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C00005 00004	.next page	<< title >>
C00008 00005	.every heading(Dialnet Proposal,,{PAGE!})
C00015 00006	.s Scenario
C00025 00007	.s Protocols
C00029 00008	.s Research Issues
C00032 00009	.s Research Plan
C00035 00010	.app "Personnel"
C00044 00011	.app Current Support
C00046 00012	.app Relevant Experience
C00049 00013	.app  Facilities
C00052 00014	.		<< budget >>
C00057 ENDMK
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.onecol		<< cover >>
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.begin center select A;
DIALNET

%7A Computer Communication Study




%3proposal submitted to


.select 7;
National Science Foundation
.select 3;
Washington, D.C. 20550



by


Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
%7Stanford University
%3Stanford, California 94305




%7October 1976
.end
.next page;	<< title >>
.BEGIN NOFILL; PREFACE 0; INDENT 0
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.AT "≤≤" TXT "≥" ⊂ }↓_⊗9TXT⊗*_↓{ ⊃
.SELECT 1
.ONCE CENTER; SELECT 3
Research Proposal Submitted to the National Science Foundation
.SKIP 2
.select 1
Proposed Amount ≤≤$95,996≥ Proposed Effective Date ≤≤1 July 1977≥ Proposed Duration ≤≤18 months≥
.SKIP 1
Title ≤≤Dialnet: a Computer Communication Study≥
.skip 1
Principal Investigator:\Submitting Institution:
  ≤≤Professor John McCarthy≥\  ≤≤Stanford University≥
  Soc. Sec. No. ≤≤558-30-4793≥\  Department ≤≤Computer Science Department≥
\  Branch ≤≤School of Humanities and Sciences≥
.skip 4
Make grant to ≤≤         Leland Stanford Junior University          ≥
.skip 5
Endorsements:
.tabs 10,35,60
.SKIP 1
\Principal Investigator\Department Head\Institutional Admin. Official
.PREFACE 1
Name\≤≤John McCarthy     ≥\≤≤Edward A. Feigenbaum ≥\≤≤                     ≥
.SKIP 1
Signature\≤≤                     ≥\≤≤                     ≥\≤≤                     ≥
Title\≤≤ Professor  ≥\≤≤Professor & Chairman ≥\≤≤                     ≥
Telephone\≤≤(415) 497-4430       ≥\≤≤(415) 497-4878       ≥\≤≤                     ≥
Date\≤≤                     ≥\≤≤                     ≥\≤≤                     ≥
.END
.every heading(Dialnet Proposal,,{PAGE!})
.count page;
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.twocol;portion some;place text
.s Purpose
This is a request for a grant to support an eighteen
month study and experimental implementation
of protocols that would permit ARPAnet-like facilities to
be provided to any time-sharing computer system that implemented them
and equipped itself with telephone dialing equipment and modems.
We call the system Dialnet by analogy, but unlike the ARPAnet, it
requires no administrator to "admit" new members.

	The ARPAnet connects several hundred computer facilities
and allows users of one system to log in
on others, allows transmission of messages between users
of different computers, and allows the transfer of files between
computers.  More generally, it allows interaction among programs in
different computers.

	These facilities have proven valuable in permitting
collaboration between computer scientists at different sites and in
permitting nationwide access to unique facilities such as the MACSYMA
system for computing with algebraic and analytic expressions at
M.I.T.  It permits a new form of publication in which documents are
kept in the computer, are continuously updatable, are immediately
accessible throughout the country, and in which comments from readers
are accessible to other readers.

	The usefulness of the ARPAnet has prompted many non-defense
installations to try to connect to it, and in some cases this has
been possible, but in other cases the institutional and financial
obstacles have been insuperable.  The main financial obstacles are
the need for a dedicated computer called an IMP costing about $80,000
at each site and the need for dedicated communication lines rented by
DoD at great expense from the telephone companies.  Other networks
have been started, but they all have problems of expense and %2also
of deciding who should be on them%1.  Some facilities have gone to
the expense of joining more than one network.

	We propose to design protocols that can be implemented at any
time-shared computer installation without joining any formal network.
The hardware cost will be from $1000 to $5000 depending on how difficult
it is to connect devices to the computer.  There will be
programs to operate a telephone dialer (rented from
the telephone company) and to transmit signals and information according
to the protocols.  Any installation implementing the protocols will
be able to communicate with any other.  The only disadvantage compared
with the ARPAnet will be lower speed and higher cost when the volume
of information transferred is very high.

