Methods and Systems for Content Access and Distribution

• US 20100023512A1
• Filed: 10/07/2009
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fenner, William, Srivastava, Divesh, Zhang, Yin, Rabinovich, Michael, Ramakrishnan, Kadangode
• Granted Patent: US 8,649,382 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks

Abstract

Distribution of content between publishers and consumers is accomplished using an overlay network that may make use of XML language to facilitate content identification. The overlay network includes a plurality of routers that may be in communication with each other and the publishers and consumers on the Internet. Content and queries are identified by content descriptors that are routed from the originator to a nearest router in the overlay network. The nearest router, for each unique content descriptor, generates a hash identification of the content descriptor which is used by remaining routers in the overlay network to provide the appropriate functions with respect to the content descriptor. In particular, this allows all routers in the overlay network except the nearest router to properly route content without processing every content descriptor.

Claims

1. A method for disseminating content over an overlay network having a plurality of routers in communication with providers and consumers of content, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first router in the overlay network, a first content descriptor corresponding to a first content published by a first publisher;

generating, at the first router, a first publisher interface list, wherein the first publisher interface list includes a first link to the first publisher;

transmitting the first publisher interface list to a plurality of subsequent routers in the overlay network, wherein queries received by the subsequent routers that correspond to the first content descriptor will be routed to the first router based on the first publisher interface list;

receiving, at one of the plurality of subsequent routers, a second content descriptor corresponding to a second content from a second publisher, wherein the second content descriptor and the second content from the second publisher are the same as the first content descriptor and the first content from the first publisher; and

updating the first publisher interface list in the one of the plurality of subsequent routers to create a second publisher interface list including a second link to the second publisher.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the first publisher interface list in the first router to include a third link to the one of the plurality of subsequent routers based on the second content descriptor corresponding to the second content from the second publisher.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the one of the plurality of subsequent routers, a third content descriptor corresponding to a third content from a third publisher, wherein the third content descriptor and the third content from the third publisher are the same as the first content descriptor and the first content from the first publisher; and

updating only the second publisher interface list in the one of the plurality of subsequent routers to create a third publisher interface list including a third link to the third publisher.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first publisher interface list at the first router and the second publisher interface list at the second router create a tree of publishers in the overlay network.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the one of the plurality of subsequent routers is an on-tree node in the overlay network.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating a Message Digest 5 (MD5) hash of the content descriptor.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the content descriptor comprises a hierarchical series of keywords.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the first router is a coordinator router for the content descriptor.

9. A method for disseminating content over an overlay network having a plurality of routers in communication with providers and consumers of content, the method comprising:

receiving, at a router in the overlay network, a content descriptor corresponding to a query for content from a node;

generating, at the router, a subscriber interface list based on receiving the query for the content from the node;

transmitting the subscriber interface list to a plurality of subsequent routers in the overlay network, wherein a content identified by the subsequent routers that correspond to the query will be routed to the router based on the subscriber interface list;

receiving, at the router, first and second documents corresponding to the query for the content from the node;

determining whether the second document is a duplicate of the first document; and

if the second document is the duplicate, then deleting the second document and transmitting the first document to the node or if the second document is not the duplicate, then transmitting both the first and second documents to the node.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein determining whether the second document is the duplicate further comprises:

generating a first MD5 hash of content in the first document;

generating a second MD5 hash of content in the second document; and

comparing the first MD5 hash and the second MD5 hash.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein determining whether the second document is the duplicate further comprises:

comparing a first date, a first title, and a first author of the first document respectively to a second data, a second title, and a second author of the second document.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

generating a MD5 hash of the content descriptor.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the content descriptor comprises a hierarchical series of keywords.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the first router is a coordinator router for the content descriptor.

15. A method for disseminating content over an overlay network having a plurality of routers in communication with providers and consumers of content, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first router in the overlay network, a first content descriptor corresponding to a first content published by a first publisher;

generating, at the first router, a publisher interface list, wherein the publisher interface list includes a first link to the first publisher;

transmitting the publisher interface list to second and third routers in the overlay network;

receiving, at the second router, a second content descriptor corresponding to a second content from a second publisher, wherein the second content descriptor and the second content from the second publisher are the same as the first content descriptor and the first content from the first publisher;

updating the publisher interface list in the first router to include a second link to the second router based on the second content descriptor corresponding to the second content from the second publisher;

receiving, at the third router, a query for the content descriptor from a first node;

transmitting the query to the first router based on the publisher interface list stored in the third router; and

transmitting the query from the first router to the first publisher and to the second router based on the updated publisher interface list stored in the first router.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

updating the publisher interface list in the second router to include a third link to the second publisher.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving, at the second router, a third content descriptor corresponding to a third content from a third publisher, wherein the third content descriptor and the third content from the third publisher are the same as the first content descriptor and the first content from the first publisher; and

updating only the publisher interface list in the second router to include a third link to the third publisher.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

generating a MD5 hash of the content descriptor.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the content descriptor comprises a hierarchical series of keywords.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the first router is a coordinator router for the content descriptor.