Content delivery network for RFID devices

• US 8,909,735 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2012
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Swildens, Eric Sven-Johan, Day, Richard David, Garg, Vikas, Liu, Zaide Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Haresh N
• Application Number:
  US13/412,294
• Publication Number:
  US 20120166589A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-228, 709200-203
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/745 Reaction in network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1017 based on a round robin mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing

Abstract

A method and mechanism for a distributed on-demand computing system. The system automatically provisions distributed computing servers with customer application programs. The parameters of each customer application program are taken into account when a server is selected for hosting the program. The system monitors the status and performance of each distributed computing server. The system provisions additional servers when traffic levels exceed a predetermined level for a customer'"'"'s application program and, as traffic demand decreases to a predetermined level, servers can be un-provisioned and returned back to a server pool for later provisioning. The system tries to fill up one server at a time with customer application programs before dispatching new requests to another server. The customer is charged a fee based on the usage of the distributed computing servers.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a plurality of radio frequency identification (RFID) devices that receive information from RFID tags;

a plurality of content delivery network (CDN) servers interconnected by one or more computer networks, the plurality of CDN servers being available to receive requests from the RFID devices for content associated with the RFID tags and to serve the content to the RFID devices;

at least one object name service (ONS) server that receives an ONS request made on behalf of a given RFID device to locate content associated with a given RFID tag, and that responds to the ONS request with information pointing to a particular CDN server selected from the plurality of CDN servers;

wherein the content delivery network is operated by a service provider on behalf of content provider customers who provide the content associated with the RFID tags, the content delivery network including a RFID management server that receives RFID tag registration information from content provider customers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information pointing to a particular CDN server comprises an IP address of the particular CDN server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one ONS server selects the particular CDN server based at least in part on latency between an ONS client that made the ONS request and the particular CDN server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one ONS server selects the particular CDN server based at least in part on the load on a set of CDN servers in a point-of-presence, the set including the particular CDN server.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one ONS server selects the particular CDN server based at least in part on network proximity of an ONS client that made the ONS request to the particular CDN server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of CDN servers comprise cache servers that cache content associated with the RFID tags that was retrieved from a server associated with a content provider customer.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID management server comprises a life cycle manager that manages any of (i) ownership information for items associated with the RFID tags and (ii) product history for products associated with the RFID tags.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID devices and the RFID tags are part of a system that is selected from the group of systems that is:

an identification system, an anti-theft system, a security system, a tracking system, a real-time location system, an asset management system, a baggage handling system, a payment system, a supply-chain management system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the RFID tags are attached to items selected from the group of items that is:

identification cards, anti-theft tags, and vehicles.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of CDN servers provide, in separate locations, multiple copies of content associated with at least one RFID tag.

11. A method operative in an object name service (ONS) server associated with a content delivery network that includes a plurality of content servers interconnected via one or more computer networks, the method comprising:

receiving a request to locate content associated with an RFID tag;

selecting a particular content server from amongst a plurality of content servers that are interconnected by one or more computer networks, based at least in part on the particular content server'"'"'s latency to the requestor;

responding to the request with an address of the particular content server;

wherein the content delivery network is operated by a service provider on behalf of content provider customers who provide the content associated with RFID tags, the content delivery network including a RFID management server that receives RFID tag registration information from content provider customers.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of content servers comprise a plurality of cache servers that cache content associated with RFID tags.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the address comprises an IP address of the particular content server.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of content servers comprise cache servers that cache the content associated with the RFID tags that was retrieved from a server associated with a content provider customer.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the RFID tag is part of a system that is selected from the group of systems that is:

an identification system, an anti-theft system, a security system, a tracking system, a real-time location system, an asset management system, a baggage handling system, a payment system, a supply-chain management system.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the RFID tag is attached to an item selected from the group of items that is:

identification card, anti-theft tag, and vehicle.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause the computer to perform the following steps:

receive a request to locate content associated with an RFID tag;

select a particular content server from amongst a plurality of content servers that are interconnected by one or more computer networks, based at least in part on the particular content server'"'"'s latency to the requestor;

respond to the request with an address of the particular content server;

wherein the computer is associated with a content delivery network that includes the plurality of content servers;

wherein the content delivery network is operated by a service provider on behalf of content provider customers who provide the content associated with RFID tags, the content delivery network including a RFID management server that receives RFID tag registration information from content provider customers.