Intelligent establishment of peer-to-peer communication

• US 9,037,628 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2011
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Pasko, Douglas M., Swinton, Jeffrey H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): SHAW, ROBERT A
• Application Number:
  US13/307,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20120072479A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,266 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/201
• 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 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1063 Discovery through centralising entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1072 Discovery involving ranked list compilation of candidate peers

Abstract

A device may receive, from a first peer in a network, a request for a list of one or more candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain a resource. In addition, the device may obtain the list in response to the request, determining a set of costs based on the list, and refine the list to obtain a subset list of the candidate peers based on the set of costs. Furthermore, the device may send to, the first peer, the subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a device from a first peer in a network, a request for a list of one or more candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain a resource over the network;

obtaining, by the device in response to the request, the list of one or more candidate peers based on a peer state table that stores, for each peer in the network, parameters that represent a state of the peer;

determining, by the device, a set of costs based on the list of one or more candidate peers,

wherein each cost in the set of costs includes a cost of communication between a point-of-presence (POP) of the first peer and a POP of a peer among the candidate peers,

wherein determining the set of costs includes;

sending a request to determine the set of costs to a peer-to-peer server device that retrieves the set of costs from one or more predetermined POP-to-POP cost tables; and

receiving the set of costs from the peer-to-peer server device; and

refining, by the device, the list of one or more candidate peers to obtain a subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource based on the set of costs; and

sending, by the device to the first peer in the network, the subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the list of one or more candidate peers based on a peer state table includes performing a look up of the peer state table,

wherein each record of the peer state table includes a peer identifier, an identifier for a resource provided by a peer identified by the peer identifier, the parameters that represent a state of the peer, and a network address of the peer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining the list of one or more candidate peers includes comparing a state of one of the peers in the network to a state of another one of the peers in the network.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the parameters include at least one of:

a percentage of available bandwidth of the peer;

how long the peer has been connected to another peer;

whether the peer has permitted its processing cycles to be used by other peers;

or

whether the peer is utilizing another peer'"'"'s memory.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the one or more POP-to-POP cost tables includes a record comprising:

a POP identifier for a POP;

one or more network addresses for the POP; and

an identity of a network owner.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the network addresses are in Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) format.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of costs includes looking up a cost element in a cost matrix, wherein the cost element is a tuple of costs.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the tuple includes at least two of:

a latency;

a cost of using a network per minute in dollars;

an approximate distance between two peers, in the list of one or more candidate peers, in miles;

or

an available bandwidth between two points-of-presence for two peers in the list of one or more candidate peers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining network addresses and state information associated with the first peer and the list of one or more candidate peers from a tracker device that track states of peer devices; and

sending the network addresses and the state information to a peer-to-peer server device for determining the set of costs based on points-of-presence.

10. A device comprising:

a network interface for communicating with a first peer, a server device, and other devices in a network;

a memory for storing a peer state table that includes, for each peer in the network, parameters that represent a state of the peer;

one or more processors to;

receive, from the first peer in the network, a request for a list of one or more candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain a resource over the network;

determine, in response to the request, the list of one or more candidate peers based on the peer state table, wherein each of the costs includes a cost of communication between a point-of-presence (POP) of the first peer and a POP of a peer among the candidate peers;

request, from the server device, costs associated with communication between the first peer and the one or more candidate peers;

receive the costs from the server device that retrieves the set of costs from one or more predetermined POP-to-POP cost matrices or from one or more predetermined POP-to-POP cost tables;

refine the list of one or more candidate peers to obtain a subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource based on the costs; and

send, to the first peer in the network, the subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein when the one or more processors determine the list of one or more candidates peers, the one or more processors are configured to perform a look up of the peer state table,

wherein each record of the peer state table includes a peer identifier, a resource provided by a peer identified by the peer identifier, the parameters, and an address of the peer.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein when the one or more processors determine the list of one or more candidate peers, the one or more processors are further configured to:

compare a state of one of the peers in the network to a state of another one of the peers in the network.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the parameters include at least one of:

a percentage of available bandwidth of the peer;

how long the peer has been connected to another peer;

whether the peer has permitted its processing cycles to be used by other peers;

or

whether the peer is utilizing another peer'"'"'s memory.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein one of the one or more predetermined POP-to-POP cost tables includes a record comprising:

a POP identifier for a POP;

one or more network addresses for the POP; and

an identity of a network owner.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein one of the one or more predetermined POP-to-POP cost matrices includes a cost element, and

wherein the cost element includes a vector of costs.

16. The device of claim 10, wherein the resource includes at least one of:

processing cycles;

a portion of a file;

an application;

or

a memory.

17. The device of claim 10, wherein the first peer includes:

a personal computer;

a laptop computer;

or a cellular telephone.

18. A computer-readable storage device comprising one or more computer-executable instructions, for causing one or more processors executing the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, from a first peer in a network, a request for a list of one or more candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain a resource over the network;

obtain, in response to the request, the list of one or more candidate peers based on a peer state table that stores, for each peer in the network, parameters that represent a state of the peer;

determine a set of costs based on the list of one or more candidate peers, wherein each cost in the set of costs includes a cost of communication between a point-of-presence (POP) of the first peer and a POP of a peer among the candidate peers, wherein when the one or more processors determine the set of costs, the one or more processors are further configured to;

send a request to determine the set of costs to a peer-to-peer server device that retrieves the set of costs from one or more predetermined POP-to-POP cost tables; and

receive the set of costs from the peer-to-peer server device; and

;

refine the list of one or more candidate peers to obtain a subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource based on the set of costs; and

send, to the first peer in the network, the subset list of the candidate peers from which the first peer can obtain the resource.

19. The computer-readable storage device of claim 18, wherein when the one or more processors determine the list of one or more candidates peers, the one or more processors are further configured to perform a look up of the peer state table,

wherein each record of the peer state table identifies a resource provided by a peer in the network.

20. The computer-readable storage device of claim 19, wherein when the one or more processors determine the list of one or more candidate peers, the one or more processors are further configured to:

compare a state of the peer to a state of another one of the peers in the network.