Asynchronous mechanism and message pool

• US 8,788,591 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2004
• Issued: 07/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Messagesoft, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Messagesoft, Inc.
• Inventors: Jiang, Jianguo, Liu, Yaping, Liang, Jingwei, Huang, Wei, Wu, Shijun
• Primary Examiner(s): Choudhury, Azizul
• Assistant Examiner(s): NAJEE-ULLAH, TARIQ S
• Application Number:
  US10/794,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20050044151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,792 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/50 Queue scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/521 Static queue service slot or fixed bandwidth allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/6215 Individual queue per QOS, rate or priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9036 Common buffer combined with individual queues
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting

Abstract

Messages are received and retained in memory and are batch processed including transferring the messages to a cell pool having cells of predetermined size. The location and size of the messages are recorded in a table map with other pertinent information as is required. Messages in the cell pool are processed and delivered asynchronously.

Claims

1. A method for processing messages, comprising:

receiving a plurality of messages into a message processing system, wherein the plurality of messages includes a first message;

determining a protocol lag time period, wherein the protocol lag time period defines the time period in which an acknowledgement signal is returned to a sender of the first message;

storing the received messages in first memory locations of the message processing system during the protocol lag time period;

determining the protocol lag time period has expired;

selecting from the first memory locations, in response to the expiration of the protocol lag time period, stored complete received messages;

batch writing a plurality of the selected messages from the first memory locations to one or more message cells in second memory locations of the message processing system;

recording into a table map, stored in third memory locations of the message processing system, an association between each message and each cell in which the message is written; and

asynchronously transmitting messages from the one or more message cells via a delivery processor, and

wherein failure to complete storing of one or more of the received messages in the first memory locations does not prevent completion of batch writing of the others of the plurality of messages to the one or more message cells.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving includes acknowledging receipt of the each of the plurality of messages when received.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein batch writing the one or more messages to cells includes batch writing upon receipt of a trigger.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving a trigger includes determining that a predetermined amount of time has passed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining that a predetermined amount of time has passed includes determining the predetermined amount of time has passed since a previous batch write operation.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein receiving a trigger includes determining that a protocol time lag has expired for a first message received in the plurality of messages.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving a trigger includes determining that a predetermined time period has expired.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein:

receiving a trigger occurs before receiving an entire message such that a portion of one message is received; and

batch writing the one or more messages to cells includes writing the portion of the one message such that the portion is written to the cells prior to receiving the entire message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

batch writing a plurality of the selected messages from_the first memory location to one or more message cells includes writing a group of cells as a file and not writing each message as a separate file.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving a plurality of messages includes receiving the one or more messages in an order of receipt; and

asynchronously delivering the one or more messages includes delivering the one or more messages in the order of receipt.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein

receiving the plurality of messages includes receiving the one or more messages in an order of receipt, and

wherein asynchronously delivering the one or more messages includes delivering the plurality of messages in an order different from the order of receipt.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the messages in the cells for delivery including writing the one or more messages to one or more queues.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a priority is assigned to each of the one or more queues and the method further comprises:

determining a priority for each of the one or more messages; and

writing the one or more messages to the one or more queues according to the priority for each of the one or more messages and the priority assigned to each queue.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a priority for each of the one or more messages includes determining an attribute of the recipient.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein determining a priority for each of the one or more messages includes determining whether for each of the one or more messages has been a previous delivery attempt.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising retrieving a block of messages from the cells for asynchronous delivery, wherein the block of messages includes two or more messages.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein batch writing the plurality of the selected messages to cells includes writing to cells of a predetermined size.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising mapping each of the plurality of messages such that a location of each message in the one or more cells is recorded in a table map.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein mapping each message includes recording in the table map a size of the message.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein mapping each message includes recording in the table map whether the cell contains an entire message.