	Like ARPAnet, Dialnet will be most useful to %2full
time-sharing systems%1.  In such systems, each user has named disk
files than are kept in the system even when he is absent (and
therefore remotely accessible), and new files can be created by file
transfer from other machines and on receipt of messages.  The
usefulness of the message facilities normally requires that users
habitually log in each working day and are most beneficial when users
have individual display terminals in their offices.  Further benefits
accrue when reports are normally prepared at terminals and when
secretaries use terminals for letters and messages.  However, many
less advanced installations have found the ARPAnet useful and more
and more systems are acquiring economical full time-sharing
capability.

	While we expect that the first users of Dialnet will be
regular computer users, the corresponding ARPAnet facilities have
been used by non computer people, Dialnet protocols will not require
ability to program, and we expect increasing use by others as
terminals become more widespread.

	In order to make the picture more concrete, here is a
scenario of the use of the system.

.s Scenario

.macro bc	⊂ begin preface 0;nojust; select 4; indent 2,2;	⊃;
.macro econt	⊂ end continue ⊃
A user named Smith types on his terminal
.bc
mail Organik
.break
Do you have any active work there on human red cell carbonic
anhydrase B?
.end

The system looks up Organik in Smith's correspondent file and
discovers that his computer pseudonym is "NAT" at a computer called UTEX-CHEM1
that is reached at 512 471-3221 via a 1200/150 baud asychronous
modem.  It selects an outgoing line with a matching modem, dials the
number and attempts to transmit the message.  If the transmitting
computer cannot elicit a response from the desired recipient, it
informs the user that it will try again later and send him a message
when the transmission has succeeded.  If the user's correspondent
file did not contain the telepone number and modem characteristics,
the user would have to supply them.

The identity and location of the sender and date and time of the message
are automatically placed at the front of the message.
At the receiving end, if the addressee is logged in on the computer, he
is immediately informed that mail has arrived and from whom.  If not
logged in, he will receive the message the next time he logs in.  In
either case, he can use the same facility to respond:
.bc
mail Smith

David Piranha (DAVE@UTEX-CHEM3) has a student working on inhibition
by anions of anhydrase B.
.end

Following up on this lead, the user types
.bc
link dave@utex-chem3
.end

A connection is made to the specified computer and, if DAVE is logged in,
he immediately receives a message saying
.bc
** Link request from Smith @SUα-CHEM7 **
.end continue
He could then type "%4link%*" and have his keyboard
and display effectively linked to those of the caller, permitting a
conversation.

Let us suppose, however, that DAVE is not logged in and the caller
is so informed.  He then types
.bc
locate dave@utex-chem3
.econt
which obtains the following information from the specified computer:
.bc
David Piranha last logged out at 23:47 on 9 May 1976.  Plan:
I will be out of touch May 10 through 16.  I plan to visit Martin Shumway
at the University of Utah on May 17 and should return by May 18.
Will check mail from Utah.
.end

Noting that the current date is May 14, so that there is no point in
getting the message there quickly, Smith types
.bc
night mail dave@utex-chem3
.break
I am interested in your work on anhydrase B.  If possible, give pointers
to online documentation, else give me a call at 415 497-4430 (Stanford)
or 415 321-7580 (home).
.econt
The "night mail" command causes the message transmission to be deferred until
inexpensive nighttime telephone rates are in force.

Additional capabilities of the Dialnet system can be used to follow up on the
above inquiry, as follows.
.begin indent 0,2; nojust
.at "⊗" ⊂ "%8α⊗%*" ⊃;
⊗ The ability to access remote text files will be provided (with permission
of the owners required, of course).  This interactive reading facility will
include the addition of "footnotes" to various parts of the text.  These
footnotes may be declared private (i.e. belonging to the reader) or public
(available to the author and possibly others).

⊗ It will be possible to run programs on a remote computer, permitting
experiments with programs developed in other places.  This facility
will permit the sharing of unique specialized capabilities over
a geographically distributed population.

⊗ File transfers will be permitted, with suitable error detection and
correction features, to permit sharing of data.  The communication protocol
should be able to adapt to a wide range of noise conditions on phone lines.
.end
.s Protocols

In order to make these facilities available, suitable protocols
must be designed, and in the course of this, a number of technical
problems have to be solved.  Besides the protocols themselves, which
are communication procedures and data structures, there will be a recommended set
of terminal-level commands with syntax prompting and standard error
messages.

We believe that we have the experience to produce a set of workable
protocols, and that it is better to start with an implementation than
to standardize something that doesn't exist.  The latter procedure in
recent years has led to gold-plating the requirements to the extent
that the standard is not implementable.

