Automatic Detection of intermediate network device capabilities

• US 20040243714A1
• Filed: 06/02/2003
• Published: 12/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Klemets, Anders E., Wynn, Tong L.
• Granted Patent: US 7,409,454 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

Automatic detection of intermediate network device capabilities includes analyzing requests received, at a particular device, from a remote device. The analyzing is performed to determine, based on the content of the requests, whether an intermediate device on the network situated between the device and the remote device does not support streaming of data from the device to the remote device using the pipelining feature of Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) 1.1. In one implementation, a test is performed by sending two back to back requests from the remote device to the particular device. The test is determined to be a success if the requests are received within a threshold amount of time of one another, and a failure if the requests are not received within the threshold amount of time of one another.

Claims

1. A computer readable media having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first portion containing data identifying a message type;

a second portion containing data identifying one or more headers, the one or more headers including an experiment interest header to notify a server device that a client device desires to perform a test of streaming data from the server device to the client device; and

a third portion containing data identifying an end of the second portion in the data structure.

2. A computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the data structure is a HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 message.

3. A computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the experiment interest header comprises:

Pragma;

pipeline-experiment=1.

4. A computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

5. A computer readable media as recited in claim 1, wherein the test comprises a test of streaming data using pipelining from the server device to the client device.

6. A computer readable media having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first portion containing data representing a type of the data structure; and

a second portion containing data identifying a directive for the data structure that notifies a server device that a client device desires to perform a test of streaming data from the server device to the client device, the second portion further functioning to delimit an end of the data structure.

7. A computer readable media as recited in claim 6, wherein the type of the data structure comprises a HyperText Transfer Protocol Pragma header.

8. A computer readable media as recited in claim 6, wherein the directive for the data structure comprises:

pipeline-experiment=1.

9. A computer readable media as recited in claim 6, wherein the data structure is a header of a HyperText Transfer Protocol message.

10. A computer readable media as recited in claim 6, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

11. A computer readable media as recited in claim 6, wherein the test comprises a test of pipelined streaming of data from the server device to the client device.

12. A computer readable media having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first portion containing data identifying a message type;

a second portion containing data identifying one or more headers, the one or more headers including an experiment flag header to notify a server device that the message is part of a test of streaming data from the server device to the client device; and

a third portion containing data identifying an end of the second portion in the data structure.

13. A computer readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the data structure is a HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 message.

14. A computer readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the experiment flag header comprises:

Pragma;

pipeline-request=1.

15. A computer readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

16. A computer readable media as recited in claim 12, wherein the test comprises a test of streaming data using pipelining.

17. A computer readable media having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first portion containing data representing a type of the data structure; and

a second portion containing data identifying a directive for the data structure that notifies a server device that the data structure is part of a test of streaming data from the server device to the client device, the second portion further functioning to delimit an end of the data structure.

18. A computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the type of the data structure comprises a HyperText Transfer Protocol Pragma header.

19. A computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the directive for the data structure comprises:

pipeline-request=1.

20. A computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the data structure is a header of a HyperText Transfer Protocol message.

21. A computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

22. A computer readable media as recited in claim 17, wherein the test comprises a test of pipelined streaming of data.

23. A computer readable media having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first portion containing data identifying a message type;

a second portion containing data identifying one or more headers, the one or more headers including an inhibit version 1.1 header to indicate to a server device that data should not be streamed to a client device using HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 pipelined streaming; and

a third portion containing data identifying an end of the second portion in the data structure.

24. A computer readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the data structure is a HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 message.

25. A computer readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the experiment interest header comprises:

Pragma;

version11-enabled=0.

26. A computer readable media as recited in claim 23, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

27. A computer readable media having stored thereon a data structure, comprising:

a first portion containing data representing a type of the data structure; and

a second portion containing data identifying a directive for the data structure that notifies a server device that streaming of data to a client device should not use HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 pipelined streaming, the second portion further functioning to delimit an end of the data structure.

