Live directory of cloud tenants to enable inter-tenant interaction via cloud

• US 8,676,984 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2012
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Mohindra, Ajay, Acharaya, Arup, Banerjee, Nilanjan, Sharma, Shachi
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M
• Application Number:
  US13/479,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20130318241A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-203, 709217-227
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/503 Resource availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A system for enabling communication between multiple cloud-based services operating on a common cloud infrastructure includes a cloud infrastructure providing cloud-based services. The cloud-based services include a first service of a first tenant and a second service of a second tenant. A live directory is located within the cloud infrastructure and aggregates and distributing sharing and availability information pertaining to one or more of the cloud-based services. A back-end network is within the cloud infrastructure and enables communication between the cloud-based services and the live directory. A wide area network enables communication between the cloud-based services and one or more remote clients. The sharing and availability information pertaining to one or more of the cloud-based services aggregated and distributed by the live directory is used to establish a back-end connection between the first service of the first tenant and the second service of a second tenant.

Claims

1. A system for enabling communication between multiple cloud-based services operating on a common cloud infrastructure, comprising:

a cloud infrastructure providing a plurality of cloud-based services, the plurality of cloud-based services including a first service of a first tenant and a second service of a second tenant;

a live directory located within the cloud infrastructure for aggregating and distributing sharing and availability information pertaining to one or more of the plurality of cloud-based services;

a back-end network within the cloud infrastructure enabling communication between the plurality of cloud-based services and the live directory; and

a wide area network enabling communication between the plurality of cloud-based services and one or more remote clients,

wherein the sharing and availability information pertaining to one or more of the plurality of cloud-based services aggregated and distributed by the live directory is used to establish a back-end connection between the first service of the first tenant and the second service of a second tenant.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the cloud infrastructure includes a plurality of physical computer systems for hosting the plurality of cloud-based services thereon.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of cloud-based services are hosted by one or more virtual machines executing on the plurality of physical computers.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of physical computers are connected to each other and to the live directory along a local area network which forms the back-end network.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the cloud infrastructure includes a datacenter housing the plurality of physical computer systems.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the live directory includes a presence server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the live directory includes a database for storing the sharing and availability information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the sharing and availability information includes information pertaining to the availability of resources offered for sharing between each of the plurality of cloud-based services within the cloud infrastructure.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the sharing and availability information includes information pertaining to establishing a back-end connection between each of the plurality of cloud-based services within the cloud infrastructure.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the live directory aggregates the sharing and availability information by periodically polling each of the plurality of cloud-based services.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the live directory aggregates the sharing and availability information by receiving the information from each of the plurality of cloud-based services as the information is generated.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the live directory distributes the sharing and availability information by publishing the information to the plurality of cloud-based services.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the established back-end connection between the first service of the first tenant and the second service of a second tenant is a connection transmitting sound or video signals.

14. A method for enabling communication between multiple cloud-based services operating on a common cloud infrastructure, comprising:

aggregating sharing and availability information pertaining to a first cloud-based service of a plurality of cloud-based services within a cloud infrastructure;

accessing a second cloud-based service of the plurality of cloud-based services remotely via a front-end wide area network;

storing the aggregated sharing and availability information in a live directory within the cloud infrastructure;

retrieving the stored sharing and availability information from the live directory;

requesting communication or collaboration between the first cloud-based service and the second cloud-based service using the retrieved sharing and availability information; and

providing communication or collaboration between the first cloud-based service and a second cloud-based service along a back-end local area network using the retrieved sharing and availability information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the provided communication or collaboration between the first cloud-based service and a second cloud-based service along a back-end local area network includes transmitting sound or video signals.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the aggregating of the sharing and availability information is performed by the live directory.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the sharing and availability information includes information pertaining to the availability of resources offered for sharing between each of the plurality of cloud-based services within the cloud infrastructure.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the sharing and availability information includes information pertaining to establishing a back-end connection between each of the plurality of cloud-based services within the cloud infrastructure.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the cloud infrastructure includes a plurality of physical computer systems for hosting the plurality of cloud-based services thereon and the plurality of cloud-based services are hosted by one or more virtual machines executing on the plurality of physical computers.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein aggregating the sharing and availability information includes periodically polling each of the plurality of cloud-based services.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein aggregating the sharing and availability information includes receiving the information from each of the plurality of cloud-based services as the information is generated.

22. A computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory, tangible, program storage medium, readable by the computer system, embodying a program of instructions executable by the processor to perform method steps for enabling communication between multiple cloud-based services operating on a common cloud infrastructure, the method comprising;

aggregating sharing and availability information pertaining to a first cloud-based service of a plurality of cloud-based services within a cloud infrastructure;

accessing a second cloud-based service of the plurality of cloud-based services remotely via a front-end wide area network;

storing the aggregated sharing and availability information in a live directory within the cloud infrastructure;

retrieving the stored sharing and availability information from the live directory;

requesting communication or collaboration between the first cloud-based service and the second cloud-based service using the retrieved sharing and availability information; and

providing communication or collaboration between the first cloud-based service and a second cloud-based service along a back-end local area network using the retrieved sharing and availability information.