We propose to devise suitable protocols, test them at a few sites, publish
them, and attempt to convince other installations to implement them.
Almost certainly, initial experience will produce a requirement for
changes, and standardization committees will be formed and set to work.  A
likely forum for a standardization effort would be through the ACM to the
American National Standards Committee.

We propose to allow interaction with ARPAnet sites via TIPs and
propose to discuss with ARPA and DCA whether this will be allowed.

The most general use of Dialnet involves a program in one
computer "waking up" and interacting with a program in
another machine.  Dialnet protocols will handle human
messages as a subcase of this, taking into account the fact
that the subcase will have the most application for a long time
to come.  Messages about where to deliver a message
sent by one time-sharing system to another will be handled as a
special sort of message that one program may send another in cases
where the two programs are not written together, but each must
know a certain "public" language.  Thus we will attempt to make
a general format for requests, questions, and assertions suitable
for communication between computer programs.  We will study how
to make this mesh with communication between computer programs
and people.

.s Research Issues

	There are many research issues, and we don't expect to settle
all of them in the time and with the resources requested in this proposal.
Since we expect many of the issues will be clarified by the initial
implementation, we will concentrate on getting a reasonable first
implementation into experimental use.

	Here are some of the issues we will study:

1. What error correction facilities are required to make up for
the deficiencies of telephone lines?

2. What is the minimal necessary burden on the time-sharing
computers carrying out the communication?  What is the trade-off
between buffer size and compute time?

3. Can dial-up telephone communication rates meet most of the
needs for communication between computers belonging to different
research organizations?

4. What is the best way to handle the fact that different modem
speeds have different prices?  Should one strive for a standard
speed or can a wide variety be easily accomodated?

5. How will the improved communication affect research?  Since
changes will be slow, how can we tell as early as possible
what the effects will be?

6. What style of interaction is convenient for both experienced
and inexperienced users?  How can communication programs be
made self-teaching without being cumbersome?

.s Research Plan

We plan to undertake this project with rather modest staffing.
Initial emphasis will be on designing
and implementing experimental protocols using existing computer
facilities at Stanford.
Specifically, we plan to create an experimental link between
the computer facilities of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (SAIL) and the Low Overhead Timesharing System (LOTS).
The only additional equipment needed will be a telephone port
with autodial capability for the LOTS computer.
We expect this initial development phase will take
about 6 months.

Once a working set of protocols is developed,
implementation will be undertaken in cooperation with at least one
outside university research group.
Professor Harry Huskey of the University of California at Santa Cruz
Information Sciences Department has agreed to having it on one of the
machines there, probably a PDP-11/45 or a Burroughs B5000.
We propose to install a telephone dialout port there and hire a UC Santa Cruz
student to do the necessary system programming and testing.
The implementation should take about six months.

In the following six months, we plan to test, evaluate, and modify
the protocols.
During the latter
part of this period, we plan to publish the protocols and encourage
additional groups to join the Dialnet community.

.app "Personnel"

Biography of John McCarthy

.begin nojust; indent 0,4;
BORN:  September 4, 1927 in Boston, Massachusetts

EDUCATION:
B.S.  (Mathematics) California Institute of Technology, 1948.
Ph.D. (Mathematics) Princeton University, 1951.

HONORS AND SOCIETIES:
American Mathematical Society,
Association for Computing Machinery,
Sigma Xi,
Sloan Fellow in Physical Science (1957-59),
ACM National Lecturer (1961),
IEEE,
A.M. Turing Award from Association for Computing Machinery (1971).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
Proctor Fellow, Princeton University (1950-51),
Higgins Research Instructor in Mathematics, Princeton University (1951-53),
Acting Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Stanford University (1953-55),
Assistant Professor of Mathematics, Dartmouth College (1955-58),
Assistant Professor of Communication Science, M.I.T. (1958-61),
Associate Professor of Communication Science, M.I.T. (1961-62),
Professor of Computer Science Stanford University (1962 - present).

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND SCIENTIFIC INTERESTS:
With Marvin Minsky organized and directed the Artificial
Intelligence Project at M.I.T.

Organized and directs Stanford Artificial Intelligence Project

Developed the LISP programming system for computing with
symbolic expressions, participated in the development
of the ALGOL 58 and the ALGOL 60 languages.

Present scientific work is in the fields of Artificial
Intelligence, Computation with Symbolic Expressions,
Mathematical Theory of Computation, Time-Sharing computer
systems. 

