Push mechanism for efficiently sending aggregated data items to client

• US 8,713,099 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2012
• Issued: 04/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sana, Giselli Panontini De Souza, Kling, Daniel V, Raman, Sridhar, Van Eaton, Jim R, Simpson, Russell L
• Primary Examiner(s): TANG, KAREN C
• Application Number:
  US13/602,000
• Publication Number:
  US 20120331047A1
• Time in Patent Office: 606 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services

Abstract

A server push model for client/server communications. The push architecture operates on top of a non-push (e.g., request/response) protocol (e.g., HTTP) to combine notifications from multiple data sources (e.g., email, text messaging, etc.). The server can be a middle-tier server (or proxy) to which a single web client registers interest in one or more notification types from one or more data sources. The mid-tier server aggregates the notifications from the various data sources and delivers the notifications to the requesting client via a single “push” pipe. The web client then distributes each notification to the appropriate parts of the client user interface. A producer/consumer locking mechanism eliminates blocking threads waiting on a mutual exclusion lock. A notification throttling mechanism distinguishes different types of notifications in order to guarantee that the client is not overloaded with too much information.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a client to a server, a single request for notifications based on a request/response protocol, wherein the server is configured to receive different types of notifications for the client from multiple data sources;

connecting to the server via a communications pipe opened by the server in response to the single request for notifications;

receiving aggregated notifications pushed by the server via the communications pipe as chunks of a holding thread, wherein the holding thread obtains exclusive use of the communications pipe for pushing the chunks of the holding thread to the client, locks out acquiring threads seeking use of the communications pipe to transmit notifications for the client included in the acquiring threads, and drains the notifications for the client from the acquiring threads through the communications pipe as chunks of the holding thread;

interpreting, by the client, the chunks of the holding thread as multiple responses to the single request for notifications; and

distributing the aggregated notifications to a user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is a browser application implemented by a wireless device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the single request for notifications is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request, and

the chunks are interpreted by the client as partial HTTP responses to the HTTP request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregated notifications include text messaging notifications and email notifications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each acquiring thread notifies the holding thread of one or more notifications for the client and then exits.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the holding thread prioritizes the acquiring threads and processes the notifications for the client from the acquiring threads based on priority.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein different types of notifications for the client are throttled based on classifications of the different types of notifications for the client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each chunk of the holding thread is enclosed in script tags.

9. A computing device comprising:

a processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions; and

memory storing computer-executable instructions for;

transmitting, by a client to a server, a single request for notifications based on a request/response protocol, wherein the server is configured to receive different types of notifications for the client from multiple data sources;

connecting to the server via a communications pipe opened by the server in response to the single request for notifications;

receiving aggregated notifications pushed by the server via the communications pipe as chunks of a holding thread, wherein the holding thread obtains exclusive use of the communications pipe for pushing the chunks of the holding thread to the client, locks out acquiring threads seeking use of the communications pipe to transmit notifications for the client included in the acquiring threads, and drains the notifications for the client from the acquiring threads through the communications pipe as chunks of the holding thread;

interpreting, by the client, the chunks of the holding thread as multiple responses to the single request for notifications; and

distributing the aggregated notifications to a user interface.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein:

the client is a browser application, and

the single request is wirelessly transmitted to the server.

11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein:

the single request for notifications is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request, and

the chunks are interpreted by the client as partial HTTP responses to the HTTP request.

12. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the aggregated notifications include text messaging notifications and email notifications.

13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein different types of notifications included in the aggregated notifications are pushed to the client based on priority.

14. The computing device of claim 9, wherein each chunk of the holding thread is enclosed in script tags.

15. A computer-readable storage medium not consisting of a signal, the computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions, when executed, causing a computing device to perform steps comprising:

transmitting, by a client to a server, a single request for notifications based on a request/response protocol, wherein the server is configured to receive different types of notifications for the client from multiple data sources;

connecting to the server via a communications pipe opened by the server in response to the single request for notifications;

receiving aggregated notifications pushed by the server via the communications pipe as chunks of a holding thread, wherein the holding thread obtains exclusive use of the communications pipe for pushing the chunks of the holding thread to the client, locks out acquiring threads seeking use of the communications pipe to transmit notifications for the client included in the acquiring threads, and drains the notifications for the client from the acquiring threads through the communications pipe as chunks of the holding thread;

interpreting, by the client, the chunks of the holding thread as multiple responses to the single request for notifications; and

distributing the aggregated notifications to a user interface.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein:

the client is a browser application, and

the single request is wirelessly transmitted to the server.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein:

the single request for notifications is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request, and

the chunks are interpreted by the client as partial HTTP responses to the HTTP request.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the aggregated notifications include text messaging notifications and email notifications.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein different types of notifications included in the aggregated notifications are pushed to the client based on priority.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein each chunk of the holding thread is enclosed in script tags.