Patent attributes
A sending computer system can identify one or more available network resources at one or more network computers by sending a request for services using Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) over User Datagram Protocol (UDP). In particular, the sending computer system prepares a SOAP message that includes a request for available resources. The sending computer system then encapsulates the SOAP message into a user datagram, and sends the user datagram to one or more identifiable computer systems on the network. In one implementation, the sending computer system sends the user datagram to a multi-cast Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). The receiving computer system receives the message through UDP, unpacks the message, and responds to the SOAP message request. Accordingly, the sending computer system can query multiple computer systems in an efficient manner without necessarily incurring the overhead otherwise associated with connection-oriented communication.