PUBLICATIONS:
.count ref inline; at "⊗" ⊂next ref; ("["&ref&"]  ");⊃
.  at "<" ⊂"%2"⊃; at ">" ⊂"%1"⊃;

⊗"Towards a Mathematical Theory of Computation", in
<Proc. IFIP Congress 62>, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1963.

⊗"A Basis for a Mathematical Theory of Computation",
in P. Biaffort and D. Hershberg (eds.), <Computer Programming and
Formal Systems>, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1963.

⊗(with S. Boilen, E. Fredkin, J.C.R. Licklider)
"A Time-Sharing Debugging System for a Small Computer", <Proc.
AFIPS Conf.> (SJCC), Vol. 23, 1963.

⊗(with F. Corbato, M. Daggett) "The Linking
Segment Subprogram Language and Linking Loader Programming
Languages", <Comm. ACM>, July 1963.

⊗"Problems in the Theory of Computation", <Proc. IFIP
Congress 1965>.

⊗"Time-Sharing Computer Systems", in W. Orr (ed.),
<Conversational Computers>, Wiley, 1966.

⊗"A Formal Description of a Subset of Algol", in T.
Steele (ed.), <Formal Language Description Languages for Computer
Programming>, North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1966.

⊗"Information", <Scientific American>, September
1966.

⊗"Computer Control of a Hand and Eye", in <Proc.
Third All-Union Conference on Automatic Control (Technical
Cybernetics)>, Nauka, Moscow, 1967 (Russian).

⊗(with D. Brian, G. Feldman, and J. Allen) "THOR -- A
Display Based Time-Sharing System", <Proc. AFIPS Conf.> (FJCC), Vol.
30, Thompson, Washington, D.C., 1967.

⊗(with James Painter) "Correctness of a Compiler for
Arithmetic Expressions", Amer. Math. Soc., <Proc. Symposia in
Applied Math., Math. Aspects of Computer Science>, New York, 1967.

⊗"Programs with Common Sense", in Marvin Minsky
(ed.), <Semantic Information Processing>, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1968.

⊗(with Lester Earnest, D. Raj. Reddy, Pierre Vicens) "A
Computer with Hands, Eyes, and Ears", <Proc. AFIPS Conf.> (FJCC),
1968.

⊗(with Patrick Hayes) "Some Philosophical Problems from the
Standpoint of Artificial Intelligence", in Donald Michie (ed.),
<Machine Intelligence 4>, American Elsevier, New York, 1969.

⊗"The Home Information Terminal", <Man and Computer,
Proc. Int. Conf., Bordeaux, 1970>, S. Karger, New York, 1972.

.end
.app Current Support

Prof. McCarthy is currently being supported by the Advanced Research
Projects Agency under Contract MDA903-76-C-0206 (1 January 1976 - 30 June
1977, $916,000/year) and by the National Science Foundation for research
in Verification Oriented Programming under Grant Number MCS76-00327 (June
1976 - June 1978, $160,000/year).  Prof. McCarthy also oversees (but recieves
no personal support from) an NSF
research contract on Exploratory Study of Computer Integrated Assembly
Systems under Contract NSF APR74-01390 A04 (April 1976 - April 1978,
$225,000/year).

.cb Pending Applicatiions

Prof. McCarthy has recently submitted two proposals (involving no personal
support) to the National Science Foundation.
"A Unified Approach to Automatic Programming" (MCS-7683655) would
run two years at a level of $96,000/year, while
"Verification of Operating Systems written in Concurrent Pascal"
would run two years at a level of $37,000/year.
.app Relevant Experience

The Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has been active in the
development of remote terminal and data communication systems for a number
of years.  SAIL staff members participated in the planning of the ARPA
Network and the SAIL computer facility (Appendix B) was among the early
systems in which the ARPAnet protocol was implemented (1972).  Many of
the capabilities that we propose to make available through Dialnet
are available in some form in the ARPAnet.
A similar capability has been developed over a leased telephone line between
SAIL and the Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences,
located several miles away on the Stanford campus.

Since 1974, the SAIL timesharing system has been fitted with
automatic dialing equipment in conjunction with Dataphone service, to
permit computer-initiated data communications with other computers.
This permits the SAIL computer to simulate the functions of
teletypewriter terminals, so as to access programs and data files in
external machines.  This is the principal communication
technique that will be employed in Dialnet, although the protocols
will be substantially different for the sake of efficiency and
reliability.

The general problem of utilizing dial networks for computer communication
has been under study in the Laboratory for some time (e.g. [1]).
.skip
.begin  indent 0,5;  at "<" ⊂"%2"⊃; at ">" ⊂"%1"⊃;
[1]  Rubin, Jeff, "Computer Communication via the Dial-up Network",
<Minutes of the DECsystem-10 Spring-75 DECUS Meeting>, Digital
Equipment Computer Users Society, Maynard, Mass., 1975.

