Flow Control of Events Based on Threshold, Grace Period, and Event Signature

• US 20100153579A1
• Filed: 12/12/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2008
• 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: Iyer, Savitha, Agraharam, Sanjay, Guzman, Carlos
• Granted Patent: US 8,069,236 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

A method for controlling sender events arriving at a recipient system is provided. An event transmitted from a sender is received at recipient system, and an event signature is determined. An elapse time between received event and a previous event is calculated. If elapse time is less than or equal to a critical time, it is determined if a counter is equal to or greater than a maximum value. If yes, event is rejected. If not, counter is incremented and the event is processed. If elapse time is greater than critical time, it is determined if elapse time is less than or equal to a grace period and if counter is greater than zero. If yes, counter is decremented and the event is processed. If not, counter is set to zero and event is processed. The critical time, maximum value, and increment/decrement factor are set based on the event signature.

Claims

1. A method for controlling sender events arriving at a recipient system, comprising:

receiving an event at a recipient system transmitted from a sender;

determining an event signature for the event transmitted by the sender;

calculating an elapse time between the received event and a previous event from the sender;

if the elapse time is less than or equal to a predetermined critical time, further comprising;

determining if a counter is equal to or greater than a maximum value for the counter;

if the counter is equal to or greater than the maximum value for the counter, rejecting the event such that the event is not processed;

if the counter is less than the maximum value for the counter, incrementing the counter by an increment factor and processing the event;

if the elapse time is greater than the predetermined critical time, determining if the elapse time is less than or equal to a grace period and if the counter is greater than zero;

if the elapse time is less than or equal to the grace period and if the counter is greater than zero, decrementing the counter by a decrement factor and processing the event; and

if the elapse time is greater than the grace period and if the counter is not greater than zero, setting the counter to zero and processing the event;

wherein the predetermined critical time, the grace period, the maximum value for the counter, the increment factor, and the decrement factor are set based on the event signature for the event.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the event signature for the sender has changed to a new event signature.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein in response to the event signature changing to the new event signature, a new predetermined critical time, a new maximum value for the counter, a new increment factor, a new grace period, and a new decrement factor are set based on the new event signature.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the increment factor is a predetermined number by which to increment the counter.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the decrement factor is a predetermined number by which to decrement the counter.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the event signature is based on data contained in the event.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the recipient system is configured detect a pattern of the sender;

and

wherein based on the detected pattern of the sender, the recipient system automatically adjusts at least one of;

the predetermined critical time, the maximum value for the counter, the increment factor, the grace period, and the decrement factor.

8. A recipient system configured to control sender events arriving at the recipient system, comprising:

memory for storing one or more programs for controlling sender events arriving at the recipient system; and

a processor, functionally coupled to the memory, the processor being responsive to computer-executable instructions contained in the program and operative to;

receiving an event at a recipient system transmitted from a sender;

calculating an elapse time between the received event and a previous event from the sender;

determining if the elapse time is less than or equal to a predetermined critical time, wherein a counter is increased by an increment factor if the elapse time is less than or equal to the predetermined critical time;

if the elapse time is greater than the predetermined critical time, determining if the elapse time is less than or equal to a grace period and if the counter is greater than zero;

if the elapse time is less than or equal to the grace period and if the counter is greater than zero, decrementing the counter by a decrement factor and processing the event; and

if the elapse time is greater than the grace period and if the counter is not greater than zero, setting the counter to zero and processing the event.

9. The recipient system of claim 8, further comprising determining an event signature for the event transmitted by the sender;

wherein the predetermined critical time, a maximum value for the counter, the grace period, the increment factor, and the decrement factor are set based on the event signature for the event.

10. The recipient system of claim 9, further comprising determining whether the event signature for the sender has changed to a new event signature;

wherein in response to the event signature changing to the new event signature, a new predetermined critical time, a new maximum value for the counter, a new grace period, a new increment factor, and a new decrement factor are set based on the new event signature.

11. The recipient system of claim 8, wherein the grace period is a buffer to allow the recipient system to continue tracking and counting events from the sender, even if an intervening event arrives with an elapse time greater that the predetermined critical time but less than the grace period.

12. The recipient system of claim 8, wherein the decrement factor is a predetermined number by which to decrement the counter;

and

wherein the increment factor is a predetermined number by which to increment the counter.

13. The recipient system of claim 9, wherein the event signature is based on data contained in the event.

14. The recipient system of claim 8, wherein the recipient system is configured detect a pattern of the sender;

and

wherein based on the detected pattern of the sender, the recipient system automatically adjusts at least one of;

the predetermined critical time, a maximum value for the counter, the increment factor, the grace period, and the decrement factor.

15. A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program product including instructions for causing a computer to execute a method for method for controlling sender events arriving at a recipient system, comprising:

receiving an event at a recipient system transmitted from a sender;

determining an event signature for the event transmitted by the sender;

calculating an elapse time between the received event and a previous event from the sender;

if the elapse time is less than or equal to a predetermined critical time, further comprising;

determining if a counter is equal to or greater than a maximum value for the counter;

if the counter is equal to or greater than the maximum value for the counter, rejecting the event such that the event is not processed;

if the counter is less than the maximum value for the counter, incrementing the counter by an increment factor and processing the event;

if the elapse time is greater than the predetermined critical time, determining if the elapse time is less than or equal to a grace period and if the counter is greater than zero;

if the elapse time is less than or equal to the grace period and if the counter is greater than zero, decrementing the counter by a decrement factor and processing the event; and

if the elapse time is greater than the grace period and if the counter is not greater than zero, setting the counter to zero and processing the event;

wherein the predetermined critical time, the maximum value for the counter, the grace period, the increment factor, and the decrement factor are set based on the event signature for the event.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising determining whether the event signature for the sender has changed to a new event signature.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein in response to the event signature changing to the new event signature, a new predetermined critical time, a new maximum value for the counter, a new grace period, a new increment factor, and a new decrement factor are set based on the new event signature.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the increment factor is a predetermined number by which to increment the counter.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the decrement factor is a predetermined number by which to decrement the counter.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the event signature is based on data contained in the event.