|
Sending You the Data SETI@home connects only when transferring data. This occurs only when the screen saver has finished analyzing the work-unit and wants to send back the results (and get another work-unit.) We'll only do this with your permission and allow you to control when your computer connects to us or, we'll give you the option to set the screen saver to transfer data automatically as soon as it's done with the current work-unit. The data transmission lasts for less than 5 minutes with most common modems and we'll disconnect immediately after all data is transferred. We keep track of the work-units here in Berkeley with a large database. Although the data in the work-units overlap slightly to make sure we don't miss anything, no two people will ever get the same work-unit. When the work-units are returned to us, they are merged back into the database and marked "done." Our computers look for a new work-unit for you to process and send it out, marking it "in progress" in the database. If we don't hear back from you for a long time, we'll assume that you've abandoned us (and boy, should you feel guilty!) and we will eventually assign your unfinished work to someone else.
|
