Systems and methods for selecting a transport mechanism for communication in a network

• US 20070140243A1
• Filed: 12/16/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Eastham, Bryant
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,657 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/390
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A publisher node in a network determines how many subscriber nodes in the network have subscribed to receive notification messages about data that is maintained by the publisher node. The publisher node also determines how many available connections the publisher node is configured to support. If the number of available connections exceeds the number of subscribers, the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via a connection-based protocol. If the number of subscriber nodes exceeds the number of available connections, the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast. If the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast, the publisher node may receive one or more connection requests from subscribers that may be depending on reliably receiving the notification messages from the publisher.

Claims

1. A method for selecting an appropriate transport mechanism for communication in a:

network, the method being implemented by a publisher node in the network, the method comprising;

determining how many subscriber nodes in the network have subscribed to receive notification messages about data that is maintained by the publisher node;

determining how many available connections the publisher node is configured to support;

if the number of available connections exceeds the number of subscribers, sending the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via a connection-based protocol; and

if the number of subscriber nodes exceeds the number of available connections, sending the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least one connection request from at least one requesting subscriber node if the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a connection request from a requesting subscriber node if the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast; and

determining whether to accept the connection request.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining whether to accept the connection request comprises:

determining whether the publisher node is configured to support at least one additional connection; and

if the publisher node is configured to support at least one additional connection, accepting the connection request.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein if the publisher node is not configured to support at least one additional connection, determining whether to accept the connection request comprises determining whether the requesting subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement is greater than at least one presently connected subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, if the requesting subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement is greater than at least one presently connected subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement:

terminating a current connection of a subscriber node that has a lower quality of service requirement than the requesting subscriber node; and

opening a connection to the requesting subscriber node.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising switching from sending the notification messages via the connection-based protocol to sending the notification messages via multicast when the number of subscriber nodes that request connections to the publisher node exceeds the number of available connections.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a peer-to-peer network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the connection-based protocol is TCP/IP.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the publisher node is an embedded system.

11. A publisher node that is configured to implement a method for selecting an appropriate transport mechanism for communication in a network, the publisher node comprising:

a processor;

memory in electronic communication with the processor;

instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to implement a method comprising;

determining how many subscriber nodes in the network have subscribed to receive notification messages about data that is maintained by the publisher node;

determining how many available connections the publisher node is configured to support;

if the number of available connections exceeds the number of subscriber nodes, sending the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via a connection-based protocol; and

if the number of subscriber nodes exceeds the number of available connections, sending the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast.

12. The publisher node of claim 11, further comprising receiving at least one connection request from at least one requesting subscriber node if the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast.

13. The publisher node of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a connection request from a requesting subscriber node if the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast; and

determining whether to accept the connection request.

14. The publisher node of claim 13, wherein determining whether to accept the connection request comprises:

determining whether the publisher node is configured to support at least one additional connection; and

if the publisher node is configured to support at least one additional connection, accepting the connection request.

15. The publisher node of claim 14, wherein if the publisher node is not configured to support at least one additional connection, determining whether to accept the connection request comprises determining whether the requesting subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement is greater than at least one presently connected subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement.

16. A computer-readable medium comprising executable instructions for implementing a method for selecting an appropriate transport mechanism for communication in a network, the method being implemented by a publisher node in the network, the method comprising:

determining how many subscriber nodes in the network have subscribed to receive notification messages about data that is maintained by the publisher node;

determining how many available connections the publisher node is configured to support;

if the number of available connections exceeds the number of subscribers, sending the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via a connection-based protocol; and

if the number of subscriber nodes exceeds the number of available connections, sending the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises receiving at least one connection request from at least one requesting subscriber node if the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a connection request from a requesting subscriber node if the publisher node sends the notification messages to the subscriber nodes via multicast; and

determining whether to accept the connection request.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein determining whether to accept the connection request comprises:

determining whether the publisher node is configured to support at least one additional connection; and

if the publisher node is configured to support at least one additional connection, accepting the connection request.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein if the publisher node is not configured to support at least one additional connection, determining whether to accept the connection request comprises determining whether the requesting subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement is greater than at least one presently connected subscriber node'"'"'s quality of service requirement.