A versatile IPC construct for distributed microcomputer applications

This paper describes a simple and yet versatile inter-process communication construct which has been implemented as part of a universal run time support system (UNI_RTSS) for distributed real-time and multi-tasking applications. The communication facility permits processes to communicate through entities called `paths¿¿. Messages are sent to paths owned by the destination processes. A process can choose the paths from which it wishes to receive messages at a given time. The inter-process communication facilities described have proven to be very useful in desingning distributed real-time and multi-tasking systems in a clear and modular fashion.