28. A computer readable media as recited in claim 27, wherein the type of the data structure comprises a HyperText Transfer Protocol Pragma header.

29. A computer readable media as recited in claim 27, wherein the directive for the data structure comprises:

version11-enabled=0.

30. A computer readable media as recited in claim 27, wherein the data structure is a header of a HyperText Transfer Protocol message.

31. A computer readable media as recited in claim 27, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

32. A method, implemented in a device, the method comprising:

receiving, at the device, a first request from a remote device;

determining that the first request includes an indicator that the first request is one of a plurality of requests that are a test of streaming data from the device to the remote device using pipelined streaming;

in response to the determining, checking whether a second request from the remote device is received at the device within a threshold amount of time of receiving the first request; and

determining that the test is a success if the second request is received within the threshold amount of time, and determining that the test is a failure if the second request is not received within the threshold amount of time.

33. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the test is a test of whether data can be streamed from the device to the remote device using HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 pipelined streaming.

34. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the first request is sent by the device prior to the second request being sent by the device.

35. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the first request and second request are both HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET requests.

36. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein receiving the first request comprises receiving the first request via a network.

37. A method as recited in claim 32, further comprising responding to the first request prior to receiving the second request.

38. A method as recited in claim 32, further comprising;

generating a response to the second request that includes an indication of whether the test is a success or a failure; and

sending the response to the remote device.

39. A method as recited in claim 38, wherein the indication of whether the test is a success or a failure comprises a pipeline-result=1 header if the test is a success, and a pipeline-result=O header if the test is a failure.

40. A method as recited in claim 32, further comprising beginning a response to the first request but not finishing the response until the second request is received at the device or the threshold amount of time after receiving the first request elapses.

41. A method as recited in claim 40, wherein beginning the response comprises sending a message to the remote device indicating that the response to the first request will be sent using chunked encoding, and wherein finishing the response comprises sending a zero-length chunk.

42. A method as recited in claim 40, wherein beginning the response comprises sending a message to the remote device indicating that data to be sent as the response to the first request has a particular length, and wherein not finishing the response comprises not sending all of the data until the second request is received at the device or the threshold amount of time after receiving the first request elapses.

43. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the indicator comprises a pipeline-request=1 header.

44. A method as recited in claim 32, wherein the device comprises a streaming media server and wherein the remote device comprises a client computing device.

45. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

receive a first request from a remote device;

identify, based on an indicator in the first request, that the first request is one of a plurality of requests that are a test of pipelined streaming of data to the remote device;

in response to the identification, check whether a second request from the remote device is received within a threshold amount of time of receipt of the first request; and

determine that the test is a success if the second request is received within the threshold amount of time, and determine that the test is a failure if the second request is not received within the threshold amount of time.

46. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the test is a test of whether data can be streamed from the device to the remote device using HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 pipelined streaming.

47. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the first request is sent by the device prior to the second request being sent by the device.

48. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the first request and second request are both HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET requests.

49. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the first request is received via a network.

50. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to respond to the first request prior to receipt of the second request.

51. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a response to the second request that includes an indication of whether the test is a success or a failure; and

send the response to the remote device.

52. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 51, wherein the indication of whether the test is a success or a failure comprises a pipeline-result=1 header if the test is a success, and a pipeline-result=0 header if the test is a failure.

53. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to begin a response to the first request but not finish the response until the second request is received or the threshold amount of time after receipt of the first request elapses.

54. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 53, wherein to begin the response by sending a message to the remote device indicating that the response to the first request will be sent using chunked encoding, and wherein to finish the response comprises sending a zero-length chunk.

55. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 53, wherein to begin the response comprises sending a message to the remote device indicating that data to be sent as the response to the first request has a particular length, and wherein to not finish the response comprises not sending all of the data until the second request is received or the threshold amount of time after receipt of the first request elapses.

56. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the indicator comprises a pipeline-request=1 header.

57. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the one or more processors are part of a streaming media server and wherein the remote device comprises a client computing device.

58. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 45, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

59. A method, implemented in a device, the method comprising:

sending, to a remote device, a first request that includes an indicator that the first request is one of a plurality of requests that are a test of pipelined streaming of data from the remote device to the device; and

sending, to the remote device, a second request without waiting for a response to the first request from the remote device.

60. A method as recited in claim 59, wherein the test is a test of whether data can be streamed from the remote device to the device using HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 pipelined streaming.

61. A method as recited in claim 59, wherein sending the second request comprises sending the second request after sending the first request.

62. A method as recited in claim 59, wherein the first request and second request are both HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET requests.

63. A method as recited in claim 59, wherein sending the first request comprises sending the first request via a network, and wherein sending the second request comprises sending the second request via the network.

64. A method as recited in claim 59, further comprising receiving, from the remote device, a response to the second request that includes an indication of whether the test is a success or a failure.

65. A method as recited in claim 64, wherein the indication of whether the test is a success or a failure comprises a pipeline-result=1 header if the test is a success, and a pipeline-result=0 header if the test is a failure.

66. A method as recited in claim 59, wherein the indicator comprises a pipeline-request=1 header.

67. A method as recited in claim 59, wherein the device comprises a client computing device, and wherein the remote device comprises a streaming media server.

68. One or more computer readable media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a device, causes the one or more processors to:

send, to a streaming data source, a first request that includes an indicator that the first request is part of a test of streaming data from the streaming data source to the device using pipelining; and

send, to the streaming data source, a second request prior to receipt of a response to the first request from the streaming data source.

69. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the test is a test of whether data can be streamed from the streaming data source to the device using HyperText Transfer Protocol 1.1 pipelined streaming.

70. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to send the second request comprises instructions that cause the one or more processors to send the second request after the first request is sent.

71. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the first request and second request are both HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET requests.

72. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the instructions that cause the one or more processors to send the first request and the second request comprise instructions that cause the one or more processors to send the first request and the second request via a network.

73. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to receive, from the streaming data source, a response to the second request that includes an indication of whether the test is a success or a failure.

74. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 73, wherein the indication of whether the test is a success or a failure comprises a pipeline-result=1 header if the test is a success, and a pipeline-result=0 header if the test is a failure.

75. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the indicator comprises a pipeline-request=1 header.

76. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the device comprises a client computing device, and wherein the streaming data source comprises a streaming media server.

77. One or more computer readable media as recited in claim 68, wherein the computer readable media comprises computer storage media.

78. A method comprising:

receiving, from a remote device via a network, a request as a HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP) message having a start line portion indicating the message conforms to HTTP 1.1; and

determining, based on data in the message, that media is not to be streamed to the remote device using HTTP 1.1 pipelined streaming even though the request indicates the message conforms to HTTP 1.1.

79. A method as recited in claim 78, wherein the data in the message comprises a header that indicates an intermediate device does not support HTTP 1.1 pipelined streaming.

80. A method as recited in claim 78, wherein the header comprises a Via:

1.0 header.

81. A method comprising:

testing a connection between two devices to determine whether an intermediate device is present in the connection that does not support streaming data from one of the two devices to the other using Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) 1.1 pipelined streaming.

82. A method as recited in claim 81, wherein the testing comprises:

receiving, at one of the two devices, a first request from the other of the two devices;

checking whether a second request from the other of the two devices is received at the one of the two devices within a threshold amount of time of receiving the first request; and

determining that no intermediate device is present in the connection that does not support streaming data from one of the two devices to the other using HTTP 1.1 pipelined streaming if the second request is received within the threshold amount of time, and determining that an intermediate device is present in the connection that does not support streaming data from one of the two devices to the other using HTTP 1.1 pipelined streaming if the second request is not received within the threshold amount of time.