COMMUNICATING PRIORITIZED MESSAGES TO A DESTINATION QUEUE FROM MULTIPLE SOURCE QUEUES USING SOURCE-QUEUE-SPECIFIC PRIORITY VALUES

• US 20080310439A1
• Filed: 06/16/2008
• Published: 12/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daedalus Blue LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gale, Martin J., Locke, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,139,596 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/412
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/245 using preemption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/621 Individual queue per connection or flow, e.g. per VC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities

Abstract

There is disclosed a method, apparatus and computer program for communicating messages between a first messaging system and a second messaging system. The messaging system comprises a set of source queues with each source queue owning messages retrievable in priority order. It is determined that a message should be transferred from the first messaging system to the second messaging system. A source queue is selected which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues. A message having the at least equal highest priority from the selected source queue of the first messaging system is then transferred to a target queue at the second messaging system.

Claims

1. A method for communicating messages between a first messaging system and a second messaging system, wherein the first messaging system comprises a plurality of source queues, each source queue owning messages retrievable in priority order, the method comprising:

determining that a message should be transferred from the first messaging system to the second messaging system;

selecting a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues; and

transferring a message having the at least equal highest priority from the selected source queue of the first messaging system to a target queue at the second messaging system.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

maintaining an indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of maintaining an indication comprises:

determining that a message has arrived on a source queue;

determining the priority of the message newly arrived on the source queue;

comparing the priority of the newly arrived message with a stored indication of the current highest priority of the source queue; and

updating the indication if the current highest priority is less than the priority of the newly arrived message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues comprises:

determining that a plurality of the source queues have messages of equal highest priority when compared with the source queues; and

randomly selecting one of the plurality of source queues having messages of equal highest priority.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues comprises:

determining that a plurality of the source queues have a messages of equal highest priority when compared with the source queues; and

selecting one of the plurality of source queues having a message of equal highest priority based on weightings applied to these queues.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

periodically updating the indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of maintaining an indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue comprises further maintaining an indication of the number of messages held by each source queue with this priority.

8. The method of claim 7 comprising:

consecutively transferring more than one message from a source queue to the second messaging system.

9. Apparatus for communicating messages between a first messaging system and a second messaging system, wherein the first messaging system comprises a plurality of source queues, each source queue owning messages retrievable in priority order, the apparatus comprising:

means for determining that a message should be transferred from the first messaging system to the second messaging system;

means for selecting a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues; and

means for transferring a message having the at least equal highest priority from the selected source queue of the first messaging system to a target queue at the second messaging system.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 comprising:

means for maintaining an indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the means for maintaining an indication comprises:

means for determining that a message has arrived on a source queue;

means for determining the priority of the message newly arrived on the source queue;

means for comparing the priority of the newly arrived message with a stored indication of the current highest priority of the source queue; and

means for updating the indication if the current highest priority is less than the priority of the newly arrived message.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for selecting a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues comprises:

means for determining that a plurality of the source queues have messages of equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues; and

means for randomly selecting one of the plurality of source queues having messages of equal highest priority.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the means for selecting a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues comprises:

means for determining that a plurality of the source queues have a messages of equal highest priority when compared with the source queues; and

means for selecting one of the plurality of source queues having a message of equal highest priority based on weightings applied to these queues.

14. The apparatus of any of claims 10, comprising:

means for periodically updating the indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue.

15. The apparatus of any of claims 10, wherein the means for maintaining an indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue comprises means for further maintaining an indication of the number of messages held by each source queue with this priority.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 comprising:

means for consecutively transferring more than one message from a source queue to the second messaging system.

17. A computer program product for communicating messages between a first messaging system and a second messaging system, wherein the first messaging system comprises a plurality of source queues, each source queue owning messages retrievable in priority order, said computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer usable program code comprising;

computer usable program code configured to determine that a message should be transferred from the first messaging system to the second messaging system;

computer usable program code configured to select a source queue which contains a message having at least an equal highest priority when compared with messages on the source queues; and

computer usable program code configured to transfer a message having the at least equal highest priority from the selected source queue of the first messaging system to a target queue at the second messaging system.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, further comprising:

computer usable program code configured to maintain an indication as to the highest priority of messages held by each source queue.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the computer usable program code configured to maintain the indication comprises:

computer usable program code configured to determine that a message has arrived on a source queue;

computer usable program code configured to determine the priority of the message newly arrived on the source queue;

computer usable program code configured to compare the priority of the newly arrived message with a stored indication of the current highest priority of the source queue; and

computer usable program code configured to update the indication if the current highest priority is less than the priority of the newly arrived message.