21. The method of claim 18 wherein mapping each message includes recording in the table map information about processing of the message.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second message as returned from the recipient;

determining that the second message is a returned message; and

storing the returned message in a backup system for processing at a later time.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein writing of a second of a plurality of messages may be initiated before completion of the writing of a first message of the plurality of messages.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more messages may be of any of a plurality of media types.

23. A computer implemented system for processing messages, comprising:

a message processor for receiving a plurality of messages including a first message, and for storing said messages into a first memory location, acknowledging received messages and then batching received messages, and for determining a protocol lag time period, wherein the protocol lag time period defines the time period in which an acknowledgement signal is returned to a sender of the first message;

a second memory location having one or more cells of a predetermined size, the message processor operable to write the messages in batches to the second memory location in response to expiration of the protocol lag time period, including storing respective individual messages to the one or more cells depending on a size of a given message; and

a table map stored in a third memory location for recording an association between each message that is stored in the second memory location and each cell in which the message is written,

wherein the message processor is further configured such that failure to complete storing of one or more of the messages to the first location does not prevent completion of batch writing of the others of the plurality of messages to the one or more cells.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein

the one or more cells have a numeric order, and

wherein the one or more cells are written to in the numeric order of the cells.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more cells are each a predetermined size and the size is substantially equal to a size of a majority of messages processed.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more cells are sized to store at least 80% of an average message size for messages received by the message receiver.

27. The system of claim 23, further comprising a delivery processor for delivering the messages to a receiver.

28. The system of claim 27, further comprising a queue structure of receiving storing messages to be delivered by the delivery processor and extracted from the cells.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein

the queue structure includes one or more queues and each queue has a priority, and

wherein the delivery processor is configured to access each queue according to the priority of the queue.

30. The system of claim 23, further comprising a backup data storage for storing files that have not been processed successfully, wherein the delivery processor processes the files that have not been processed successfully.

32. The system of claim 23, wherein the message processor is further configured such that writing of a second of a plurality of messages may be initiated before completion of the writing of a first message of the plurality of messages.

34. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more messages may be of any of a plurality of media types.

35. A system for processing messages, comprising:

means for receiving a plurality of messages including a first message;

means for determining a protocol lag time period, wherein the protocol lag time period defines the time period in which an acknowledgement signal is returned to a sender of the first message;

means for storing the received messages in a first memory location during the protocol lag time period;

means for selecting, in response to the expiration of the protocol lag time period, received messages that are stored;

means for batch writing a plurality of the selected messages from the first memory locations to one or more message cells in a second memory location;

means for recording, in a third memory location, an association between each message and each cell in which the message is written; and

means for asynchronously transmitting messages from the one or more message cells,

wherein failure of the storing means to store of one or more of the received messages to the first memory location does not prevent the completion of the batch writing means to write the others of the plurality of messages to the one or more message cells.

36. A method for processing messages, comprising:

receiving a plurality of network packets into a message processing system, wherein at least a portion of the network packets are associated with one or more messages, the one or more messages including a first message;

determining a protocol lag time period, wherein the protocol lag time period defines the time period in which an acknowledgement signal is returned to a sender of the first message;

grouping the at least a portion of the network packets into the one or more messages according to the message they are associated with;

determining a completion status of the one or more messages;

storing the one or more messages in first memory locations of the message processing system during the protocol lag time period;

in response to the expiration of the protocol lag time period, selecting from the first memory locations, at least a portion of the one or more messages based, at least in part, on their completion status;

batch writing a plurality of the selected messages from the first memory locations to one or more message cells in second memory locations of the message processing system;

recording into a table map, stored in third memory locations of the message processing system, an association between each message and each cell in which the message is written; and

asynchronously transmitting messages from the one or more message cells via a delivery processor,

wherein failure to complete storing of one or more of the received messages in the first memory locations does not prevent completion of batch writing of the others of the plurality of messages to the one or more message cells.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the messages are selected if their completion status indicates the message is complete.

38. The method of claim 36, further comprising sending acknowledgements for the portion of the network packets associated with messages at the end of the protocol lag.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the network packets and the protocol lag are associated with the same protocol.