Mechanism for delivering messages to competing consumers in a point-to-point system

• US 20060092933A1
• Filed: 11/03/2004
• Published: 05/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ward, Michael J., Bhola, Sumeer K., Ware, David, Silva-Lepe, Ignacio, Banks, Andrew D. J., Astley, Mark C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,525,964 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program for delivering messages and data to competing consumers. One aspect of the invention includes a message delivery system including a destination messaging engine, one or more receiver messaging engines, and a message pool. The destination messaging engine is configured to distribute data from one or more producers. The receiver messaging engines are configured to request data from the destination messaging engine and transmit the data to one or more consumers. The message pool is configured to store data from the producers, with the destination messaging engine arbitrating data in the message pool among the receiver messaging engines.

Claims

1. A message delivery system, the system comprising:

a destination messaging engine, the destination messaging engine configured to distribute data from one or more producers;

one or more receiver messaging engines, the receiver messaging engines configured to request data from the destination messaging engine and transmit the data to one or more consumers; and

a message pool configured to store data from the producers, the destination messaging engine configured to arbitrate data in the message pool among the receiver messaging engines.

2. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein the data is transmitted to the consumers in accordance with a quality of service policy, the quality of service policy including at-least-once, at-most-once and exactly-once delivery.

3. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein the receiver messaging engines specify a content filter associated with each request.

4. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein a priority value is associated with the data;

and

the message delivery system is configured to sequence the distribution of data based on the priority value.

5. The message delivery system of claim 4, wherein data in the message pool is organized according to priority and sequence.

6. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein the message delivery system contains one or more message stream abstractions, each message stream abstraction including an indexed sequence of stream states, and wherein each stream state describes at least the presence or absence of data at a specific messaging engine and the disposition of the data.

7. The message delivery system of claim 6, further comprising:

a knowledge sub-stream configured to describe at least the presence or absence of data at the specific messaging engine; and

a decision sub-stream configured to describe at least the disposition of data, including the acceptance or rejection of data in response to a consumer request.

8. The message delivery system of claim 6, wherein the message stream abstractions are stored in persistent memory.

9. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein the message pool is stored in persistent memory.

10. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein the message pool includes a state field configured to identify, at least, data that is assigned to, unassigned to, or consumed by a receiver messaging engine.

11. The message delivery system of claim 1, wherein the message pool includes a duplicate field configured to identify data as a potential duplicate.

12. A method for delivering data, the method comprising:

instantiating a destination messaging engine, the destination messaging engine configured to distribute data from one or more producers;

instantiating one or more receiver messaging engines, the receiver messaging engines configured to request data from the destination messaging engine and transmit the data to one or more consumers; and

arbitrating data in a messaging pool among the receiver messaging engines, the message pool configured to store data from the producers.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting the data to the consumers in accordance with a quality of service policy, the quality of service policy including at-least-once, at-most-once and exactly-once delivery.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising specifying a content filter associated with each request.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising sequencing distribution of data based on a priority value, wherein the priority value is associated with the data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising organizing data in the message pool according to priority and sequence.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising abstracting one or more message streams, each message stream including an indexed sequence of stream states, and wherein each stream state describes at least the presence or absence of data at a specific messaging engine and the disposition of the data.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

a knowledge sub-stream configured to describe at least the presence or absence of data at the specific messaging engine; and

a decision sub-stream configured to describe at least the disposition of data, including the acceptance or rejection of data in response to a consumer request.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing the message streams in persistent memory.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing the message pool in persistent memory.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the message pool includes a state field configured to identify, at least, data that is assigned to, unassigned to, or consumed by a receiver messaging engine.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the message pool includes a duplicate field configured to identify data as a potential duplicate.

23. A computer program product embodied in a tangible media comprising:

computer readable program codes coupled to the tangible media for delivering data, the computer readable program codes configured to cause the program to;

instantiate a destination messaging engine, the destination messaging engine configured to distribute data from one or more producers;

instantiate one or more receiver messaging engines, the receiver messaging engines configured to request data from the destination messaging engine and transmit the data to one or more consumers; and

arbitrate data in a message pool among the receiver messaging engines, the message pool configured to store data from the producers.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising program code configured to transmit the data to the consumers in accordance with a quality of service policy, the quality of service policy including at-least-once, at-most-once and exactly-once delivery.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising program code configured to specify a content filter associated with each request.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising program code configured to sequence distribution of data based on a priority value, wherein the priority value is associated with the data.

27. The computer program product of claim 26, further comprising program code configured to organize data in the message pool according to priority and sequence.

28. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising program code configured to abstract one or more message streams, each message stream including an indexed sequence of stream states, and wherein each stream state describes at least the presence or absence of data at a specific messaging engine and the disposition of the data.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising:

a knowledge sub-stream configured to describe at least the presence or absence of data at the specific messaging engine; and

a decision sub-stream configured to describe at least the disposition of data, including the acceptance or rejection of data in response to a consumer request.

30. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising program code configured to store the message streams in persistent memory.

31. The computer program product of claim 23, further comprising program code configured to store the message pool in persistent memory.

32. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the message pool includes a state field configured to identify, at least, data that is assigned to, unassigned to, or consumed by a receiver messaging engine.

33. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the message pool includes a duplicate field configured to identify data as a potential duplicate.