Data matrix method and system for distribution of data

• US 20040213230A1
• Filed: 04/08/2003
• Published: 10/28/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Santharam, Arun, Haldar, Debashis, Douskalis, William, Money, Jesse
• Granted Patent: US 7,984,127 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments

Abstract

A method and system for distributing data from one or more main data sources to one or more consumer nodes. An abstract data matrix layer is provided between a producer layer and a consumer layer. A producer node multicasts data updates to selected data matrix nodes in the data matrix layer, and a consumer node registers with the data matrix layer to receive designated data updates. One or more data matrix nodes then serve the requested data updates on the requesting consumer node.

Claims

1. A method of distributing data over a network from a data source to a plurality of host nodes, the method comprising:

instructing each host node of the plurality of host nodes to detect network traffic that is destined to a given multicast address; and

multicasting, from the data source to the given multicast address, a data packet that includes multiple data sets and that includes for each data set a specification that indicates to at least one recipient host node whether the recipient host node should take and store the data set, wherein a first specification for a first data set in the packet differs from a second specification for a second data set in the packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet comprises a header section and a payload section, the method further comprising:

including the multicast address in the header section;

including the multiple data sets in the payload section; and

including the specification for at least one data set as a delimiter in conjunction with the at least one data set in the payload section.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

each host node of the plurality of host nodes receiving the data packet multicast to the multicast address, and, for at least one data set in the packet, (i) making a determination of whether the specification for the data set indicates that the host node should take and store the data set and (ii) taking and storing the data set if the determination is that the specification for the data set indicates that the host node should take and store the data set.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, with respect to each host node:

when instructing the host node to detect network traffic that is destined to the given multicast address, also instructing the host node to maintain a particular data set having a particular data set name,

wherein the specification for a given data set comprises the particular data set name.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

a host node receiving the data packet multicast to the multicast address and, for at least one data set in the packet, (i) making a determination of whether the specification for the data set is the particular data set name and, (ii) taking and storing the data set if the determination is that the specification for the data set is the particular data set name.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the specification for a given data set in the data packet comprises an identifier of one or more host nodes to receive and store the given data set.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

a given host node receiving the data packet multicast to the multicast address and, for at least one data set in the packet, (i) making a determination of whether the specification for the data set comprises an identifier of the given host node and (ii) taking and storing the data set if the determination is that the specification for the data set comprises the identifier of the given host node.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the data sets comprises group data for use by an application server selected from the group consisting of (i) a push-to-talk application server and (ii) an instant messaging application server.

9. A method for communicating data in a network, the method comprising:

a consumer node multicasting a blanket registration message to a multicast group of which multiple host nodes are members, the blanket registration message identifying the consumer node and defining a request for data;

each of the host nodes receiving and reading the blanket registration message;

each of the host nodes making a determination of whether it maintains the requested data and, if so, whether it has the requested data; and

at least one host node determining that it has the requested data and responsively sending the requested data to the consumer node identified in the blanket registration message.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

at least one of the host nodes receiving further data after receiving the blanket registration message;

the at least one node determining that the further data falls within the requested data and responsively sending the further data to the consumer node.

11. A method of communicating data over a network from a producer node to a consumer node, the method comprising:

instructing each host node of a plurality of host nodes to detect network traffic that is destined to a given multicast address;

multicasting, from the producer node to the given multicast address, a data packet that includes a plurality of data sets and that includes, for each data set, a specification that indicates to a recipient host node whether the recipient host node should take and store the data set, wherein a first specification for a first data set in the packet differs from a second specification for a second data set in the packet;

each host node of the plurality of host nodes receiving the data packet multicast to the multicast address, and each host node taking and storing each data set having a specification that indicates the host node should take and store the data set;

multicasting, from the consumer node to a multicast group of which the plurality of host nodes are members, a blanket registration message that identifies the consumer node and that defines a request for data;

each of the host nodes making a determination of whether it maintains the requested data and, if so, whether it has the requested data; and

at least one of the host nodes determining that it has the requested data and responsively sending the requested data to the consumer node identified in the blanket registration message.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising selecting the plurality of host nodes based at least in part on performance of the host nodes.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the data packet comprises a header section and a payload section, the method further comprising:

including the multicast address in the header section;

including the multiple data sets in the payload section; and

including the specification for at least one data set as a delimiter in conjunction with the at least one data set in the payload section.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the specification for a given data set in the data packet comprises an identifier of one or more host nodes to receive and store the given data set.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

at least a given one of the host nodes storing an indication of the request for data;

the given host node thereafter receiving further data from the producer node;

the given host node determining that the further data is the requested data and responsively sending the further data to the consumer node.

16. A data distribution system comprising:

a producer layer comprising a number of producer nodes;

a data matrix layer comprising a plurality of data matrix nodes, wherein each data matrix node receives data sets from the producer layer and stores the data sets in data storage;

wherein each producer node (i) instructs a subset of the data matrix nodes to listen to a given multicast address and (ii) thereafter sends an update message to the given multicast address for receipt by the data matrix nodes of the subset;

wherein the update message carries a plurality of data sets and, for each data set of the plurality of data sets, a specification that indicates to each recipient data matrix node whether the recipient data matrix node should take and store the data set.

17. The data distribution system of claim 16, each specification is a delimiter.

18. The data distribution system of claim 16, wherein the specification for at least one of the data sets identifies at least one data matrix node that should take and store the data set.

19. The data distribution system of claim 16, wherein the specification for at least one of the data sets identifies the data set by name.

20. The data distribution system of claim 16, further comprising:

a consumer layer comprising a number of consumer nodes, wherein each consumer node multicasts a registration message to the data matrix nodes, seeking given data, and wherein each data matrix node that has received at least a subset of the given data from a producer node responsively sends at least the subset of the given data to the consumer node.

21. The data distribution system of claim 20, wherein at least one data matrix node stores an indication that a given consumer node has requested the given data and, upon subsequently receiving further data from the producer layer, determines that the further data falls within the given data and responsively sends the further data to the given consumer node.

22. The data distribution system of claim 16, wherein the number of producer nodes is a plurality of producer nodes, and the number of consumer nodes is a plurality of consumer nodes.

23. The data distribution system of claim 16, wherein at least one of the data sets comprises data for use by an application server selected from the group consisting of (i) a push-to-talk application server and (ii) an instant messaging application server.

24. A producer node comprising:

a processor;

data storage;

machine language instructions stored in the data storage and executable by the processor to perform functions comprising;

instructing each of a plurality of data matrix nodes to detect network traffic that is destined to a given multicast address, and

multicasting to the given multicast address a data packet that includes multiple data sets and that includes for each data set a specification that indicates to at least one recipient data matrix node whether the recipient host node should take and store the data set, wherein a first specification for a first data set in the packet differs from a second specification for a second data set in the packet.