.end
.app  Facilities

The computer  facilities  of  the  Stanford  Artificial  Intelligence
Laboratory include the following equipment, most of it purchased with
U.S. Government research funds.  At present, we anticipate the need of
additional equipment only at other experimental sites.

.begin "facil" indent 0,10; nojust;
Central processors: Digital Equipment Corporation KL10 and
KA10.

Primary store:       512k words (36 bit) of 1 to 1.6 microsecond core
(DEC and Ampex)

Swapping store:      Librascope disk (5 million words).

File store:          Ampex disc file (3330-11 type), 6 spindles
(capacity: 7.8 x 10%59%* bits).

Peripherals:         4 Dectape drives, 2 mag tape drives (7 channel),
line printer, Calcomp plotter, Xerox Graphics Printer

Terminals:           58 Data Disc displays, 6 III displays, 4 IMLAC displays,
10 Datamedia displays, 15 Teletype terminals, 5 TI terminals

Realtime processors: DEC PDP-11/45 and SPS-41 with 8k words (16 bit) of core
and 197k words of Intel MOS memory.

Communications processor: BBN IMP (Honeywell DDP-516) connected to the ARPA
Network.

Special  equipment:  Audio input and output systems, hand-eye equipment
(4 TV cameras, 2 arms), remote-controlled cart.
.end "facil"
.skip 10
The computer facilities of the Stanford Low Overhead Timesharing System
will consist of the following.  In order to participate in this project,
a telephone data set with autodialer and computer interface will be needed.

.begin indent 0,10; nojust;
Central processor:  Digital Equipment Corporation KL20 (36 bit machine).

Primary store:  262k words (36 bit) of 1 microsecond DEC core.

File store:  DEC RP06 disc drive (capacity: 1.6 x 10↑9 bits).

Peripherals: DEC 9-track tape drive, Printronix line printer, 48 port
line scanner.

Terminals: 50 ADM3 displays.
.end
.		<< budget >>
.onecol
.app Budget

Eighteen months beginning 1 July 1977.

.begin "budget" nofill select 4; turn off "%";narrow 5;

                            	 Man	1 Jul.'77 to	   1 Jul.'78 to
                               	Months	30 Jun.'78	   31 Dec.'78
A. SALARIES AND WAGES

   1.Senior Personnel
      Professor John McCarthy	   1	  - - -	              - - -
      Principal Investigator (5%)

      Lester Earnest (10%) 	   2	 $3,689		     $1,955
      Res. Scientist & Lecturer

   2..Other Personnel

      a.Programmer
        Martin Frost (50%)       	  7,806	              4,137

      b.Student Research Assistants
        Acad. yr. 50%, Sum. 100%	  7,155		      4,550
        Acad. yr. 50%, Sum. 100%	  4,293		      4,550
	    (1 Jan. '78 on)

      c.Support Personnel

        Secretary (10%)		 	  1,160		        615

	Electronic Technician (15%)	  2,226		      1,180
					 ______		     ______

      Total Salaries and Wages		 26,329		     16,987


B. STAFF BENEFITS  	         	  5,221		      3,488
   9/1/76 to 8/31/77:19%
   9/1/77 to 8/31/78:20%
   9/1/78 to 8/31/79:20.8%		 ______              ______        

C. TOTAL SALARIES, WAGES,
   AND STAFF BENEFITS            	 31,550		     20,475

D. PERMANENT EQUIPMENT
   2 computer-Dataphone interfaces	  4,000

E. EXPENDABLE SUPPLIES              	  1,000			500
   & EQUIPMENT(e.g., copying,
   office supplies,postage,
   freight,consulting,honoraria)

F. TRAVEL                         	  1,300                 700

G. PUBLICATION COSTS                	    500                 500

H. COMPUTER COSTS			  - - -		      - - -

I. OTHER COSTS
   Telephone                        	    200                 100
   2 computer phone lines with autodial	    920			480
					 ______		     ______

J. TOTAL DIRECT COSTS (C through I)	 39,470		     22,755

K. INDIRECT COSTS			 20,573		     13,198
   58% of (J less D)			 ------		     ------

L. TOTAL COSTS (J plus K)		$60,043		    $35,953
					-------		    -------

Total Budget (eighteen months)				    $95,996
.end "budget"

.SELECT 6; skip 4
The source file of this document is DIALNE.PRO[E76,JMC]@SU-AI.
.twocol
.back