System and method for managing client - server communications over computer network using transmission schedule

• US 7,806,273 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2007
• Issued: 10/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Zarbana Digital Fund LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Austen Services LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Strum, William E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell; Robert B
• Application Number:
  US11/878,119
• Publication Number:
  US 20070266086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232
• US Class Current: 209/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

A computer-implemented transmission scheme is provided to control client-server interchanges within a distributed communications network, such as a real time opinion research system. Interchanges include transmitting media streams between one or more clients to a server over a network. Periodic interchanges can be simultaneously or staggeredly transmitted to a sampling pool of active clients. A transmission mode unit implements the transmission scheme. A parameter selector establishes the transmission interval and transmission period used to trigger each interchange. A client assignor creates one or more sampling classes from the sampling pool by applying a sampling quotient generated by the parameter selector. A schedule editor produces a transmission schedule for the active clients. If more than one sampling class has been created, each sampling class would receive a separate transmission schedule for providing staggered transmissions at designated transmission intervals. The transmission schedule can include other data preparation and formatting instructions for compression, aggregation and packetization.

Claims

1. A method, executing on a server, for managing communications between the server and a plurality of clients over a computer network, comprising:

determining a transmission period for periodically sampling a sampling class of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server, wherein the sampling class includes at least one client, and wherein the transmission period determined for the sampling class includes a plurality of transmission intervals; and

interchanging communications with the sampling class over the computer network in accordance with a transmission schedule determined for the sampling class based on the transmission period determined for the sampling class.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications comprises:

polling a first sampling class according to a first transmission schedule having a first beginning transmission interval and a first transmission period determined for the first sampling class; and

polling a second sampling class according to a second transmission schedule having a second beginning transmission interval and a second transmission period determined for the second sampling class.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first beginning transmission interval is different from the second beginning transmission interval.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein interchanging communications includes interchanging communications according to a first transmission period and a second transmission period that are different from one another.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein interchanging communications includes interchanging communications according to a first transmission period and a second transmission period that are the same.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein interchanging communications includes interchanging communications according to a first transmission period and a second transmission period that are different from one another.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a plurality of sampling classes from a sampling pool of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server, and

determining a respective transmission period for the sampling classes.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising assigning the clients of the sampling pool to corresponding ones of the plurality of the sampling classes.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dividing a number of clients in the sampling class by the transmission period determined for the sampling class to derive a sampling rate for the sampling class.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications comprises staggering an interchange of communications between the server and clients of a sampling pool having an active session of streaming communication with the server, based on an assigned sampling class of the clients of the sampling pool.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a communication interchange application, including the transmission schedule determined for the sampling class, to at least one client of the sampling class to implement the transmission schedule determined for the sampling class in the at least one client of the sampling class.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications comprises at least one communication interchange of:

receiving at the server an opinion data stream from a client; and

routing composite results or graphical representations of the composite results from the server to a client.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications further comprises receiving multiple payloads aggregated into a single data packet based on instructions provided to at least one client of the sampling class with the transmission schedule.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications further comprises receiving a compressed and encrypted data packet payload based on instructions provided to at least one client of the sampling class with the transmission schedule.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications further comprises receiving multiple payloads, generated during the transmission period, and aggregated into a single data packet based on instructions provided to at least one client of the sampling class with the transmission schedule.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications further comprises receiving a predetermined quantity of payloads aggregated into a single data packet based on instructions provided to at least one client of the sampling class with the transmission schedule.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications comprises providing instructions with the transmission schedule to at least one client of the sampling class to synchronize a clock associated with the at least one client of the sampling class based on the instructions provided with the transmission schedule to the at least one client of the sampling class, wherein the clock is configured to compute transmission intervals for the transmission period.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications comprises polling at least one client of the sampling class at a designated transmission interval of the transmission period, designated by the transmission schedule for the sampling class, respectively for the transmission periods for the sampling class.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications comprises receiving a report from at least one client of the sampling class at a designated transmission interval of the transmission period, designated by the transmission schedule for the sampling class, respectively for the transmission periods of the sampling class.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the transmission period for the sampling class by analyzing a quantity of clients in a sampling pool of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the interchanging communications includes transmissions over the Internet.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein interchanging communications includes interchanging communications according to a transmission schedule for the sampling class that includes a beginning transmission interval.

