Topology management in peer-to-peer content distribution clouds
First Claim
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1. A method of controlling the shape of a peer-to-peer content distribution cloud, the method comprising:
- under control of at least one tracker node in communication with a plurality of peer nodes, the method comprising the acts of, at the tracker node;
(i) receiving a request from one of the peer nodes requesting information about one or more other peer nodes to connect to, the request comprising;
details of peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and
opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node and including items of information about a behaviour at the requesting peer node;
(ii) accessing information about a plurality of available peer nodes associated with the tracker node, the accessed information comprising;
details of the peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and
one or more of;
quality of service information, upload speed information, download speed information, number of existing peer connections, and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node, and including items of information about a behaviour at at least one of the plurality of available peer nodes,(iii) selecting one or more of the available peer nodes on the basis of one or more criteria, the criteria including quality of service levels, relative upload ability, relative download ability, and/or relative number of existing peer connections; and
on the basis of the accessed information;
wherein the selecting comprises determining, at the tracker node, how many of the opaque metadata items at the requesting peer node match opaque metadata items provided by peer nodes during registration; and
(iv) sending information about the selected available peer nodes to the requesting peer node.
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Abstract
A topology management process is implemented in peer-to-peer content distribution clouds using tracker nodes. Tracker nodes have information about available peers and assist peers in finding other peers to connect to. Various algorithms for use at the tracker nodes are described for selecting which peers to return as potentials for forming connections to. In addition, architectures and algorithms to allow efficient scaling of tracker nodes in peer-to-peer clouds are described.
68 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of controlling the shape of a peer-to-peer content distribution cloud, the method comprising:
- under control of at least one tracker node in communication with a plurality of peer nodes, the method comprising the acts of, at the tracker node;
(i) receiving a request from one of the peer nodes requesting information about one or more other peer nodes to connect to, the request comprising; details of peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node and including items of information about a behaviour at the requesting peer node; (ii) accessing information about a plurality of available peer nodes associated with the tracker node, the accessed information comprising;
details of the peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and
one or more of;
quality of service information, upload speed information, download speed information, number of existing peer connections, and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node, and including items of information about a behaviour at at least one of the plurality of available peer nodes,(iii) selecting one or more of the available peer nodes on the basis of one or more criteria, the criteria including quality of service levels, relative upload ability, relative download ability, and/or relative number of existing peer connections; and
on the basis of the accessed information;
wherein the selecting comprises determining, at the tracker node, how many of the opaque metadata items at the requesting peer node match opaque metadata items provided by peer nodes during registration; and(iv) sending information about the selected available peer nodes to the requesting peer node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- under control of at least one tracker node in communication with a plurality of peer nodes, the method comprising the acts of, at the tracker node;
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9. A tracker node for controlling the shape of a peer-to-peer content distribution cloud comprising a plurality of peer nodes, the tracker node comprising:
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(i) an input arranged to receive a request from one of the peer nodes requesting information about one or more other peer nodes to connect to, the request comprising; details of peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node and including items of information about a behaviour at the requesting peer node; (ii) a peer node information interface for accessing information about a plurality of available peer nodes associated with the tracker node, the accessed information comprising;
details of the peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and
one or more of;
quality of service information, upload speed information, download speed information, number of existing peer connections, and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node, and including items of information about a behaviour at at least one of the plurality of available peer nodes,(iii) a processor arranged to select one or more of the available peer nodes on the basis of one or more criteria including quality of service levels, relative upload ability, relative download ability, and/or relative number of existing peer connections; and
on the basis of the accessed information;
the processor arranged such that the selecting comprises determining, at the tracker node, how many of the opaque metadata items at the requesting peer node match opaque metadata items provided by peer nodes during registration; and(iv) an output arranged to send information about the selected available peer nodes to the requesting peer node. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A peer to peer content distribution cloud comprising a plurality of tracker nodes, at least one tracker node of the plurality of tracker nodes comprising:
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(i) an input arranged to receive a request from one of the peer nodes requesting information about one or more other peer nodes to connect to, the request comprising; details of peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node and including items of information about a behaviour at the requesting peer node; (ii) a peer node information interface for accessing information about a plurality of available peer nodes associated with the tracker node, the accessed information comprising;
details of the peer nodes that the requesting peer node does not want to connect to; and
one or more of;
quality of service information, upload speed information, download speed information, number of existing peer connections, and opaque metadata that is semantically unknown to the tracker node, and including items of information about a behaviour at at least one of the plurality of available peer nodes;(iii) a processor arranged to select one or more of the available peer nodes on the basis of one or more criteria including quality of service levels, relative upload ability, relative download ability, and/or relative number of existing peer connections; and
on the basis of the accessed information,the processor arranged such that the selecting comprises determining, at the tracker node, how many of the opaque metadata items at the requesting peer node match opaque metadata items provided by peer nodes during registration; and (iv) an output arranged to send information about the selected available peer nodes to the requesting peer node. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification