title: Distributed processing techniques: interface design for interactive information sharing.
abstract: The Information Systems Division of the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has successfully designed and implemented a set of generalized interface data-handling routines that control message traffic between a satellite minicomputer in a clinical laboratory and a large main-frame computer. A special queue status inquiry transaction has also been developed that displays the current message-processing backlog and other system performance information. The design and operation of these programs are discussed in detail, with special emphasis on the message-queuing and verification techniques required in a distributed processing environment.
mesh_terms: D003201:Computers; D006746:Hospital Bed Capacity, 500 and over; D006747:Hospital Communication Systems; D007256:Information Systems; D007484:Iowa; D007753:Laboratories