Content distribution via keys

• US 20070174485A1
• Filed: 01/24/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus Software, Inc. (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Novell Incorporated (Open Text Corporation)
• Inventors: Carter, Stephen, McClain, Carolyn
• Granted Patent: US 8,688,856 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/247 using M:N active or standby paths
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226

Abstract

Techniques for distributing content over a network via keys are provided. A key is associated with a particular destination or with a particular piece of content. A path management service derives and selectively communicates portions of a network path for moving the content to a destination on the basis of a value for a key. Any intermediate processing resource receives a next location within the path for forwarding the content from the path management service in response to presenting the key.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a key from a first node;

acquiring a delivery path for a network in response to the key; and

instructing the first node to forward content associated with the key and the key to a second node, wherein the second node is communicated to the first node as a next hop addresses that is selectively identified from the delivery path.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the key from the second node; and

instructing the second node to forward the content and the key to a third node, wherein the third node is communicated to the second node as another next hop address that is selectively identified from the delivery path.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising, continuing to instruct one or more additional nodes to forward the content and the key along within the network to next nodes associated with other next hop addresses until a destination node defined in the delivery path is reached.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein instructing further includes instructing the first node to forward the content and the key to one or more additional nodes, wherein each additional node is associated with a different delivery path and wherein the key is a keychain.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes querying a key management service or key store with the key to acquire one or more identities associated with one or more destination nodes and using the one or more identities along with an identity of the first node to derive the delivery path from a topology of the network, the delivery path at least includes the second node.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein acquiring further includes associating one or more alternative sub-paths within the delivery path.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising accessing the one or more alternative sub-paths when a load or connect problem is detected a particular next node, wherein the second node is associated with one of the alternative sub-paths of the delivery path.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving a key from a requestor;

associating the key with content;

identifying a location over a network for the content; and

delivering the content to the requester.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising, authenticating the requestor before processing the received key.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising, encrypting the content before delivering the content to the requestor from the location.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein delivering further includes guiding participants of the network from the location to assist one another in forwarding the content over the network to the requestor.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving a different key from a different requestor;

associating the different key with the same content at the same location; and

delivering the content over the network to the different requester.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein delivering further includes:

determining if the content is available from a cache service before checking the location for the content; and

delivering the content from cache if available, otherwise delivering from the location.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving content having a key from a node;

querying one or more neighboring nodes with the key for advice on where to forward the content next within a network if the key is not recognized; and

forwarding the content through the network with the key to a next node in response to an answer from at least one of the one or more neighboring nodes if the key is not recognized.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

recognizing the key; and

decrypting the content in response to recognizing the key.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein querying further includes requesting assistance from a path management service to initially identify the one or more neighboring nodes to query.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein querying further includes requesting assistance from an identity store to acquire identities for the one or more neighboring nodes before querying the one or more neighboring nodes for advice.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein forwarding further includes forwarding the content to one or more additional nodes in response to the answer, wherein the answer indicates the content having the key is associated with multiple different destination nodes, and wherein the key is a keychain having multiple different keys associated with it.

19. The method of claim 14 further comprising, sending a confirmation to at least one of the node that provided the content with the key and a path management service, wherein the confirmation indicates that the content and the key were forwarded if the key was not recognized or indicates that the content was properly received if the key was recognized.

20. A system, comprising:

a key store; and

a path management service, wherein the key store is to house associations between resources within a network via specific keys or key chains associated with those resources, and wherein the path management service is to derive and manage paths within the network to facilitate data delivery between the associations in response to the specific keys or the key chains.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a key distribution service that dynamically generates and distributes the specific keys or the key chains to the resources over the network.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the resources are at least one of content that is being requested over the network, a requester of the content, a sender of the content, and one or more intermediate nodes that forward the content over the network in response to instructions of the path management service, which is to manage the paths.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the key store and the path management service are at least one of external to one another over the network and within the same local environment as one another.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein the path management service is to communicate a next delivery resource associated with a particular path to a requesting resource that presents a particular one of the specific keys or a particular one of the key chains.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the path management service is to inform a number of the resources of neighboring resources that can assist with data delivery when a particular one of the specific keys or a particular one of the key chains are not recognized.

26. The system of claim 20 further comprising, a cache service to interact with the path management service, wherein the path management service queries the cache service for content when presented with a particular one of the specific keys or a particular one of the key chains before the path management service attempts to acquire the content from a location over the network.