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

• US 7,475,132 B2
• Filed: 08/09/2007
• Issued: 01/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gorti, Sreenivasa Rao, Chang, Frederick Robert, Joy, Jennifer Lynne
• Primary Examiner(s): Jacobs; Lashonda T
• Application Number:
  US11/836,311
• Publication Number:
  US 20070271380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 516 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224, 709/225, 709/226, 709/229, 709/233
• 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. Next, a list of servers is downloaded that satisfies the search. At least one of the servers is selected from the list of servers. Next, one of a plurality of downloading systems is selected based on a predetermined criteria. A file is downloaded using one of the plurality of downloading systems.

Claims

1. A method of managing 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; and

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of downloading systems is a multiple concurrent download system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of downloading systems is a multiple concatenated download system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the plurality of downloading systems is a serial concatenated download system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

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

6. 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.

7. 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.

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

receiving a document name.

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

receiving a file size.

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

receiving a source node for a file.

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

receiving an available bandwidth at at least one of the servers.

12. 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; and

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

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

entering a unique key that identifies the file.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein receiving the list of servers further comprises:

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

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

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

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

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; and

downloading a file using the selected one of the 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 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.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

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