Distributed routing table interface

• US 8,161,095 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2007
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Manion, Todd R., Ransom, Kevin C., Dewey, Jeremy L., Senkeresty, Scott A., Luke, Travis C., Parks, Upshur W., Lieuallen, Brian R., De, Pritam, Choudhury, Pallavi
• Primary Examiner(s): NAWAZ, ASAD M
• Application Number:
  US11/716,896
• Publication Number:
  US 20080225860A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,863 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-207, 709251-252
• US Class Current: 709/201
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/54 Organization of routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/56 Routing software

Abstract

Application programming interface (API) for starting and accessing distributed routing table (DRT) functionality. The API facilitates bootstrapping into the DRT by one or more devices of a group of devices (a mesh) seeking to collaborate over a serverless connection, establishing a node of the DRT, where each node is an instance of an application that is participating in the mesh, and node participation by allowing the application to search for keys published by other nodes in the mesh, or by becoming part of the mesh by publishing a key. The API facilitates optimization of the routing table for quickly finding a root of a specific key in the mesh by finding the key directly in a cache or by asking a root node of the key that is in the local routing table that is closest numerically to the key being searched.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented interface for communications management, comprising:

a single distributed routing table extending across multiple devices that collaborate via an application between the multiple devices;

multiple node instances distributed over respective separate ones of the multiple devices, wherein the multiple node instances form the single distributed routing table for serverless collaboration via the application between the multiple devices, the single distributed routing table forms an overlay mesh on top of an underlying Internet Protocol network transport;

an application programming interface component on one of the multiple devices for starting and accessing the single distributed routing table, and for interacting with a respective node instance of the respective one of the multiple devices and determining a route to a destination device, the route includes a set of hops between selected node instances on respective ones of the multiple devices; and

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in memory, the memory includes the interface component.

2. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates bootstrapping of the node instance, which is a local node instance, for connecting to the destination device.

3. The interface of claim 1, wherein the distributed routing table defines keys for locating a corresponding subset of the devices.

4. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates registration and unregistration of a key for interacting with the destination device.

5. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates searching for an exact key associated with one the devices.

6. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates searching for an exact key associated with one of the devices, but returns a closest key if the exact key is not found.

7. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates specifying a security mode for the node instance.

8. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates validation of a key before registration of the key.

9. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates security packing of data to be sent to the destination device.

10. The interface of claim 1, wherein the interface component facilitates imposition of settings on the node instance when the node instance is opened.

11. A communications management system, comprising:

a single distributed routing table extended across multiple devices that collaborate via an application in a serverless environment;

multiple node instances each corresponding to a respective separate device of the multiple devices that participates in the collaboration via the application, the multiple node instances form the single distributed routing table;

the single distributed routing table forms an overlay mesh on to of an underlying Internet Protocol network transport;

an application programming interface component associated with each device of the multiple devices that enables initiation and access to at least one node instance participating in the serverless environment along a route that includes a set of hops between respective node instances on respective participating devices;

and a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in memory, the memory includes the interface component.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein each node instance includes a table entry of at least one node participating in the distributed routing table.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface component is leveraged to identify a route between the two or more devices utilizing the node instance for each device.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the two or more devices communicate to each other via the respective node instances associated therewith.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface component initiates at least one node instance upon a launch of the application utilized by the two or more devices for serverless collaboration.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the interface component facilitates bootstrapping at least one node instance to at least one disparate node instance for participation within the distributed routing table.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface component facilitates searching for an exact key associated with one the two or more devices.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface component facilitates searching for an exact key associated with one of the two or more devices, but returns a closest key if the exact key is not found.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the interface component facilitates imposition of settings on the node instance when the node instance is opened.

20. A method of communications management, comprising acts of:

starting and accessing a single distributed routing table in a serverless environment via an application programming interface;

extending the single distributed routing table across multiple devices that collaborate via an application in the serverless environment;

generating a node instance for each respective separate device of the multiple devices that participates in the collaboration, the node instances for each of the respective separate devices form the single distributed routing table;

initiating at least one node instance participating in the serverless collaboration utilizing an interface component associated with each device of the multiple devices;

accessing at least one node instance participating in the serverless collaboration utilizing an application programming interface component associated with each device of the multiple devices;

determining a route from at least one node instance to a destination device, where the route includes a set of hops between selected node instances on respective devices; and

employing at least one processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in memory to perform the acts of extending, generating, initiating, and accessing.