Systems and methods for seamless host migration

• US 8,972,548 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2012
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Jacob, Mark Lester, Roy, Ronald Joseph, Harris, Adam Pierce
• Primary Examiner(s): WINDER, PATRICE L
• Application Number:
  US13/412,361
• Publication Number:
  US 20120166651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,093 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/408 Peer to peer connection
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1053 with pre-configuration of logical or physical connections with a determined number of other peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1076 Resource dissemination mechanisms or network resource keeping policies for optimal resource availability in the overlay network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1091 Interfacing with client-server systems or between P2P systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1093 Some peer nodes performing special functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Systems and methods of the present invention for maintaining network data distribution are provided. Network data may be distributed in such as manner as to allow a network session to weather interrupted communications between host and clients without significant loss of data. Embodiments of the present invention provide for one or more clients to serve as backup host(s) for the network session. When the other clients transmit data to the host, they may also transmit the data to one or more backup hosts if there are any indications of interrupted communication.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining network data distribution, the method comprising:

establishing connections between a host and a plurality of clients;

negotiating a backup viability of one or more of the plurality of clients based on a parameter of the one or more clients;

transmitting host information to a first client from the plurality of clients after the backup viability of the first client has been determined by the host, the host information directing the first client to establish connections as a back-up host to one or more other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information;

transmitting the host information to a second client from the plurality of clients, the host information directing the second client to send data to the first client when communication between the host and the second client is interrupted and to send the data to the first client before transmitting the data to a third client from the plurality of clients based on at least an order in which a connection was established with the host; and

transmitting the host information to the third client from the plurality of clients after the backup viability of the third client has been determined, the host information directing the third client to connect as a back-up host to all other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information and to receive data from the second client when communication between the first client and the second client is interrupted.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interrupted communication between the host and the second client is identified by a lack of acknowledgement from the host to the second client within an amount of time after the host receives data from the second client.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising polling the plurality of clients to determine connectivity between the host and each of the plurality of clients.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the interrupted communication is indicated by results of the polling.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending an indication from the host to each of the plurality of clients concerning the interrupted communication.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising terminating a connection between the host and the second client based on the interrupted communication.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein negotiating the backup viability of the first client includes determining a bandwidth of the first client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein negotiating the backup viability of the first client includes determining whether the first client is capable of connecting to each of the other clients from the plurality of clients.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the host information to the first client includes transmitting an application providing the host information.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the host information further directs the second client to transmit the data to the first client before transmitting the data to the third client based on at least a bandwidth of the first client and a bandwidth of the third client.

11. A network data distribution maintenance system, the system comprising:

a host that connects to a plurality of clients, wherein the host receives and acknowledges the receipt of data from each of the plurality of clients;

a first client from the plurality of clients that receives host information after a backup viability of the first client has been determined by the host based on a parameter of the first client, wherein the first client connects as a back-up host to one or more of the other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information;

a second client from the plurality of clients that transmits data to the first client when communication between the host and the second client is interrupted; and

a third client from the plurality of clients that;

receives host information after a backup viability of the third client has been determined by the host based on a parameter of the third client,

connects as a back-up host to all other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information, and

receives data from the second client when communication between the first client and the second client is interrupted, wherein the second client transmits the data to the first client before transmitting the data to the third client based on at least an order in which a connection was established with the host.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the interrupted communication between the host and the second client is indicated by a lack of acknowledgement from the host within an amount of time after the second client transmits the data to the host.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the second client also retransmits the data to the host.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the second client also notifies each of the plurality of clients concerning the interrupted communication between the host and the second client.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the second client also terminates a connection between the host and the second client.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the host also polls the plurality of clients concerning connectivity.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the host also notifies each of the plurality of clients concerning the interrupted communication between the host and the second client.

18. A computing device that maintains data distribution in networks, the computing device comprising:

a network interface communicatively coupled to a plurality of clients;

an acknowledgement module stored in memory, coupled to the network interface, and executable by a processor to transmit a reply acknowledging data received from one or more of the plurality of clients;

a negotiation module stored in memory, coupled to the network interface, and executable by a processor to negotiate a backup viability of one or more of the plurality of clients based on a parameter of the negotiated client; and

a backup application module stored in memory, coupled to the network interface, and executable by the processor to;

transmit an application providing host information to a first client from the plurality of clients after the backup viability of the first client has been determined by the negotiation module, wherein the first client connects as a back-up host to one or more of the other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information, wherein the first client receives data from a second client from the plurality of clients when communication between the host and the second client is interrupted; and

transmit an application providing host information to a third client from the plurality of clients after the backup viability of the third client has been determined by the negotiation module, wherein the third client connects as a back-up host to all other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information, wherein the third client receives data from the second client when communication between the first client and the second client is interrupted, and wherein the second client transmits the data to the first client before transmitting the data to the third client based on at least an order in which a connection was established with the host.

19. The computing device of claim 18, further comprising a host information database that stores information concerning each client from among a plurality of clients.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the host information database further stores updated information based on addition or removal of a client from among the plurality of clients.

21. The computing device of claim 18, further comprising a timer application executable to measure how much time has elapsed after an event.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program, the program being executable by a processor to perform a method for maintaining network data distribution, the method comprising:

connecting a host to a plurality of clients, such that data exchanged between the host and each of the plurality of clients is acknowledged upon receipt;

negotiating a backup viability of one or more of the plurality of clients based on a parameter of the one or more clients;

transmitting host information to the first client from the plurality of clients after the backup viability of the first client has been determined by the host, the host information directing the first client to connect as a back-up host to one or more other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information;

transmitting the host information to a second client from the plurality of clients, the host information directing the second client to send data to the first client when communication between the host and the second client is interrupted and to send the data to the first client before transmitting the data to a third client from the plurality of clients based on at least an order in which a connection was established with the host; and

transmitting the host information to the third client from the plurality of clients after the backup viability of the third client has been determined, the host information directing the third client to connect as a back-up host to all other clients from the plurality of clients based on at least the host information and to receive data from the second client when communication between the first client and the second client is interrupted.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the program further includes executable instructions for terminating a connection between the host and the second client.