Method for efficient content distribution using a peer-to-peer networking infrastructure

• US 20050216559A1
• Filed: 03/26/2004
• Published: 09/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Rao, Ravi T., Manion, Todd R., Shappell, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,803 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1044 Group management mechanisms management of multicast group membership H04L12/185; reconfiguring of node membership in a computing system to eliminate errors G06F11/1425
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for efficiently distributing content by leveraging the use of a peer-to-peer network infrastructure. In a network of peers, a handful peers can receive content from centralized servers. These peers can then flood this content out to more clients who in turn can send the content along to others. Ultimately, a request for content can be fulfilled by locating the closest peer and obtaining the content from that peer. In one embodiment the method can be used to distribute content by creating content distribution groups of one or more client computing devices and redirecting requests for content from the server to the content distribution group. A further contemplated embodiment efficiently streams time sensitive data through the use of a spanning tree architecture of peer-to-peer clients. In yet another embodiment the present invention provides for more efficient use of bandwidth for shared residential broadband connections.

Claims

1. A method for distributing, from a first computing device to at least one second computing device over a peer-to-peer network, a piece of data from a content server, the method comprising:

obtaining the piece of data, by the first computing device, from the content server, the first computing device being a client of the content server and a peer in a peer-to-peer network group;

communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group that the piece of data is available to be obtained from the first computing device;

locating the piece of data on the first computing device, by the at least one second computing device, wherein the at least one second computing device is also a peer in the peer-to-peer network group and the first computing device and the at least one second computing device are connected via a local area connection; and

obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device via the peer-to-peer network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area connection is a part of an enterprise network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the enterprise network comprises a wide area connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the obtaining the piece of data by the first computing device comprises:

requesting the piece of data from a third computing device; and

receiving the piece of data, wherein the requesting and receiving utilizes the wide area connection.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area connection is a part of a home network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the home network comprises a broadband connection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the obtaining the piece of data by the first computing device comprises:

requesting the piece of data from a third computing device; and

receiving the piece of data, wherein the requesting and receiving utilizes the broadband connection.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the home network comprises a dial-up connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the obtaining the piece of data by the first computing device comprises:

requesting the piece of data from a third computing device; and

receiving the piece of data, wherein the requesting and receiving utilizes the dial-up connection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group comprises:

updating a local data store with informational data about the piece of data; and

propagating the updates to the data store to local data stores residing on the other peers in the peer-to-peer network group.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the locating the piece of data on the first computing device comprises:

identifying in a local data store a record corresponding to the piece of data; and

determining, from the record, at least one computing device in the peer-to-peer network group that possesses the piece of data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the piece of data by the second computing device comprises:

initiating a request, by the second computing device, to the first computing device for the piece of data;

sending the piece of data, by the first computing device, to the second computing device; and

accepting the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the piece of data, by the first computing device, and the obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device occurs as a real-time stream of the piece of data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the piece of data is a product update.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the piece of data is an application.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the piece of data is a virus definition file.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the piece of data is a web cache.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the piece of data is a media stream.

19. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for distributing, from a first computing device to at least one second computing device over a peer-to-peer network, a piece of data from a content server, the method comprising:

obtaining the piece of data, by the first computing device, from the content server, the first computing device being a client of the content server and a peer in a peer-to-peer network group;

communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group that the piece of data is available to be obtained from the first computing device;

locating the piece of data on the first computing device, by the at least one second computing device, wherein the at least one second computing device is also a peer in the peer-to-peer network group and the first computing device and the at least one second computing device are connected via a local area connection; and

obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device via the peer-to-peer network.

