Method of improving the reliability of peer-to-peer network downloads

• US 7,272,645 B2
• Filed: 05/25/2001
• Issued: 09/18/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Technology Resources, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gorti, Sreenivasa Rao, Chang, Frederick Robert, Joy, Jennifer Lynne
• Primary Examiner(s): Etienne; Ario
• Assistant Examiner(s): JACOBS, LASHONDA T
• Application Number:
  US09/866,502
• Publication Number:
  US 20020178261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,307 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/213, 709/217, 709/219, 709/225, 709/226, 709/229, 709/223, 709/224, 709/233, 707/2, 707/9, 718/105, 714/4, 714/18, 717168-178
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1061 using node-based peer discovery mechanisms static access to replicated servers H04L67/1006; service discovery H04L67/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method of improving the reliability of peer-to-peer network downloads includes the steps of initiating a search from a client on a peer-to-peer network (152). Next, a list of servers is downloaded that satisfies the search (154). At least one of the servers is selected from the list of servers (156). Next, one of a plurality of downloading systems is selected based on a predetermined criteria (158). A file is downloaded using one of the plurality of downloading systems.

Claims

1. A method of managing of peer-to-peer network downloads, comprising:

initiating a broadcast search from a client on a peer-to-peer network;

receiving a list of servers that satisfy the search;

comparing a connection speed of at least one of the servers to an available network access bandwidth of the client;

selecting one of a plurality of downloading systems based on the comparison;

determining if an available bandwidth is less than a connection speed to two of the servers;

when the available bandwidth is less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a serial concatenated download system;

when the available bandwidth is not less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a multiple concurrent download system;

when the available bandwidth is not less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a multiple concatenated download system; and

downloading a file using one of the plurality of downloading systems.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the connection speed of the at least one of the servers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the broadcast search from the client on the peer-to-peer network further comprises:

entering a text string.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating the broadcast search from the client on the peer-to-peer network further comprises:

entering a unique key.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the list of servers further comprises:

receiving a document name.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the list of servers further comprises:

receiving a file size.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the list of servers further comprises:

receiving a source node for the file.

downloading a file using one of the plurality of downloading systems.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the list of servers further comprises:

receiving an available bandwidth at least one of the servers.

9. A method of managing peer-to-peer network downloads, comprising:

broadcasting a search query from a client over the peer-to-peer network;

receiving a list of servers and a list of associated document names that satisfy the search query;

comparing a connection speed of at least one of the servers on the list of servers to an available network access bandwidth of the client;

determining one of a plurality of downloading systems based on the comparison;

determining if an available bandwidth is less than a connection speed to two of the servers;

when the available bandwidth is less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a serial concatenated download system;

when the available bandwidth is not less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a multiple concurrent download system;

when the available bandwidth is not less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a multiple concatenated download system; and

downloading a file via the one of the plurality of downloading systems.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein further comprising:

entering a unique key that identifies the file.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the list of servers further comprises:

receiving a file size, a source node and a unique key.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

measuring the connection speed to the at least one of the servers on the list of servers.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting the serial concatenated download system further comprises:

starting a download from one of the list of servers; and

if the one of the list of servers is interrupted during the download, selecting a second of the list of server to start a download;

iii) requesting the download to start at a next byte after a last received byte.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the multiple concurrent download system further comprises:

starting a download from at least two of the servers; and

if any of the at least two of the servers finishes the download, terminating the download for any other servers.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein selecting the multiple concatenated download system further comprises:

starting a first download at a first byte of the file for one of the at least two servers;

starting a second download at a second byte of the file for a second of the at least two servers; and

determining when a complete file has been downloaded by combining the first download and the second download.

16. A method of operating a peer-to-peer network comprising the steps of:

initiating a broadcast search from a first peer to the peer-to-peer network;

receiving a list of peer servers that meet a search query;

comparing a connection speed to at least one of the peer servers to an available network access bandwidth of the first peer;

selecting one of a plurality of downloading systems based on the comparison;

determining if an available bandwidth is less than a connection speed to two of the servers;

when the available bandwidth is less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a serial concatenated download system;

when the available bandwidth is not less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a multiple concurrent download system;

when the available bandwidth is not less than the connection speed to two of the servers, selecting a multiple concatenated download system; and

downloading a file using the selected one of the plurality of downloading systems.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein selecting one of the plurality of downloading systems further comprises:

determining the connection speed to each of the peer servers on the list of peer servers;

selecting a subset of the list of peer servers based on the determined connection speeds.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the connection speed to each of the peer servers on the list of peer servers further comprises:

requesting and receiving a test file from each of the servers on the list of servers.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the connection speed to each of the peer servers on the list of peer servers further comprises:

determining an order of response from each of the servers on the list of servers.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the connection speed to each of the peer servers on the list of peer servers further comprises:

pinging each of the servers on the list of servers.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein downloading the file using the one of the plurality of downloading systems further comprises:

when the available bandwidth is less than two times the connection speed to at least one of the peer servers, selecting a server with a fastest connection speed; and

starting a download from the server with the fastest connection speed.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining if the server with the fastest connection speed had an error before the file download was completed;

when the server with the fastest connection speed had an error before the file download was completed, selecting a second server;

determining a last byte received;

transmitting a download starting from a next byte command to a second server.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein downloading the file using the selected one of the downloading systems further comprises:

when an available bandwidth is not less than two times the connection speed to at least one of the peer servers, selecting a plurality of servers from the list of servers;

starting a plurality of simultaneous downloads from the plurality of servers.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

determining if the client has received a complete version of the file from one of the plurality of servers;

when the client has received a complete version of the file from one of the plurality of servers, terminating remaining downloads.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein downloading the file using the one of the plurality of downloading systems further comprises:

when an available bandwidth is not less than two times the connection speed to at least one of the peer servers, selecting a plurality of servers from the list of servers;

starting a plurality of simultaneous offset downloads from the plurality of servers.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

when a complete file can be formed from the plurality of simultaneous offset downloads, constructing a complete file.

27. A method of operating a peer-to-peer network comprising:

initiating a search from a first peer to the peer-to-peer network;

receiving a list of peer servers, a plurality of associated file names, a plurality of file sizes, a plurality of bandwidths and a plurality of source nodes that meet a search query;

determining a connection speed to each of the peer servers on the list of peer servers;

selecting a subset of the list of peer servers based on the connection speed;

when an available bandwidth is less than two times a connection speed;

selecting a server with a fastest connection speed;

starting a download from the server with the fastest connection speed;

determining if the server with the fastest connection speed had an error before the file was downloaded;

when the server with the fastest connection speed had an error before the file was downloaded;

selecting a second server;

determining a last byte received;

transmitting a download starting from a next byte command to a second server;

when an available bandwidth is not less than two times a connection speed;

selecting a plurality of servers from the list of servers;

starting a plurality of simultaneous downloads from the plurality of servers;

determining if the client has received a complete version of the file from one of the plurality of servers; and

when the client has received a complete version of the file from one of the plurality of servers, terminating a rest of the downloads.