System and method of binding a client to a server

• US 7,676,599 B2
• Filed: 01/26/2005
• Issued: 03/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Upland Software, Inc.
• Original Assignee: I2 Telecom Ip Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Cooney, John M., Talucci, Fabrizio, Ali, Awais, Zimmerman, Charlie
• Primary Examiner(s): Srivastava, Vivek
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US11/043,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20060031393A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,868 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709/207, 709219-230, 709/235, 709237-245, 370/232, 370/237, 370/238, 370/395.21, 370/395.32
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2575 using address mapping retrieval, e.g. simple traversal of user datagram protocol through session traversal utilities for NAT [STUN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70

Abstract

A system and method of binding a client with a server. Embodiments of the present invention allow a client to receive and maintain a set of “best-fit” server IP addresses. The best fit server IP addresses establish a hierarchy of server addresses that are used by a client to maintain a binding with a server without using the DNS. Communicating the set of best-fit server IP addresses to a specific client is accomplished using extensions to one or more network protocols already used to support client/server communications, thus minimizing the amount of code needed to support the additional information transfer.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at the server, a connection request from a client;

determining a plurality of best-fit server IP addresses for the client; and

sending the plurality of best-fit server IP addresses to the client, wherein at least one of the plurality of best-fit server IP addresses is used by the client to bind the client to the server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising ordering the plurality of the best-fit server IP addresses according to network distribution criteria to generate an ordered plurality of best-fit server IP addresses and sending the ordered plurality of best-fit server IP addresses to the client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network distribution criteria include a routing distance between the client and each server associated with plurality of best-fit server IP addresses.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising extending a transmission protocol used by the client and server for communications to send the plurality of best-fit server IP addresses by including the plurality of best-fit server IP addresses in a payload of a SIP protocol message.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the network distribution criteria include server loading of each server associated with the plurality of best-fit sever IP addresses.

16. The method of claim 2, wherein the network distribution criteria include message delivery latency between the client and each server associated with the plurality of best-fit server IP addresses.

5. A method comprising:

accessing, from a memory of a client device, a list including a plurality of server IP addresses selected based on the network distribution criteria, wherein at least one of the plurality of server IP addresses is used by the client device to bind the client device to a server;

selecting a first server IP address from the list of server IP addresses;

making a first attempt to initiate a session with a first server using the first server IP address;

when the first attempt fails, selecting a second server IP address from the list of server IP addresses; and

making a second attempt to initiate the session using the selected second server IP address.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the list of server IP addresses is ordered in the memory according to network distribution criteria, and wherein the first server IP address is a better fit with respect to the network distribution criteria than the second server IP address.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the network distribution criteria includes message delivery latency.

8. A method comprising:

sending a request for a list of best-fit server IP addresses from a client to a first server;

receiving the list of best-fit server IP addresses sent from the first server, wherein at least one of the best-fit server IP addresses is used by the client to bind the client to a server having an address on the list; and

when a server IP address of the first server is not in the list of best-fit server IP addresses, attempting to initiate a session with a second server, wherein a server IP address of the second server is in the list of best-fit server IP addresses.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

storing the list of best-fit server IP addresses at the client.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the request for the list of best-fit server IP addresses is sent via a STUN protocol message.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the list of best-fit server IP addresses is ordered according to network distribution criteria.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the network distribution criteria includes a routing distance between the client and each server associated with each address in the list of best-fit server IP addresses.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining at the client whether a connection between the client and a particular server has been lost;

when the connection has been lost, selecting a subsequent best-fit server IP address from the list of best-fit server IP addresses; and

attempting to initiate a session using the selected subsequent best-fit server IP address.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the network distribution criteria include server loading.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the list of the best-fit server IP addresses includes at least three server IP addresses.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein the request is sent via a STUN protocol message and the list of best-fit server IP address is received via a SIP protocol message.