Distributed routing table interface

• US 20080225860A1
• Filed: 03/12/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Lieuallen, Brian R., Senkeresty, Scott A., Dewey, Jeremy L., De, Pritam, Manion, Todd R., Ransom, Kevin C., Parks, Upshur W., Choudhury, Pallavi, Luke, Travis C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,161,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/395.31
• 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 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/56 Routing software

Abstract

Application programming interface (API) for starting and accessing distributed routing table (DRT) functionality. The API facilitates bootstrapping into the DRT by one or more devices of a group of devices (a mesh) seeking to collaborate over a serverless connection, establishing a node of the DRT, where each node is an instance of an application that is participating in the mesh, and node participation by allowing the application to search for keys published by other nodes in the mesh, or by becoming part of the mesh by publishing a key. The API facilitates optimization of the routing table for quickly finding a root of a specific key in the mesh by finding the key directly in a cache or by asking a root node of the key that is in the local routing table that is closest numerically to the key being searched.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented interface for communications management, comprising:

a node instance associated with a routing table for serverless collaboration between devices; and

an interface component for interacting with the node instance and determining a route to a destination device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates bootstrapping of the node instance, which is a local node instance, for connecting to the destination device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the routing table is a subset of a distributed routing table that defines keys for locating a corresponding subset of the devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates registration and unregistration of a key for interacting with the destination device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates searching for an exact key associated with one the devices.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates searching for an exact key associated with one of the devices, but returns a closest key if the exact key is not found.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates specifying a security mode for the node instance.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates validation of a key before registration of the key.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates security packing of data to be sent to the destination device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates imposition of settings on the node instance when the node instance is opened.

11. A computer-implemented method of managing communications, comprising:

launching an application of a first device for collaboration with a group of devices;

opening a local node instance of a distributed routing table in the first device based on a call from the application;

transitioning state of the local node instance based on a condition related to the group of devices; and

detaching the first device from the group of devices by closing the local node instance.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising unregistering all keys based on a call from the application.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a search query by the application and limiting the search to remote nodes.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising generating a search query by the application and defining a search to return an exact match or a closest result.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising returning a key/endpoint pair to the application for each node accessed during a search operation.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising specifying an IPv6 scope in which the distributed routing table operates.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising specifying a security mode in which the distributed routing table operates.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising specifying a change to a leaf set node in the local node instance.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising opening a second local node instance for a second application and for communication with a second group of devices.

20. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

computer-implemented means for launching an application of a first device for collaboration with a group of devices;

computer-implemented means for opening a local node instance of a distributed routing table in the first device based on a call from the application;

computer-implemented means for transitioning state of the local node instance based on a condition related to the group of devices; and

computer-implemented means for searching the group of devices for a destination device.