Co-locating peer devices for peer matching

• US 10,148,748 B2
• Filed: 02/24/2016
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hunt, Brandon T., Burba, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Bui, Jonathan A
• Application Number:
  US15/052,757
• Publication Number:
  US 20160255143A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1072 Discovery involving ranked list compilation of candidate peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1093 Some peer nodes performing special functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

The techniques and systems described herein implement an improved peer matching service by coordinating peer matching requests across multiple peer matching nodes configured within a peer matching unit so that resource consumption can be spread out and resource limitations are not exceeded. Moreover, the peer matching service can determine if a peer matching unit is overloaded (e.g., experiencing an increased number of requests in a given time interval that is causing performance degradation), and the peer matching service can implement an action to scale out the number of requests within the peer matching unit (e.g., re-distribute some peer matching requests to another peer matching unit). In various examples, the peer matching service can determine if peer devices are co-located peer devices based on location information and can generate a list that prioritizes the co-located peer devices.

Claims

1. One or more devices comprising:

one or more processors;

memory storing a list of peer identifiers corresponding to a set of peer devices that have been grouped together for peer matching services associated with a same content identifier; and

one or more modules stored on the memory and executable by the one or more processors to;

receive, from the set of peer devices, location information in association with requests to register the set of peer devices for the peer matching services;

determine, based at least in part on the location information, that a subset of the set of peer devices is associated with co-location information indicating that peer devices in the subset of the set of peer devices are proximal to one another;

provide, to individual peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices, a list of first peer identifiers associated with other peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices; and

implement peer-to-peer transfer of content associated with the content identifier using the subset of the set of peer devices rather than using peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices, wherein at least one peer device in the subset of the set of peer devices transmits the content and at least one other peer device in the subset of the set of peer devices receives the content.

2. The one or more devices of claim 1, wherein the one or more modules are further executable by the one or more processors to provide, to the individual peer devices in the subset of the set of peer devices, a prioritized list of peer identifiers associated with the set of peer devices, the prioritized list placing the first peer identifiers associated with the other peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices over second peer identifiers associated with peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices.

3. The one or more devices of claim 1, wherein:

the location information comprises at least one of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, geo-location information, or an Internet Service Provider; and

the subset of the set of peer devices are determined to be associated with the co-location information based at least in part on corresponding IP addresses, geo-location information, or Internet Service Providers indicating that the subset of the set of peer devices is within a predefined distance threshold.

4. The one or more devices of claim 1, wherein:

the location information comprises domain information; and

the subset of the set of peer devices are determined to be associated with the co-location information based at least in part on corresponding domain information indicating that the subset of the set of peer devices is part of a same domain.

5. The one or more devices of claim 1, wherein the set of peer devices comprises a swarm, and the list is used to avoid swarm fragmentation.

6. The one or more devices of claim 1, wherein the co-location information indicates that the subset of the set of peer devices are capable of implementing peer-to-peer transfer of the content associated with the content identifier within an internal network and without using networking equipment that routes data from the internal network to an external network.

7. The one or more devices of claim 6, wherein the networking equipment comprises a router.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, from a set of peer devices, location information in association with requests to register the set of peer devices for peer matching services associated with a same content identifier;

determining, based at least in part on the location information, that a subset of the set of peer devices is associated with co-location information indicating that peer devices in the subset of the set of peer devices are proximal to one another;

providing, to individual peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices, a list of first peer identifiers associated with other peer devices included in the subset; and

implementing peer-to-peer transfer of content associated with the content identifier using the subset of the set of peer devices rather than using peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices, wherein at least one peer device in the subset of the set of peer devices transmits the content and at least one other peer device in the subset of the set of peer devices receives the content.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising providing, to the individual peer devices in the subset of the set of peer devices, a prioritized list of peer identifiers associated with the set of peer devices, the prioritized list placing the first peer identifiers associated with the other peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices over second peer identifiers associated with peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the location information comprises at least one of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, geo-location information, or an Internet Service Provider; and

the subset of the set of peer devices are determined to be associated with the co-location information based at least in part on corresponding IP addresses, geo-location information, or Internet Service Providers indicating that the subset of the set of peer devices is within a predefined distance threshold.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the location information comprises domain information; and

the subset of the set of peer devices are determined to be associated with the co-location information based at least in part on corresponding domain information indicating that the subset of the set of peer devices is part of a same domain.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the subset of the set of peer devices are positioned to implement the peer-to-peer transfer of the content associated with the content identifier with each other more efficiently than with the peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the co-location information indicates that the subset of the set of peer devices are capable of implementing the peer-to-peer transfer of the content associated with the content identifier within an internal network and without using network equipment that routes data from the internal network to an external network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the networking equipment comprises a router.

15. One or more computer storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure a device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a set of peer devices, location information in association with requests to register the set of peer devices for peer matching services associated with a same content identifier;

determining, based at least in part on the location information, that a subset of the set of peer devices is associated with co-location information indicating that peer devices in the subset of the set of peer devices are proximal to one another;

providing, to individual peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices, a list of first peer identifiers associated with other peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices; and

implementing peer-to-peer transfer of content associated with the content identifier using the subset of the set of peer devices rather than using peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices, wherein at least one peer device in the subset of the set of peer devices transmits the content and at least one other peer device in the subset of the set of peer devices receives the content.

16. The one or more computer storage media of claim 15, the operations further comprising providing, to the individual peer devices in the subset of the set of peer devices, a prioritized list of peer identifiers associated with the set of peer devices, the prioritized list placing the first peer identifiers associated with the other peer devices included in the subset of the set of peer devices over second peer identifiers associated with peer devices not included in the subset of the set of peer devices.

17. The one or more computer storage media of claim 15, wherein:

the location information comprises at least one of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, geo-location information, or an Internet Service Provider; and

the subset of the set of peer devices are determined to be associated with the co-location information based at least in part on corresponding IP addresses, geo-location information, or Internet Service Providers indicating that the subset of the set of peer devices is within a predefined distance threshold.

18. The one or more computer storage media of claim 15, wherein:

the location information comprises domain information; and

the subset of the set of peer devices are determined to be associated with the co-location information based at least in part on corresponding domain information indicating that the subset of the set of peer devices is part of a same domain.

19. The one or more computer storage media of claim 15, wherein the subset of the set of peer devices are positioned to implement the peer-to-peer transfer of the content associated with the content identifier with each other more efficiently than with the peer devices not included in the subset.

20. The one or more computer storage media of claim 15, wherein the co-location information indicates that the subset of the set of peer devices are capable of implementing the peer-to-peer transfer of the content associated with the content identifier within an internal network and without using network equipment that routes data from the internal network to an external network.