System and method for storing communications intended for different groups using a limited amount of space

• US 8,554,965 B1
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Woo, Alec, Culler, David E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Alrobaye, Idriss N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huson, Zachary K
• Application Number:
  US13/618,107
• Time in Patent Office: 389 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 710/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06

Abstract

A system and method stores wirelessly received communications for wireless retransmission, making space in a storage device, if necessary, by deleting any one or more communications corresponding to the same group as the received communication. If storage in the storage device remains insufficient, communications that have been previously retransmitted by that same device are deleted, according to one or more characteristics of such stored communications, such as age or number of times an instance of that communication has been received. If storage in the storage device remains insufficient, communications of a different group are deleted according to one or more characteristics of the stored communications.

Claims

1. A method of enabling a network device to exchange communications addressed to a group using a group identifier in a sequence of transmissions, the method comprising:

receiving a first communication addressed to a group of network devices;

identifying a group identifier corresponding to the communication;

determining whether a set of stored communications stored in a storage module include the group identifier;

responsive to a determination that the set of stored communications include the group identifier, increasing a counter associated with each of the stored communications in the set by one;

determining whether sufficient storage exists in the storage module to store the first communication; and

responsive to a determination that sufficient storage does not exist in the storage module to store the first communication;

identifying a previously stored second communication that;

has been provided by the device that received the first communication in response to at least one request, and

has an associated counter with the greatest counter value;

deleting the second communication; and

storing the first communication.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a group identifier of the second communication corresponds to the group identifier of the first communication.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a previous instance of the first communication is not stored in the network device;

initializing a counter to one; and

associating the counter with the first communication.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that the second communication cannot be identified;

identifying a previously stored third communication that;

is associated with a group identifier different from the group identifier corresponding to the first communication, and

has the greatest counter value;

deleting the third communication; and

storing the first communication.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to a size of the first communication received exceeding a size of the second communication;

identifying a previously stored third communication that;

is associated with a group identifier different from the group identifier corresponding to the first communication, and

has the greatest counter value;

deleting the third communication; and

storing the first communication.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to a size of the first communication received exceeding a size of the second communication;

identifying a previously stored third communication that has not been provided by the device that received the communication in response to at least one request to provide such at least one stored communication and that correspond to at least one second characteristic; and

deleting the third communication that has not been provided by the device before the storing step.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one second characteristic is related to a time of receipt.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the at least one second characteristic is related to a number of times an instance of the third communication was received.

9. A system configure to enable a network device to exchange communications address to a group using a group identifier in a sequence of transmissions, the system comprising:

a processor; and

instructions that when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform operations that include;

receiving a first communication addressed to a group of network devices;

identifying a group identifier corresponding to the communication;

determining whether a set of stored communications stored in a storage module include the group identifier;

responsive to a determination that the set of stored communications include the group identifier, increasing a counter associated with each of the stored communications in the set by one;

determining whether sufficient storage exists in the storage module to store the first communication; and

responsive to a determination that sufficient storage does not exist in the storage module to store the first communication;

identifying a previously stored second communication that;

has been provided by the device that received the first communication in response to at least one request, and

has an associated counter with the greatest counter value;

deleting the second communication; and

storing the first communication.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein a group identifier of the second communication corresponds to the group identifier of the first communication.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

determining that a previous instance of the first communication is not stored in the network device;

initializing a counter to one; and

associating the counter with the first communication.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

determining that the second communication cannot be identified;

identifying a previously stored third communication that;

is associated with a group identifier different from the group identifier corresponding to the first communication, and

has the greatest counter value;

deleting the third communication; and

storing the first communication.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

responsive to a size of the first communication received exceeding a size of the second communication;

identifying a previously stored third communication that;

is associated with a group identifier different from the group identifier corresponding to the first communication, and

has the greatest counter value;

deleting the third communication; and

storing the first communication.

14. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

responsive to a size of the first communication received exceeding a size of the second communication;

identifying a previously stored third communication that has not been provided by the device that received the communication in response to at least one request to provide such at least one stored communication and that correspond to at least one second characteristic; and

deleting the third communication that has not been provided by the device before the storing step.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one second characteristic is related to a number of times an instance of the second communication that have been provided was received.

16. A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to enable a network device to exchange communications addressed to a group using group identifier in a sequence of transmissions, the computer program comprising:

instructions that when executed on a processor cause the processor to perform operations that include;

receiving a first communication addressed to a group of network devices;

identifying a group identifier corresponding to the communication;

determining whether a set of stored communications stored in a storage module include the group identifier;

responsive to a determination that the set of stored communications include the group identifier, increasing a counter associated with each of the stored communications in the set by one;

determining whether sufficient storage exists in the storage module to store the first communication; and

responsive to a determination that sufficient storage does not exist in the storage module to store the first communication;

identifying a previously stored second communication that;

has been provided by the device that received the first communication in response to at least one request, and

has an associated counter with the greatest counter value;

deleting the second communication; and

storing the first communication.

17. The computer program of claim 16 wherein a group identifier of the second communication corresponds to the group identifier of the first communication.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

determining that a previous instance of the first communication is not stored in the network device;

initializing a counter to one; and

associating the counter with the first communication.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

determining that the second communication cannot be identified;

identifying a previously stored third communication that;

is associated with a group identifier different from the group identifier corresponding to the first communication, and

has the greatest counter value;

deleting the third communication; and

storing the first communication.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

responsive to a size of the first communication received exceeding a size of the second communication;

identifying a previously stored third communication that;

is associated with a group identifier different from the group identifier corresponding to the first communication, and

has the greatest counter value;

deleting the third communication; and

storing the first communication.