METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR RAPID DATA ACQUISITION OVER THE INTERNET

• US 20090006421A1
• Filed: 06/27/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pantos, Roger
• Granted Patent: US 8,429,286 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2386 Bulk updating operations data conversion details G06F16/258
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/12 Shortest path evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

The present invention includes apparatuses, methods, computer readable media and systems comprising means for rapid data acquisition from a server are discussed herein. This rapid data acquisition can be achieved using a combination of bulk data requests and small data requests. A hybrid approach that uses simultaneous bulk and small data requests can provide random access to data files while achieving the high download speeds of a large data transfer.

Claims

1. A method for downloading a data file from a server using multiple data requests, the method comprising:

issuing a bulk data request to download a first portion of the data file from the server;

issuing a small data request to download a second portion of the data file from the server while the bulk data request is pending;

receiving the first portion of the data file from the bulk data request; and

receiving the second portion of the data file from the small data request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the bulk data request and the small data request are both hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the bulk data request uses transmission control protocol (TCP).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion received from the bulk data request starts at a requested data byte of the data file and ends with a data byte located at or near an end of the data file.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion received from the bulk data request starts at a requested data byte of the data file and ends with a data byte that preceeds a data byte that has already been received.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data byte that has already been received is part of the second portion of the data file.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the data file received from the bulk data request is at least an order of magnitude greater in size than the second portion of the data file received from the small data request

8. A method for downloading a data file from a server using multiple data requests, the method comprising:

issuing a first bulk data request to download the data file from the server;

receiving a first portion of the data file from the first bulk data request;

receiving a request to access a second portion of the data file while the first portion of the data file is being received;

stopping the first bulk data request before the download of the data file is completed;

issuing a second bulk data request to download a second portion of the data file from the server; and

receiving the second portion of the data file from the second bulk data request.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining an amount of time until the second portion of data will be received from the first bulk data request before stopping the first bulk data request.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising determining whether the second portion of the data file is more important than the first portion of the data file before stopping the first bulk data request.

11. A method for downloading a data file from a server using multiple data requests, the method comprising:

receiving a request to access a portion of a data file;

determining whether there is a pending bulk data request for the data file and when the requested portion of the data file is expected to be received from the pending bulk data request;

in response to determining that there is a pending bulk data request for the data file, issuing a further data request for the requested portion of the data file.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining when the requested portion of the file is expected to be received comprises determining an amount of time until the requested portion will be downloaded, a time at which the requested portion of data will be consumed, a download speed of the pending bulk data request, an amount of data that is cached, a current location of a playhead or anchor for the file, a network latency, or a data block size.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining whether the requested portion of the data file is more important than data being received from the pending bulk data request.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the requested portion of the data file is more important is based on at least one of user provided information, user data request history information, and a current location of a playhead or anchor for the file.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein issuing the further data request comprises stopping the pending bulk data request before the download of the data file is completed and issuing a further bulk data request.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein issuing the further data request comprises issuing a new small data request and wherein data is received simultaneously from both the bulk data request and the small data request.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining whether there is a pending small data request before issuing the new small data request.

18. A system for downloading a data file from a server using multiple data requests, the system comprising:

control circuitry that receives a first data read request for a data file and a second data read request for a particular portion of the data file; and

communications circuitry that issues a bulk data request to download a first portion of the file from the server in response to the first data read request and that issues a small data request in response to the second data read request, wherein the communications circuitry receives a first portion of the data file from the bulk data request and a second portion of the data file from the small data request.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the bulk data request and the small data request are both hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) requests.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the bulk data request uses transmission control protocol (TCP).

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the first portion of the data file received from the bulk data request is at least an order of magnitude greater in size than the second portion of the data file received from the small data request

22. The system of claim 18, wherein in response to the second data read request the communications circuitry is operative to:

stop the first bulk data request before the download of the data file is completed; and

issue a second bulk data request to download a requested portion of the data file from the server.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the communications circuitry is operative to determine when the particular portion of the data file is expected to be received from the bulk data request.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the communications circuitry is operative to determine whether the second data read request is more important than the first data read request.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the communications circuitry is operative to determine whether there is a pending small data request before issuing the small data request.