Methods and Systems for Improved System Performance

• US 20080183842A1
• Filed: 01/24/2008
• Published: 07/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iControl Networks, Inc. (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: iControl Networks, Inc. (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Raji, Reza, Gutt, Gerald
• Granted Patent: US 10,142,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for improving system responsiveness while increasing efficiency and scalability of network communication by combining reliable and unreliable network transports. A method and system is provided for client polling a status server to see if there is new data, receiving a notification that there is new data, sending a client request to a server premises which retrieves the new data from a database and returns the new data to the client. Communication with the status server uses an unreliable packet or a reliable packet, whereas communication between the client and the server premises uses reliable transport. A redundant cluster of status servers and methods is provided.

Claims

1. A method for network communication comprising:

a client polling a first server to see if there is new data for the client to receive;

the client receiving a first notification from the first server that there is new data for the client to receive;

upon receiving the first notification, the client sending a client request for the new data to a server premises, wherein the server premises comprises a system server and a database;

upon receiving the client request, the system server retrieving the new data from the database; and

the client receiving the new data from the server premises,

wherein the client polling of the first server uses a packet, and wherein the client sending the client request to the server premises and the client receiving the new data from the server premises uses reliable transport.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet is an unreliable packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet is an unreliable datagram packet (UDP).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet is a reliable packet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet is a transmission control protocol packet (TCP).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the system server comprises a firewall, a web server, an application server, and a database server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of the system server retrieving the new data comprises the application server

decoding the client request and

sending a data access request to the database server.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of the system server retrieving the new data further comprises the database server

accessing the new data from the database and

returning the new data to the application server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the client comprises a low powered Internet appliance.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the client comprises a gateway.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the system server notifying the first server that there is new data.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the first server updating its cache to indicate there is new data for the client.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server is a status server.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the reliable transport comprises a transmission control protocol packet (TCP).

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising

the client polling a second server to see if there is new data for the client to receive;

the client receiving a second notification from the second server that there is new data for the client to receive;

upon receiving the second notification, the client sending a client request for the new data to the server premises;

wherein the client polling of the second server uses a packet, wherein the client sending the client request to server premises uses reliable transport, and wherein at least the first server and the second server make up a cluster of servers.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the packet is an unreliable datagram packet (UDP).

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the first server and the second server is a status server.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the first server and the second server fails to notify the client that there is new data for the client to receive.

19. A network communication system comprising:

a server premises comprising a system server and a database; and

a client comprising;

logic that polls a first server to see if there is new data for the client to receive;

logic that receives a first notification from the first server that there is new data for the client to receive;

logic that, when the client receives the first notification, sends a client request to the server premises to retrieve the new data; and

logic that receives the new data from the server premises

wherein the system server comprises logic that upon receiving the client request, retrieves the new data from the database,

wherein the logic that polls the first server and the logic that receives the first notification use a packet, and wherein the logic that sends the client request to the server and the logic that receives the new data from the server premises use reliable transport.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the packet is an unreliable datagram packet (UDP).

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first server is a status server.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the system server comprises a firewall, a web server, an application server, and a database server.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the application server comprises logic that decodes the client request and sends a data access request to the database server.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the database server comprises logic that accesses the new data from the database and returns the new data to the application server.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the client comprises a low powered Internet appliance.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the low powered Internet appliance is a gateway.

27. The system of claim 19, wherein the reliable transport comprises a transmission control protocol packet (TCP).

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the reliable transport is with at least one of XML, HTTP, and SOAP riding on top of it.

29. The system of claim 19, wherein the system server comprises logic that notifies the first server that there is new data.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the first server comprises logic that updates its cache to indicate there is new data for the client.

31. The system of claim 19, wherein the first server comprises a tiny amount of information for a client.

32. The system of claim 19, wherein the first server does not use a database.

33. The system of claim 19, wherein the first server does not need to communicate with servers other than the system server.

34. The system of claim 19, wherein the first server does not do logging.

35. The system of claim 19,

the client further comprising:

logic that polls a second server to see if there is new data for the client to receive;

logic that receives a second notification from the second server that there is new data for the client to receive; and

logic that, when the client receives the second notification, sends the client request to the server premises to retrieve the new data,

wherein the logic that polls the second server uses a packet, wherein at least the first server and the second server make up a cluster of servers.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the packet is an unreliable datagram packet (UDP).

37. The system of claim 35, wherein at least one of the first server and the second server is a status server.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein at least one of the first server and the second server fails to notify the client that there is new data for the client to receive.

39. The system of claim 19, wherein the logic comprises hardware.

40. The system of claim 19, wherein the logic comprises software.

41. A network communication system comprising:

a server premises comprising a system server and a database, the system server comprising logic that upon receiving a client request, retrieves new data from the database;

a server comprising logic that upon polling using a packet, sends a notification using a packet; and

a client comprising;

logic that polls the server using the packet to see if there is new data for the client to receive;

logic that receives the notification from the server using the packet that there is new data for the client to receive;

logic that, when the client receives the notification, sends a client request to the server premises using reliable transport to retrieve the new data; and

logic that receives the new data from the server premises using reliable transport.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the packet is an unreliable datagram packet.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein the server is a status server.