20. A method for distributing, from a first computing device to at least one second computing device over a peer-to-peer network, a piece of data from a content server, the method comprising:

obtaining the piece of data, by the first computing device, from the content server, the first computing device being a client of the content server and a peer in a peer-to-peer network group;

communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group that the piece of data is available to be obtained from the first computing device;

locating the piece of data on the first computing device, by the at least one second computing device, wherein the at least one second computing device is also a peer in the peer-to-peer network group and the first computing device and the at least one second computing device are connected via a wide area connection; and

obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device via the peer-to-peer network.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the wide area connection is an Internet connection.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group comprises:

updating a local data store with informational data about the piece of data; and

propagating the updates to the data store to local data stores residing on the other peers in the peer-to-peer network group.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the locating the piece of data on the first computing device comprises:

identifying in a local data store a record corresponding to the piece of data; and

determining, from the record, at least one computing device in the peer-to-peer network group that possesses the piece of data.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtaining the piece of data by the second computing device comprises:

initiating a request, by the second computing device, to the first computing device for the piece of data;

sending the piece of data, by the first computing device, to the second computing device; and

accepting the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtaining of the piece of data, by the first computing device, and the obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device occurs as a real-time stream of the piece of data.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the piece of data is a product update.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the piece of data is an application.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the piece of data is a virus definition file.

29. The method of claim 20, wherein the piece of data is a web cache.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein the piece of data is a media stream.

31. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for distributing, from a first computing device to at least one second computing device over a peer-to-peer network, a piece of data from a content server, the method comprising:

obtaining the piece of data, by the first computing device, from the content server, the first computing device being a client of the content server and a peer in a peer-to-peer network group;

communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group that the piece of data is available to be obtained from the first computing device;

locating the piece of data on the first computing device, by the at least one second computing device, wherein the at least one second computing device is also a peer in the peer-to-peer network group and the first computing device and the at least one second computing device are connected via a wide area connection; and

obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device via the peer-to-peer network.

32. A method for distributing, from a first computing device to at least one second computing device over a peer-to-peer network, a piece of data from a content server, the method comprising:

obtaining the piece of data, by the first computing device, from the content server, the first computing device being a client of the content server and a peer in a peer-to-peer network group;

communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group that the piece of data is available to be obtained from the first computing device;

requesting the piece of data from the content server, by the at least one second computing device;

redirecting the request from the at least one second computing device, by the content server, to the first computing device;

locating the piece of data on the first computing device, by the at least one second computing device, wherein the at least one second computing device is also a peer in the peer-to-peer network group; and

obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device via the peer-to-peer network.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group comprises:

updating a local data store with informational data about the piece of data; and

propagating the updates to the data store to local data stores residing on the other peers in the peer-to-peer network group.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the locating the piece of data on the first computing device comprises:

identifying in a local data store a record corresponding to the piece of data; and

determining, from the record, at least one computing device in the peer-to-peer network group that possesses the piece of data.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the obtaining the piece of data by the second computing device comprises:

initiating a request, by the second computing device, to the first computing device for the piece of data;

sending the piece of data, by the first computing device, to the second computing device; and

accepting the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the obtaining of the piece of data, by the first computing device, and the obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device occurs as a real-time stream of the piece of data.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein the piece of data is a product update.

38. The method of claim 32, wherein the piece of data is an application.

39. The method of claim 32, wherein the piece of data is a virus definition file.

40. The method of claim 32, wherein the piece of data is a web cache.

41. The method of claim 32, wherein the piece of data is a media stream.

42. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for distributing, from a first computing device to at least one second computing device over a peer-to-peer network, a piece of data from a content server, the method comprising:

obtaining the piece of data, by the first computing device, from the content server, the first computing device being a client of the content server and a peer in a peer-to-peer network group;

communicating to other peers in the peer-to-peer network group that the piece of data is available to be obtained from the first computing device;

requesting the piece of data from the content server, by the at least one second computing device;

redirecting the request from the at least one second computing device, by the content server, to the first computing device;

locating the piece of data on the first computing device, by the at least one second computing device, wherein the at least one second computing device is also a peer in the peer-to-peer network group; and

obtaining the piece of data, by the second computing device, from the first computing device via the peer-to-peer network.