System and method for distribution of software

• US 7,051,112 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2001
• Issued: 05/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent Canada Incorporated (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Tropic Networks, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher Byron
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjoe
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chankong, Dohm
• Application Number:
  US09/967,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20030065808A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,694 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232, 709/234, 709/217, 709/201, 709/233, 709/237, 717/167, 717/168, 717/169, 370/230, 370/235
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2871 Implementation details of single intermediate entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The invention describes a system for distributing a software file from a source to a plurality of targets in such a manner that only portion of the file is received and stored in a file distributor. The file distributor has a flow mediator, which provides data flow control in such a manner that the stored portion of the file is forwarded to the targets asynchronously in order to provide that each target receives the portion of the file at its own rate. A corresponding method for the distribution of software is also provided.

Claims

1. A method for distributing a software file from a source server to a plurality of target servers, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a portion of a file from the source server at a file distributor having a storage medium, and a flow mediator;

(b) storing the portion of the file in the storage medium on the file distributor in the form of one or more packets;

(c) assigning multiple target tags to packets of the portion of the file stored in the storage medium, wherein each target tag identifies a target server for receiving the file, each target tags being assigned to the next packet of the portion of the file in the storage medium to be sent to the corresponding target server by the flow mediator;

(d) transferring the stored portion of the file from the storage medium on the file distributor to the target servers asynchronously, one packet at a time, wherein each target server receives the portion of the file at its own rate; and

(e) monitoring acknowledgements of each packet received from the target servers by the flow mediator, including removing the target tag corresponding to each target server from the packet for which the acknowledgements has been received, and reassigning it to the next packet to be sent to the corresponding target server.

2. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising repeating the steps (a) to (f) the required number of times until the file is received at the target servers.

3. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the step (a) comprises receiving a portion of a file from the source server at a file distributor having a storage medium of smaller size than the size of the file.

4. The method as described in claim 3, wherein the steps (b) and (c) further comprise:

forming a list of packets stored in the storage medium, the list of packets having a tail and a head defined for placing the earliest stored packet at the tail of the list, and the latest stored packet at the head of the list.

5. The method as described in claim 4, wherein the step (a) further comprises receiving a next portion of the file from the source server at the file distributor, when the acknowledgements has been received at the file distributor from at least one target server corresponding to the target tag that is currently assigned to the packet stored at the head of the list.

6. The method as described in claim 4, wherein the step (a) further comprises setting a timer for a time limit for the transferring the of the portion of the file to the target servers.

7. The method as described in claim 4, wherein the step (a) further comprises setting a timer and receiving a next portion of the file from the source server by the file distributor when the timer is timed-out.

8. The method as described in claim 7, wherein the step of receiving a next portion of the file further comprises receiving the next packet from the source server by the file distributor when no target tag is currently assigned to the packet stored at the tail of the list.

9. The method as described in claim 4, wherein the step (a) comprises receiving the next packet from the source server by the file distributor when acknowledgments associated with the packet at the head of the list of packets have been received from a predetermined number of target servers.

10. The method as described in claim 8, wherein the step (a) of receiving a next portion of the file from the source server by the file distributor when the timer is timed-out further comprises dropping the packet at the tail of the packet list.