Stream processing utilizing virtual processing agents

• US 10,554,709 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2014
• Issued: 02/04/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/08/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Somuah, Henry Hooper, Bykov, Sergey, Melamed, Tamir, Rodi, Robert Louis, Cheung, Felix, Malyuk, Michael William, Hesky, Andrew Alexander, Kliot, Gabriel, Thelin, Jorgen, Geller, Alan Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Tom Y
• Application Number:
  US14/326,239
• Publication Number:
  US 20160014175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,037 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/85 Providing additional services to players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/86 Watching games played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/577 for watching a game played by other players
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for event delivery and stream processing utilizing virtual processing agents. Upon receiving an event publication in a queue, a runtime system identifies one or more virtual processing agents that might be interested in, but have not explicitly subscribed to, the published event. Event information of the published event is then delivered to the identified virtual processing agents. Prior to the actual delivery, the runtime system further determines if the virtual processing agents have been activated and activates those processing agents that have not been activated. Based on the received event information, some of the virtual processing agents might decide to explicitly submit subscriptions to receive more events from the queue. The explicit subscriptions will trigger the runtime system to deliver the subscribed events to the processing agents, which might include past events that have been published in the queue before the explicit subscription is received.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for delivering events to a processing agent executing on one or more servers, the method comprising:

receiving a publication of an event in a queue of events, wherein the event includes information that describes a player interaction with a game application;

mapping the event to a processing agent of a plurality of different processing agents, wherein the processing agent has not explicitly subscribed to receive the event;

determining that the processing agent is not activated;

in response to determining that the processing agent is not activated, activating the processing agent such that the processing agent is available to provide functionality to the game application;

delivering the event to the processing agent;

receiving a subscription from the processing agent;

receiving one or more additional publications of one or more additional events in the queue of events, the one or more additional events occurring after the subscription is received from the processing agent;

delivering, based at least in part on the subscription, the one or more additional events to the processing agent;

determining that the subscription requests that one or more past events be delivered, the one or more past events having been published in the queue of events prior to the receiving the subscription from the processing agent; and

in response to determining that the subscription requests that the one or more past events be delivered, delivering the one or more past events to the processing agent.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the publication of the event in the queue of events comprises:

receiving a request to publish the event in the queue of events;

activating a virtual stream corresponding to the event; and

publishing the event in the queue of events through the virtual stream.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscription defines the virtual stream.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein activating the processing agent comprises allocating system resources to the processing agent.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a configuration of the processing agent is obtained programmatically or determined from a declarative definition of the processing agent.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing agent is addressable for delivering the event independent of whether the processing agent is activated or not activated.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing agent is configured to receive a particular type of event and the subscription requests all events of the particular type of event that are published in the queue of events including the event, the one or more additional events, and the one or more past events.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising using an activation table to map the event to the processing agent.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing agent is configured to receive different events that occur within an individual session of the game application.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing agent is configured to receive different events caused by an individual player participating in a session of the game application.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing agent is configured to receive different events caused by an individual device participating in a session of the game application.

12. A system, comprising one or more computing devices having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure the one or more computing devices to:

manage a queue for receiving and persisting publications of events, wherein an individual event includes information that describes a player interaction with a game application;

receive a publication of an event in a virtual stream;

forward the publication of the event to the queue;

map the event to a processing agent of a plurality of different processing agents, wherein the processing agent has not explicitly subscribed to receive the event and the processing agent is addressable for delivering the event independent of whether the processing agent is activated or not activated;

determine that the processing agent is not activated;

in response to determining that the processing agent is not activated, activate the processing agent such that the processing agent is available to provide functionality to the game application;

deliver the event to the processing agent;

receive an explicit subscription to the virtual stream from the processing agent after the event is delivered to the processing agent;

receive one or more additional publications of one or more additional events in the virtual stream after the explicit subscription is received;

forward the one or more additional publications of the one or more additional events to the queue;

deliver, based at least in part on the explicit subscription, the one or more additional events to the processing agent;

determine that past events have been published in the queue before the explicit subscription is received;

retrieve the past events that have been published in the queue; and

deliver the past events to the processing agent.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein activating the processing agent comprises allocating system resources to the processing agent.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further configure the one or more computing devices to:

deactivate the virtual stream when no events are received in the virtual stream over a certain period of time by reclaiming system resources allocated to the virtual stream; and

deactivate the processing agent when the processing agent becomes idle for a given period of time by reclaiming system resources allocated to the processing agent.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the processing agent is configured to receive a particular type of event and the explicit subscription requests all events of the particular type that are published in the queue including the event, the one or more additional events, and the past events.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further configure the one or more computing devices to use an activation table to map the event to the processing agent.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

receive a publication of an event in a queue of events, wherein the event includes information that describes a player interaction with a game application;

map the event to a processing agent of a plurality of different processing agents, wherein the processing agent has not explicitly subscribed to receive the event;

determine that the processing agent is not activated;

in response to determining that the processing agent is not activated, activate the processing agent such that the processing agent is available to provide functionality to the game application;

deliver the event to the processing agent;

receive a subscription from the processing agent;

receive one or more additional publications of one or more additional events in the queue of events, the one or more additional events occurring after the subscription is received from the processing agent;

deliver, based at least in part on the subscription, the one or more additional events to the processing agent;

determine that the subscription requests that one or more past events be delivered, the one or more past events having been published in the queue of events prior to the receiving the subscription from the processing agent; and

in response to determining that the subscription requests that the one or more past events be delivered, deliver the one or more past events to the processing agent.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing agent is responsible for processing different events that occur within an individual session of the game application.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing agent is responsible for processing different events caused by an individual player participating in a session of the game application.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the processing agent is responsible for processing different events caused by an individual device participating in a session of the game application.