Load balancing in set top cable box environment

• US 7,916,631 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2005
• Issued: 03/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Kamentsky, Lee, Hall, Peter, Kanojia, Chaitanya
• Primary Examiner(s): Moe; Aung S
• Assistant Examiner(s): RIYAMI, ABDULLAH A
• Application Number:
  US11/091,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20050185596A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,192 Days
• Field of Search: 370/335, 370/338, 370/352, 370/401, 370/403, 370/421, 370/221, 370/229, 370/230, 370/230.1, 370/351, 370/395.2, 370/395.21, 370/400, 370/350, 370/252, 709/225, 709/226, 709/229, 709/238, 709/203, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/228, 709/224, 709/105, 725/87, 725/91, 725/93, 725/114, 725/88, 725/89, 725/90, 725/95, 725/100, 725/101, 725/102, 725/14, 725/65, 725/39, 725/112, 725/137, 725/135, 725/109, 725/116, 725/117, 725/110
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/185 with management of multicast group membership
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/58 Association of routers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A scalable messaging system for data transmission between the network devices, such as set top boxes, and a central system server, such as a server which maintains a database of event logs for the network. Individual routers at the data center broadcast an announcement packet indicating that they are available to accept messages from the network devices. The announcement message contains at least an identification of the router and the manner in which messages may be sent to it, e.g., one or more connection socket numbers and/or network addresses. The frequency at which availability messages are sent by the routers is preferably dependent upon the relatively loading of the individual router. Thus, the more heavily loaded a particular router becomes, the less often it will broadcast an availability message; the more lightly loaded it becomes, the more often such messages are broadcast. The network devices then transmit messages to the data center only in response to having received such a router availability announcement. The information in a router availability message can be used in various ways to construct a payload message back to the data center, such as by using ports numbers, persistent identification numbers, or Media Access Control (MAC) layer addresses, depending upon the topology of the data network. This protocol thus permits control over the generation of messages, such as connection request messages, which might otherwise flood a network with large numbers of end node devices.

Claims

1. In a network system that connects a central location with a large number of network devices, a method for balancing the coordination of responses to connection requests originating at the network devices comprising the steps of:

communicating at least one router availability message to a plurality of network devices indicating that a router indicated in the at least one router availability message is available to establish a connection with a network device;

wherein the router availability message is sent as a multicast message to a specific group of network devices and represents a right for the network device to connect to the router for a limited time only;

receiving, at a network device of the plurality of network devices, the at least one router availability message;

in response to receiving the at least one router availability message, communicating a connection request message to the router indicated in the at least one router availability message;

receiving the connection request message from the network device at the central location through the router indicated by the at least one router availability message, wherein the connection request message is received only in response to earlier communicating the at least one router availability message to the network device;

identifying, at the central location, a load of the router indicated in the at least one router availability message and at least one other router;

based on identifying that the router indicated by the router availability message has a higher load than a second router, reassigning a response to the connection request received from the network device from the router indicated by the router availability message to the second router under control of the central location by connecting the network device to the second router, such that subsequent connection requests remain distributed among a number of available routers;

logging one or more activities by the network device, wherein the network device logs activities that occur for at least a threshold amount of time; and

receiving an indication of the one or more activities logged by the network device.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the router availability message is repeated at a rate which depends upon the relative availability of the router to service the message.

3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the messages are connection request messages originating from a network device requesting that a connection be made to the central location.

4. A method as in claim 1 wherein the router availability message indicates a network address of the router from which a response to the connection request received from the network device may be responded.

5. A method as in claim 1 wherein the indication of the one or more activities logged by the specific network device are received using TCP/IP.