Data transfer using high speed connection, high integrity connection, and descriptor

• US 8,751,682 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2010
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Original Assignee: Z124 LLC (Flexis)
• Inventors: Chincisan, Octavian
• Primary Examiner(s): Barry, Lance L
• Application Number:
  US12/891,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20120079076A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,352 Days
• Field of Search: 709230-237, 714748-750
• US Class Current: 709/237
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1858 Parallel file systems, i.e. file systems supporting multiple processors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1642 Formats specially adapted for sequence numbers

Abstract

Systems and methods for transfer of data including establishing two separate connections, the two separate connections including a high speed connection and a high integrity connection. Blocks of data are exchanged over the high speed connection while the high integrity connection facilitates communication of descriptor data regarding data received over the high speed connection. As such, the data transfer speed of the high speed connection is utilized while communication via the high integrity connection allows for data reliability features not provided by the high speed connection.

Claims

1. A method of transferring data between computing devices operable to communicate over an electronic network, comprising:

sending data from a source device to a destination device using at least one high speed connection;

communicating a descriptor regarding the data from the source device to the destination device using at least one high integrity connection, wherein the descriptor is at least two bits, wherein a first bit, of the descriptor, represents a first block of data of at least a portion of a superblock of data to be sent, and wherein a second bit, of the descriptor, represents a second block of data of at least the portion of the superblock of data to be sent;

correlating data received at the destination device to the descriptor received at the destination device;

modifying the descriptor to identify data received at the destination device;

informing the source device of the identity of data not received by the destination device using the at least one high integrity connection; and

resending data not received by the destination device from the source device to the destination device using the at least one high speed connection.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data includes a first portion of a file, wherein the file is associated with the superblock of data.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first portion includes two or more blocks of data.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the descriptor comprises a file which contains a set of unique elements, and each unique element corresponds to a different one of the plurality of blocks.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the unique element comprises a bit in the file.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the modifying includes toggling at least one bit in response to receipt of a corresponding block of the first portion at the destination device.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the informing comprises transmitting the descriptor having toggled bits to the source device via the high integrity connection.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the method is repeated until each of the blocks in the first portion is received at the destination device.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the method is repeated for a plurality of portions until all of the file is transferred.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of parallel data transfer connections are established, each parallel data transfer connection including a high speed connection and a high integrity connection, and each parallel transfer connection is operable to perform said method to transfer a respective one of a plurality of portions of a file.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of parallel data transfer connections are established, each parallel data transfer connection including at least one high integrity connection and a plurality of high speed connections, and the plurality of parallel high speed connections are operable to perform said method in concert with the at least one high integrity connections to transfer a respective one of a plurality of portions of a file.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one high speed connection employs a User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the at least one high integrity connection employs a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the source device is a server and the destination device is a client device.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the client device is a handheld computing device.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the source device and the destination device are both servers.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed as an application directly controllable by a user.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein commands are received from a user by at least one of a command line interface and a graphical user interface.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed as a service controllable by an application.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the service is controllable by way of at least one of an application programming interface, a script, and a remote procedure call.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is initiated by the source device.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is initiated by the destination device.

23. A computing device operable to communicate with other computing devices to perform a parallel data transfer, the computing device comprising:

a microprocessor;

a memory in operative communication with the microprocessor and operative to store one or more files;

a network communication device operative to communicate data packets to a remote device on a network using a high integrity connection and a high speed connection; and

a parallel data transfer module in operative communication with the microprocessor and the network communication device, wherein the parallel data transfer module is operative to;

receive a descriptor over the high integrity connection regarding blocks of data received over the high speed connection, wherein the descriptor is at least two bits, wherein a first bit, of the descriptor, represents a first block of data of at least a portion of a superblock of data to be sent, and wherein a second bit, of the descriptor, represents a second block of data of at least the portion of the superblock of data to be sent;

creating a descriptor file by updating the descriptor based on the blocks of data received over the high speed connection; and

communicate the updated descriptor file over the high integrity connection using the network communication device.

24. A method for receiving data at a destination device from a source device, comprising:

receiving data at the destination device from the source device over at least one high speed connection;

acquiring a descriptor at the destination device regarding the data from the source device over at least one high integrity connection, wherein the descriptor is at least two bits, wherein a first bit, of the descriptor, represents a first block of data of at least a portion of a superblock of data to be sent, and wherein a second bit, of the descriptor, represents a second block of data of at least the portion of the superblock of data to be sent;

correlating, at the destination device, data received from the source device to the descriptor;

modifying the descriptor based on data received at the destination device over the high speed connection;

sending to the source device the modified descriptor; and

receiving data at the destination device that has been resent by the source device using the at least one high speed connection.

25. A method of sending data from a source device to a destination device, comprising:

sending data from the source device to the destination device using at least one high speed connection;

transmitting a descriptor regarding the data from the source device to the destination device using at least one high integrity connection, wherein the descriptor is at least two bits, wherein a first bit, of the descriptor, represents a first block of data of at least a portion of a superblock of data to be sent, and wherein a second bit, of the descriptor, represents a second block of data of at least the portion of the superblock of data to be sent;

receiving, at the source device, a modified descriptor including the identity of data not received by the destination device using the at least one high integrity connection; and

resending, at the source device, data not received by the destination device to the destination device using the at least one high speed connection.