Discovering network services

• US 8,850,024 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2012
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fuze, Inc. (8X8, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Communications Acquisitions, LLC
• Inventors: West, Julian Wray, Martin, Eric J., Mishra, Rajesh K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gee, Jason K.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LWIN, MAUNG T
• Application Number:
  US13/437,380
• Publication Number:
  US 20120191813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 911 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/226
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/247 Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use user interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2471 Configurable and interactive telephone terminals with subscriber controlled features modifications, e.g. with ADSI capability [Analog Display Services Interface] systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers H04M3/42; administration or customization of services H04M3/42136; by downloading data to substation equipment H04M3/42178
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0087 Network planning or provisioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A method includes sending a request for network services to plural devices, where the request identifies the network services using a self-describing data structure, and receiving a response to the request from at least one device, where the response identifies which of the network services are supported by the at least one device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

multicasting a request for network services to plural devices that support network services, the request identifying the network services using a self-describing data structure;

receiving plural responses to the request, each of the plural responses coming from a different device, each of the plural responses identifying one or more network services available from a corresponding device; and

prioritizing the network services based, at least in part, on which devices are supporting the network services determined from the received plural responses.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the request at plural intervals until the response is received.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the response comprises one or more of the following:

identification data for identifying supported network services, attribute data for identifying attributes associated with the supported network services, and weights associated with the supported network services, each of the weights specifying a relative priority associated with a corresponding supported network service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the self-describing data structure comprises extensible markup language (XML).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the self-describing data structure comprises at least one of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), type length values, and name value pairs.

6. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media storing instructions that are executable, the instructions for causing one or more processing devices to:

multicast a request for network services to plural devices that support network services, the request identifying the network services using a self-describing data structure;

receive plural responses to the request, each of the plural responses coming from a different device, each of the plural responses identifying one or more network services available from a corresponding device; and

prioritize the network services based, at least in part, on which devices are supporting the network services determined from the received plural responses.

7. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 6, further comprising

instructions for causing one or more processing devices to send the request at plural intervals until the response is received.

8. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the plural devices comprise a server and the response is received from the server;

and

wherein the one or more machine-readable media further comprises instructions for causing one or more processing devices to receive an announcement from the server, the announcement identifying the server as ready to receive a request.

9. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 8, wherein the request is sent in response to the announcement.

10. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein at least one device supports FTP, TFTP or HTTP/S;

and

wherein the one or more machine-readable media further comprises instructions for causing one or more processing devices to;

obtain a configuration file from the at least one device using FTP, TFTP or HTTP/S; and

use the configuration file to configure hardware for operation on a network.

11. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the self-describing data structure comprises extensible markup language (XML).

12. The one or more machine-readable media of claim 6, wherein the self-describing data structure comprises at least one of hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), type length values, and name value pairs.