide service to client requests, such that at least one request received by the well-known address will result in the notification to a plurality of the handler processes, one of which will service each pending request when the number of handler processes exceeds the number of pending requests, a handler process of the plurality of handler processes operable to: compete with one or more other handler processes of the plurality of handler processes for the at least one request; and receive the at least one request independently of an intervening process to dispatch the at least one request; the operating system further comprising the notification system, the notification system operable to be accessed by the handler processes, the notification system further operable to reflect the existence of data in the buffer when data exists in the buffer and to reflect the non-existence of data in the buffer when the buffer is free of data; and a spawner process operable to create the handler processes.