23. A system for interchanging communications between a server and a plurality of clients over a computer network, comprising:

a transmission mode unit comprising processing hardware configured to determine a transmission period for periodically sampling a sampling class of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server, wherein the sampling class includes at least one client, and wherein the transmission period determined for the sampling class includes a plurality of transmission intervals, and

wherein the transmission mode unit is configured to generate a transmission schedule for the sampling class based on the transmission period determined for the sampling class.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising:

a registering unit configured to maintain a current log of clients having an active session of streaming communications with the server.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the transmission mode unit further comprises:

a client assignor configured to create at least one sampling class from a sampling pool of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the transmission mode unit further comprises:

a schedule editor configured to prepare a communication interchange application including the transmission schedule determined for the sampling class to be transmitted to at least one client of the sampling class to implement the transmission schedule for the sampling class in the at least one client of the sampling class.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the transmission schedule is configured to stagger the interchange of communications between the server and clients of a sampling pool of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server based on an assigned sampling class for the clients of the sampling pool.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the transmission mode unit is configured to generate a transmission schedule for transmitting over the Internet.

29. A system for interchanging communications between a server and a plurality of clients over a computer network, the system comprising:

means for determining a transmission period for periodically sampling a sampling class of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server, wherein the sampling class includes at least one client, and wherein the transmission period determined for the sampling class includes a plurality of transmission intervals; and

means for interchanging communications with the sampling class over the computer network in accordance with a transmission schedule determined for the sampling class based on the transmission period determined for the sampling class.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising:

means for dividing a number of clients in the sampling class by the transmission period to derive a sampling rate for the sampling class.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the means for interchanging communications is configured to receive multiple client payloads aggregated into a single data packet based on instructions provided to at least one client of the sampling class with the transmission schedule for the sampling class.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the means for interchanging communications is configured to receive a client data packet encrypted based on instructions provided to at least one client of the sampling class with the transmission schedule for the sampling class.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the means for interchanging communications comprises:

means for polling a first sampling class according to a first transmission schedule including a first beginning transmission interval and a first transmission period determined for the first sampling class; and

means for polling a second sampling class according to the second transmission schedule including a second beginning transmission interval and a second transmission period determined for the second sampling class.

34. An article of manufacture including a computer readable storage medium having computer executable instructions recorded thereon, execution of which by a computing device causes the computing device to perform operations for interchanging communications with a plurality of clients over a computer network, the operations comprising:

determining a transmission period for periodically sampling a sampling class of the plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server, wherein the sampling class includes at least one client, and wherein the transmission period determined for the sampling class includes a plurality of transmission intervals; and

interchanging communications with the sampling class over the computer network in accordance with a transmission schedule determined for the sampling class based on the transmission period determined for the sampling class.

35. The article of manufacture of claim 34, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting a communication interchange application including the transmission schedule determined for the sampling class to at least one client of the sampling class to implement the transmission schedule for the sampling class in the at least one client of the sampling class.

36. The article of manufacture of claim 34, wherein the operation of interchanging communications comprises staggering the interchange of communications between the computing device and clients of a sampling pool having an active session of streaming communication with the computing device based on an assigned sampling class for the clients of the sampling pool.

37. The article of manufacture of claim 34, wherein the computer network includes the Internet.

38. A method, executing on a client, for communicating with a server over a computer network, comprising:

receiving by the client, over the computer network from the server, a transmission schedule for periodically sampling the client as one client of a sampling class determined by the server from a sampling pool of a plurality of clients having an active session of streaming communication with the server, wherein the transmission schedule is based on a transmission period for periodically sampling the client as one client of the sampling class, and wherein the transmission period includes a plurality of transmission intervals; and

interchanging communications with the server over the computer network, as one client of the sampling class, according to the transmission schedule for the sampling class received by the client.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the interchanging communications comprises aggregating multiple payloads into a single data packet based on instructions received from the server with the transmission schedule.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the interchanging communications further comprises encrypting the data packet based on instructions received from the server with the transmission schedule.