System, method, and service for dynamically selecting an optimum message pathway

• US 20060268712A1
• Filed: 05/26/2005
• Published: 11/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lehman, Tobin Joh, Deen, Robert Glenn, Kaufman, James Harvey
• Granted Patent: US 7,957,363 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A message pathway selection system dynamically selects an optimum message pathway for transmitting messages. The system dynamically optimizes a message pathway according to various criteria such as, for example, efficiency, economy, data requirements, auditing requirements, security, data size, etc. The system can direct a message to bypass an infrastructure messaging server, using a direct message pathway. The system can also switch from an infrastructure messaging server to a direct method. The system can also utilize an infrastructure messaging pathway either as an alternative or in parallel with the direct message pathway. The system allows an application to use a single communication system for both a direct mode and an infrastructure mode of data transfer. The present system can bypass the infrastructure message pathway, thus reducing message latency, number of messages sent, and improving overall bandwidth.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically selecting a preferred pathway from among a plurality of available pathways, for transmitting a message from a source to a destination based on one or more criteria, the method comprising:

an application generating the message;

automatically determining the message destination;

automatically determining at least some of the plurality of available pathways based on the message destination;

using attributes of the message to select the preferred delivery pathway, transparently to the application; and

delivering the message to the destination over the preferred pathway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically determining the message destination comprises any one of:

using a message content; and

the destination provided by the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of available pathways comprise any one or more of:

direct communication pathways; and

indirect communication pathways.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the direct communication supports at least one or more of the following communication modes:

broadcast;

multicast;

peer-to-peer;

multi-receive; and

publish or subscribe.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the indirect communication supports a messaging system.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, upon delivery of the message to the destination, storing the preferred pathway for the delivery and integrating the preferred pathway as part of the criteria.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the available pathways based on a ranking function;

and

integrating ranking results of the available pathways as part of the criteria.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein ranking the available pathways comprises using any one or more of:

considering the attributes of the message;

considering attributes of the application; and

considering attributes of the available pathways.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the message attributes comprise any one or more of:

message size;

message encryption; and

message content, wherein the message content comprises any one or more of;

audio, video, and text data.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the application attributes comprise any one or more of:

application security;

performance requirement;

delivery guarantee requirement; and

latency of the application.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the attributes of the available pathways comprise any one or more of:

whether the available pathway provides acknowledgment of message delivery;

quality of the available pathway;

latency of the available pathway;

rate of data transmission over the available pathway;

cost of using the available pathway;

congestion of the available pathway;

security of the available pathway;

reliability of the available pathway;

type of data that the available pathway can transmit; and

reachability over exiting firewall protocols.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the preferred delivery pathway comprises two or more preferred pathways to deliver the message to the destination.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising distributing the message over the two or more preferred pathways based on the message content.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the two or more preferred pathways comprise a secure pathway and an insecure pathway.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising integrating the message at the message destination.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the message destination comprises any one of:

a single destination point or a plurality of destination points.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuously monitoring the attributes of the message to continuously select at least two preferred delivery pathways;

and

alternating between the at least two preferred delivery pathways, as needed, for delivering the message to at least one destination, over the at least two preferred delivery pathways.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising confirming the message fidelity at the destination.

19. A computer program product comprising a plurality of executable instruction codes stored on a computer-readable medium for dynamically selecting a preferred pathway from among a plurality of available pathways, in order to transmit a message from a source to a destination based on one or more criteria, the computer program product comprising:

an application with a first set of instruction codes for generating the message;

a second set of instruction codes for automatically determining the message destination;

a third set of instruction codes for automatically determining at least some of the plurality of available pathways based on the message destination;

a fourth set of instruction codes for using attributes of the message to select the preferred delivery pathway, transparently to the application; and

a fifth set of instruction codes for delivering the message to the destination over the preferred pathway.

20. A message pathway selection system for dynamically selecting a preferred pathway from among a plurality of available pathways, in order to transmit a message from a source to a destination based on one or more criteria, the computer program product comprising:

a transmitting client application for generating the message;

a transmitting communication middleware for automatically determining the message destination;

the transmitting communicating middleware for automatically determining at least some of the plurality of available pathways based on the message destination;

the transmitting client using attributes of the message to select the preferred delivery pathway, transparently to the application; and

a transmitting transport layer for delivering the message to the destination over the preferred pathway.

21. A service for dynamically selecting a preferred pathway from among a plurality of available pathways, for transmitting a message from a source to a destination based on one or more criteria, the method comprising:

an application generating the message;

a message pathway selection system automatically determining the message destination, automatically determining at least some of the plurality of available pathways based on the message destination, and using attributes of the message to select the preferred delivery pathway, transparently to the application; and

the message pathway selection system delivering the message to the destination over the preferred pathway.