Peer-to-peer collaboration system with edge routing

• US 20080288580A1
• Filed: 05/16/2007
• Published: 11/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sanfilippo, Thomas D., Wang, Jim J., Titchener, Thomas B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,656,017 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2567 for reachability, e.g. inquiring the address of a correspondent behind a NAT server
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2575 using address mapping retrieval, e.g. simple traversal of user datagram protocol through session traversal utilities for NAT [STUN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2578 without involvement of the NAT server
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/029 Firewall traversal, e.g. tunnelling or, creating pinholes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1051 Group master selection mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1068 Discovery involving direct consultation or announcement among potential requesting and potential source peers

Abstract

A peer-to-peer collaboration system in which changes to a shared space may be broadcast to all of the peers in a collaboration session using messages sent with a combination of addressing techniques. Messages may be addressed for direct peer-to-peer transmission, indirect transmission through another peer or indirect transmission through a server. The type of addressing used to communicate with each peer is determined through the use of a routing table. The routing table defines interconnected groups of peers and may be used to select one or more peers in each group as the initial recipients of the message. The initial recipients may forward the message to other peers within their groups, such that all peers receive the message. For peers behind a NAT, one or more NAT traversal techniques may be used to obtain information to construct the routing table.

Claims

1. A method of operating a peer-to-peer collaboration system in which a plurality of peers each broadcast collaboration information to other peers of the plurality of peers, the method comprising:

determining address information with which a first peer of the plurality of peers may receive packets through a Network Address Translation (NAT) device;

sharing the address information with at least a second peer of the plurality of peers; and

transmitting from the second peer collaboration information to each of the other peers of the plurality of peers, the transmitting comprising transmitting at least one packet comprising the collaboration information addressed to the first peer using the address information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining address information comprises:

sending a probing packet from the first peer to a server; and

receiving at the first peer a response packet.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein transmitting from the second peer comprises sending at least one packet to the server for distribution to a portion of the plurality of peers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sharing the address information comprises:

transmitting an address vector to a server; and

distributing the address information to each of the other peers of the plurality of peers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises storing in computer-readable medium associated with the second peer a data structure identifying a plurality of groups of peers in the plurality of peers, each peer in each group being able to directly send a packet to at least one other peer in the group; and

transmitting from the second peer comprises transmitting a packet to at least one peer in each of the plurality of groups.

6. The method of claim 5,

further comprising designating at least one of the plurality of peers in a first group of the plurality of groups as a super peer;

and

wherein transmitting from the second peer comprises;

transmitting a packet to the super peer; and

forwarding the packet from the super peer to a plurality of the peers in the first group.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting from the second peer comprises:

transmitting the packet to a publicly accessible server; and

distributing the packet from the publicly accessible server to a peer in at least one of the plurality of groups.

8. A method of operating a peer-to-peer collaboration system in which a plurality of peers each broadcast collaboration information to each of the other peers of the plurality of peers, the method comprising:

maintaining a plurality of routing tables, each of the plurality of routing tables being associated with a peer in at least a portion of the plurality of peers, and each routing table identifying groups of the plurality of peers, each peer in each group being able to communicate with at least one other peer in the group using a packet directly addressed to a peer in the group;

transmitting a packet to at least one peer in each of the groups; and

from the at least one peer in at least a portion of the groups, forwarding the packet to at least one other peer in the group, the packet forwarded to each other peer being directly addressed to the other peer.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising from the at least one other peer in at least one of the groups, forwarding the packet to a second other peer in the group, the packet forwarded to the second other peer being directly addressed to the second other peer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting a packet to at least one peer in each of the groups comprises transmitting a packet to a publicly accessible server and forwarding the packet from the publicly accessible server to at least one peer in a portion of the plurality of groups.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein transmitting a packet to at least one peer in each of the groups comprises:

transmitting the packet to a first peer in a first group of the groups; and

forwarding the packet from the first peer to each of a plurality of other peers in the first group.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting a packet to at least one peer in each of the groups comprises:

transmitting the packet to a server; and

forwarding the packet to at least one peer in a second group of the groups.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising designating from the server that the first peer should forward that packet to each of the plurality of other peers in the first group.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the plurality of peers communicate in a collaboration session and maintaining a plurality of routing tables comprises reconstructing the plurality of routing tables when a peer enters or leaves the collaboration session or when the interconnections among peers change.

15. A computing device connected to a network, the computing device having a user interface and being adapted for operating as a peer in a peer-to-peer collaboration system, the computing device comprising computer-readable medium storing computer-executable components comprising:

an activity component for interacting with a user through the user interface, the activity component adapted to generate a data change command for transmission to a plurality of other peers in a collaboration session, the data change command being based on an interaction with a user;

a routing table for storing information defining interconnections over the network among the plurality of peers; and

a communication component for transmitting the data change command over the network by transmitting a plurality of messages, each message having an address selected based on information in the routing table, at least one of the messages addressed directly to at least one of the plurality of peers.

16. The computing device of claim 15, wherein the routing table comprises the information organized as a plurality of neighborhoods, each neighborhood comprising a plurality of peers, each peer in the neighborhood being capable of communicating a message with at least one other peer in the neighborhood.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the peers in each neighborhood are behind the same network address translation (NAT) device or are behind a NAT device that can be traversed from a peer in the neighborhood that is not behind the NAT device.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the communication component is adapted to transmit each of the plurality of messages to a peer in each of the plurality of neighborhoods.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the communication component is adapted to transmit a portion of the plurality of messages directly to a peer in at least one of the plurality of neighborhoods.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the communication component is adapted to transmit a portion of the plurality of messages indirectly through an intermediary device to a peer in at least one of the plurality of neighborhoods.