METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IN-KERNEL APPLICATION-SPECIFIC PROCESSING OF CONTENT STREAMS

• US 20090292825A1
• Filed: 07/31/2009
• Published: 11/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Rosu, Marcel C., Rosu, Daniela
• Application Number:
  US12/533,505
• Publication Number:
  US 20090292825A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/02 Protocol performance

Abstract

An embodiment of the invention transfers content between one or more input streams and one or more output streams via an application running on a host system. A kernel-level service is provided which is adapted to perform application-specific processing and which attends to transfer of content from at least one input stream to at least one output stream. With the kernel-level service, an operation is performed for the collection of at least one input stream and at least one output stream via: performing application-specific processing; and attending to the transfer of content from at least one input stream to at least one output stream.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

utilizing a machine to execute a program of instructions tangibly embodied in a program storage device, the program of instructions, when executed, being configured to;

cause a kernel-level transfer service to receive a request from one or more applications for general purpose operating system kernel-level offloading of content transfer between one or more input streams and one or more output streams;

cause the kernel-level transfer service to register one or more application-specific handlers, the one or more application specific handlers being configured to execute application-specific content processing in kernel space;

cause the kernel-level transfer service to invoke the one or more application-specific handlers to execute the application-specific content processing in kernel space; and

cause the kernel-level transfer service to transfer content between the one or more input streams and the one or more output streams.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program of instructions is further configured to employ the kernel-level transfer service to provide feedback on at least one of the transfer and the application-specific processing to the one or more applications in response to the transfer or the application-specific processing transitioning into a predetermined state or upon application request.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said application-specific processing comprises one or more of:

performing different procedures for different streams; and

utilizing different configuration parameters for different streams.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said application-specific processing comprises one or more of:

dropping one or more content segments of an input stream;

modifying one or more content segments of an input stream; and

transferring to an output stream one or more content segments not contained in any input stream.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program of instructions is further configured to vary a number of streams subsequent to initiating said application-specific content processing.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the program of instructions is further configured to, during the transfer, cause the one or more applications to indicate how the transfer is to proceed if a stream-state change occurs on one or more input or output streams.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more applications handle web content.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein:

the one or more input streams and the one or more output streams differ in specific encoding characteristics; and

said application-specific processing comprises translating between specific encoding characteristics of the one or more input streams and the one or more output streams.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the one or more applications handle media content;

the one or more input streams comprise one or more stream produced by a media source; and

said application-specific processing comprises adding content markers to customize one or more output streams to capabilities of a media consumer.

10. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a program storage device tangibly embodying a program of instructions, the program of instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, being configured to;

cause a kernel-level transfer service to receive a request from one or more applications for general purpose operating system kernel-level offloading of content transfer between one or more input streams and one or more output streams;

cause the kernel-level transfer service to register one or more application-specific handlers, the one or more application specific handlers being configured to execute application-specific content processing in kernel space;

cause the kernel-level transfer service to invoke the one or more application-specific handlers to execute the application-specific content processing in kernel space; and

cause the kernel-level service to transfer content between the one or more input streams and the one or more output streams.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the program of instructions is further configured to employ the kernel-level service to provide feedback on at least one of the transfer and the application-specific processing to the one or more applications in response to the transfer or the application-specific processing transitioning into a predetermined state or upon application request.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said application-specific processing comprises one or more of:

performing different procedures for different streams; and

utilizing different configuration parameters for different streams.

13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein said application-specific processing comprises one or more of:

dropping one or more content segments of an input stream;

modifying one or more content segments of an input stream; and

transferring to an output stream one or more content segments not contained in any input stream.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the program of instructions is further configured to vary a number of streams subsequent to initiating said application-specific content processing.

15. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the program of instructions is further configured to, during the transfer, cause the one or more applications to indicate how the transfer is to proceed if a stream-state change occurs on one or more input or output streams.

16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the one or more applications handle web content.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein:

one or more input streams and one or more output streams differ in specific encoding characteristics; and

said application-specific processing comprises translating between specific encoding characteristics of the one or more input streams and the one or more output streams.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein:

the one or more applications handle media content;

the one or more input streams comprise one or more streams produced by a media source; and

said application-specific processing comprises adding content markers to customize one or more output streams to capabilities of a media consumer.

19. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the request further comprises:

an indication of input and output streams;

a pre-registered procedure to be invoked for each input stream;

a set of application-specific processing parameters regarding each input stream;

a type of transfer termination;

one or more content caching requirements; and

whether an interaction is synchronous or asynchronous.

20. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to:

cause a kernel-level transfer service to receive a request from one or more applications for general purpose operating system kernel-level offloading of content transfer between one or more input streams and one or more output streams;

cause the kernel-level transfer service to register one or more application-specific handlers, the one or more application specific handlers being configured to execute application-specific content processing in kernel space;

cause the kernel-level transfer service to invoke the one or more application-specific handlers to execute the application-specific content processing in kernel space; and

cause the kernel-level service to transfer content between the one or more input streams and one or more output streams.