Optimized server for streamed applications

• US 8,831,995 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2001
• Issued: 09/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Numecent Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Numecent Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Holler, Anne Marie, Shah, Lacky Vasant, Panwar, Sameer, Patel, Amit
• Primary Examiner(s): Hewitt, II, Calvin Loyd
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHERR, CRISTINA O
• Application Number:
  US10/005,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20030004882A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,690 Days
• Field of Search: 705 50- 59
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/172 Caching, prefetching or hoarding of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/121 Restricting unauthorised execution of programs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/65 Updates security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/101 applying security measures for digital rights management data processing systems or methods, specially adapted for commerce, e.g. marketing, shopping, billing, auctions or e-commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5683 Storage of data provided by user terminals, i.e. reverse caching

Abstract

An optimized server for streamed applications provides a streamed application server optimized to provide efficient delivery of streamed applications to client systems across a computer network such as the Internet. The server persistently stores streamed application program sets that contain streamed application file pages. Client systems request streamed application file pages from the server using a unique set of numbers common among all servers that store the particular streamed application file pages. A license server offloads the streamed application server by performing client access privilege validations. Commonly accessed streamed application file pages are stored in a cache on the streamed application server which attempts to retrieve requested streamed application file pages from the cache before retrieving them from persistent storage. Requested streamed application file pages are compressed before being sent to a client as well as those stored in the cache.

Claims

1. A process for the optimized delivery of server-based streamed applications and data to a client and the management of said streamed applications on a server, the process comprising:

persistently storing streamed application program sets on one or more application servers;

wherein said streamed application program sets contain streamed application file pages;

wherein said streamed application file pages are read only;

receiving client requests for said streamed application file pages at a server system;

validating, at a license server, whether a client has access privilege to a requested streamed application file page;

storing commonly accessed streamed application file pages in a cache, on one of the one or more applications servers, by a client cache manager;

retrieving said requested streamed application file page from said cache if it is resident in said cache, otherwise, retrieving said requested streamed application file page from an application server of the one or more application servers, said retrieving performed using a unique set of numbers common among all of said one or more application servers; and

compressing, at the application server or said cache, said requested streamed application file page and sending said requested streamed application file page to said client.

2. The process of claim 1, wherein when said client requests multiple streamed application file pages, said application server concatenates all of the requested pages and compresses the entire set at once before sending to said client.

3. The process of claim 1, wherein said commonly accessed streamed application file pages are compressed before being stored in said cache.

4. The process of claim 1, wherein all of the streamed application file pages in the streamed application program sets are compressed before being stored in said one or more application servers.

5. The process of claim 1, further comprising:

profiling access patterns of streamed application file pages by an application profiler.

6. The process of claim 5, wherein said access patterns are sent to said client to guide its prefetching of streamed application file pages.

7. The process of claim 5, wherein said access patterns are used by said application server to pre-package and compress groups of streamed application file pages, and wherein a prepackaged group is sent to a client requesting pages within a set.

8. The process of claim 5, wherein said access patterns are used by said application server to perform prefetching of streamed application file pages for pushing to clients.

9. The process of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the license server, said client with an access token that contains information regarding access rights, the application to which the token applies, and an expiration time.

10. The process of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, by the application server, the access token from said client;

decrypting said access token at the application server;

validating the contents of said access token at the application server; and

granting, by the application server, access to said client if said access token is valid.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein said application server uses a secret key shared with said license server to decrypt the access token.

12. The process of claim 9, wherein said application server maintains a list of recently approved access tokens and compares incoming access tokens with said list, and wherein incoming access tokens that match an entry on said list are approved without further processing.

13. The process of claim 1, wherein the client uses a persistent connection over the Internet with said application server to make multiple requests from said application server, and wherein said application server closes persistent connections that have been idle for a predetermined period of time.

14. The process of claim 1, further comprising:

assigning individual servers of said application servers a specific set of streamed application sets to serve to clients;

wherein the individual servers across a network are asymmetrically assigned different sets of streamed application sets to improve overall server efficiency.

15. The process of claim 14, wherein said individual servers are dynamically assigned streamed application sets to match client accesses over time.

16. The process of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, at a central control server of the server system, from said individual severs, a summary of file access patterns of said individual servers; and

reassigning, by said central control server, said individual servers according to the file access patterns.

17. The process of claim 1, wherein said application server communicates with clients across the Internet.

18. An apparatus for the delivery of server-based streamed applications and data to a client and the management of said streamed applications on a server, the apparatus comprising:

application servers for persistently storing streamed application program sets and sending a requested streamed application file page to a client;

wherein said streamed application program sets contain streamed application file pages;

wherein said streamed application file pages are read only;

a server system for receiving client requests for streamed application file pages;

a license server for validating whether a client has access privilege to a requested streamed application file page;

a client cache manager for storing commonly accessed streamed application file pages in a cache; and

means for retrieving, using a unique set of numbers common among the application servers and said cache, said requested streamed application file page from said cache if said requested streamed application file page is resident in said cache, otherwise retrieving, using said unique set of numbers, said requested streamed application file page from at least one of said application servers.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein when said client requests multiple streamed application file pages, said application servers concatenate all of the requested pages and compress the entire set at once before sending to said client.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said commonly accessed streamed application file pages are compressed before being stored in said cache.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein all of the streamed application file pages in the streamed application program sets are compressed before being stored in said application servers.

22. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

an application profiler for profiling access patterns of streamed application file pages.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said access patterns are sent to said client to guide its prefetching of streamed application file pages.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said access patterns are used by said application servers to pre-package and compress groups of streamed application file pages, and wherein a pre-packaged group is sent to a client requesting pages within a set.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said access patterns are used by said application servers to perform prefetching of streamed application file pages for pushing to clients.

26. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said license server is further configured to provide the client with an access token that contains information regarding access rights, the application to which the token applies, and an expiration time.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the application servers are further configured to:

receive the access token from the client;

decrypt said access token;

validate the contents of said access token; and

grant access to the client if the access token is determined to be valid.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the application servers use a secret key shared with said license server to decrypt said access token.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said application servers maintain a list of recently approved access tokens and compare incoming access tokens with said list, and wherein incoming access tokens that match an entry on said list are approved without further processing.

30. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the client uses a persistent connection over the Internet with said application servers to make multiple requests from said application servers, and wherein said application servers close persistent connections that have been idle for a predetermined period of time.

31. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:

a module for assigning individual servers of the application servers a specific set of streamed application sets to serve to clients;

wherein the individual servers across a network are asymmetrically assigned different sets of streamed application sets to improve overall server efficiency.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein said individual servers are dynamically assigned streamed application sets to match client accesses over time.

33. The apparatus of claim 31, further comprising:

a central control server configured to;

receive, from said individual servers, a summary of file access patterns of said individual servers; and

reassign said individual servers according to the file access patterns.

34. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said application servers communicate with clients across the Internet.

35. A nontransitory program storage medium readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform a method for the delivery of server-based streamed applications and data to a client and the management of said streamed applications on a server that when executed by the one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform the steps of:

persistently storing streamed application program sets on one or more application servers;

wherein said streamed application program sets contain streamed application file pages;

wherein said streamed application file pages are read only;

receiving client requests for said streamed application file pages at a server system;

validating, at a license server, whether a client has access privilege to a requested streamed application file page;

storing commonly accessed streamed application file pages in a cache, on one of the one or more application servers, by a client cache manager;

retrieving said requested streamed application file page from said cache if it is resident in said cache, otherwise, retrieving said requested streamed application file page from an application server of the one or more application servers, said retrieving performed using a unique set of numbers common among all of said one or more application servers; and

compressing, at the application server or said cache, said requested streamed application file page and sending said requested streamed application file page to said client.

36. The program storage medium of claim 35, wherein when said client requests multiple streamed application file pages, said application servers concatenate all of the requested pages and compress the entire set at once before sending to said client.

37. The program storage medium of claim 35, wherein said commonly accessed streamed application file pages are compressed before being stored in said cache.

38. The program storage medium of claim 35, wherein all of the streamed application file pages in the streamed application program sets are compressed before being stored in said application servers.

39. The program storage medium of claim 35, further comprising:

instructions for providing an application profiler for profiling access patterns of streamed application file pages.

40. The program storage medium of claim 39, wherein said access patterns are sent to said client to guide its prefetching of streamed application file pages.

41. The program storage medium of claim 39, wherein said access patterns are used by said application servers to pre-package and compress groups of streamed application file pages, and wherein a pre-packaged group is sent to a client requesting pages within a set.

42. The program storage medium of claim 39, wherein said access patterns are used by said application servers to perform prefetching of streamed application file pages for pushing to clients.

43. The program storage medium of claim 35, further comprising:

wherein said license server provides said client with an access token that contains information regarding access rights, the application to which the token applies, and an expiration time.

44. The program storage medium of claim 43, further comprising:

instructions for providing the application servers for receiving said access token from said client;

instructions for providing the application servers for decrypting said access token;

instructions for providing the application servers for validating the contents of said access token; and

instructions for providing the application servers for granting access to said client if said access token is valid.

45. The program storage medium of claim 44, wherein said application servers use a secret key shared with said license server to decrypt said access token.

46. The program storage medium of claim 43, wherein said application servers maintain a list of recently approved access tokens and compare incoming access tokens with said list, and wherein incoming access tokens that match an entry on said list are approved without further processing.

47. The program storage medium of claim 35, wherein the client uses a persistent connection over the Internet with said application servers to make multiple requests from said application servers, and wherein said application servers close persistent connections that have been idle for a predetermined period of time.

48. The program storage medium of claim 35, further comprising:

instructions for assigning individual servers of the application servers a specific set of streamed application sets to serve to clients;

wherein the individual servers across a network are asymmetrically assigned different sets of streamed application sets to improve overall server efficiency.

49. The program storage medium of claim 48, wherein said individual servers are dynamically assigned streamed application sets to match client accesses over time.

50. The program storage medium of claim 48, further comprising:

instructions for providing a central control server configured to;

receive, from the individual servers, a summary of file access patterns of the individual servers; and

reassign the individual servers according to the file access patterns.

51. The program storage medium of claim 35, wherein said application servers communicate with clients across the Internet.