Method for wide area network service location
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for locating services in a wide area network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving a communication from a Server X desiring to provide a service A to a client connected to said wide area network;
Server X joining a multicast group G1 on said wide area network, wherein Server X listens to said multicast group G1 and counts the number of other distinct servers which are currently sending advertisements for service A to said multicast group G1;
Server X periodically multicasting an advertisement for service A, wherein a period between sending of subsequent advertisements from Server X is dependent on the number of other distinct servers which are currently sending advertisements for service A to said multicast group G1;
storing, in a Broker Y'"'"'s database, the advertisement for service A multicast by Server X;
periodically multicasting from Broker Y an advertisement for service-A-Broker to multicast group G2;
processing a request from client C to Broker Y for a server providing service A; and
providing from Broker Y to client C an address for Server X to obtain service A.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for a client to locate a particular service from a service provider on wide area computer networks. The method includes multicasting of an advertisement from a service provider, which advertisement is detected by a Service Broker and in turn multicast into the wide area computer network. A client queries the network when seeking a particular service and receives in turn the address of the Broker and a Server to obtain the service desired.
-
Citations
10 Claims
-
1. A method for locating services in a wide area network, comprising the steps of:
-
receiving a communication from a Server X desiring to provide a service A to a client connected to said wide area network;
Server X joining a multicast group G1 on said wide area network, wherein Server X listens to said multicast group G1 and counts the number of other distinct servers which are currently sending advertisements for service A to said multicast group G1;
Server X periodically multicasting an advertisement for service A, wherein a period between sending of subsequent advertisements from Server X is dependent on the number of other distinct servers which are currently sending advertisements for service A to said multicast group G1;
storing, in a Broker Y'"'"'s database, the advertisement for service A multicast by Server X;
periodically multicasting from Broker Y an advertisement for service-A-Broker to multicast group G2;
processing a request from client C to Broker Y for a server providing service A; and
providing from Broker Y to client C an address for Server X to obtain service A. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
storing, in a Directory Agent Z'"'"'s database, the advertisement multicast by Broker Y;
processing a communication from client C who is seeking a server for service A, and relaying said communication to Directory Agent Z;
initiating a database search by Directory Agent Z for providers of service-A-Broker;
locating Broker Y in response to said database search; and
returning an address for Broker Y to client C.
-
-
3. A method for locating services in a wide area network in accordance with claim 2, wherein said locating step further includes the steps of:
querying Broker Y on behalf of client C, and returning an address for Server X, provided by Broker Y, directly to client C.
-
4. A method for locating services in a wide area network in accordance with claim 1, further including the steps of:
-
registering, with a Notary, an advertisement generated by a server;
providing, by the Notary, authentication for the servers it represents; and
multicasting, by the Notary, the advertisements for the servers registered with the Notary.
-
-
5. A method for locating services in a wide area network, comprising the steps of:
-
defining a plurality of multicast addresses for services that can be provided in said wide area network;
Server X, desiring to provide a service A to a client connected to said wide area network, joining a multicast group G1 on said wide area network, wherein Server X listens to said multicast group G1 on the defined multicast address for service A and counts the number of other distinct servers which are currently sending advertisements for service A to said multicast group G1;
Server X periodically multicasting an advertisement for service A, wherein a period between sending of subsequent advertisements from Server X is dependent on the number of other distinct servers which are currently sending advertisements for service A to said multicast group G1;
storing, in a Broker Y'"'"'s database, the advertisement for service A multicast by Server X;
Broker Y periodically multicasting service announcements of advertisements it has stored in its database;
receiving and processing a request from client C to Broker Y for a server providing service A; and
providing from Broker Y to client C an address for Server X to obtain service A. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
said period is always greater than a pre-determined minimum period; and
said pre-determined minimum period increases with the age of the advertisement.
-
-
7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
-
adding a random factor so that the actual period between sending of subsequent advertisements varies randomly between ½ and
1½
times in length of the pre-determined minimum period.
-
-
8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
Broker Y implementing at least one pre-determined policy to restrict which servers whose advertisements are kept in the Broker Y'"'"'s database.
-
9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
- Server X including in its service advertisements an attribute which indicates a value of the Time to live field used in the IP pockets containing the advertisement.
-
10. The method of claim 5, further comprising:
a client including a distance attribute in its service request to Broker Y, and specifying an allowable value for said distance attribute.
Specification