Subscribing to multiple resources through a common connection

• US 9,110,739 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2011
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Burkhardt, John R., Richardson, Ransom, Schleifer, Jason, Lees, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): LI, GUANG W
• Application Number:
  US13/155,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20120317170A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,533 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 69/165 Combined use of TCP and UDP protocols; selection criteria therefor

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer-readable media are provided to allow multiple server resources to share a single connection to a client device. The single connection may be maintained between a notification queue on the server side and the client device. Multiple server resources share the notification queue. When a resource changes or a service wants to communicate information to a client, corresponding messages are sent to the notification queue over a connection within the data center. Once in the notification queue, the updates are communicated to the client device.

Claims

1. A method for aggregating notifications from multiple server resources addressed to a client that is subscribed to the multiple server resources, the method comprising:

initializing, at a computing device, a notification queue associated with a client identification for the client, the notification queue processing notification messages generated from the multiple server resources to which the client is subscribed;

receiving, at the notification queue, a first notification message from a first server resource in response to an update of information at the first server resource, the first notification message being addressed to the client identification for the client, the notification queue not querying the first server resource for the first notification message;

in response to a first request from the client, communicating the first notification message from the notification queue to the client;

receiving, at the notification queue, a second notification message from a second server resource in response to an update of information at the second server resource, the second notification message being addressed to the client identification for the client, the notification queue not querying the second server resource for the second notification message, the second notification message being received from the second server resource through a data-center intermediary server that aggregates notification messages from the multiple server resources within a first data center that are addressed to multiple clients that have notification queues in a second data center, thereby allowing a single connection between the first data center and the second data center to carry the notification messages, the first notification message and the second notification message being communicated between the notification queue and the client through a stateless front-end machine that performs a load balancing function; and

in response to a second request from the client, communicating the second notification message from the notification queue to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first server resource and the second server resource comprise chat room content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification queue is located within a data center and on a different computing device than the first server resource and the second server resource.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a first subscription request from the client for the first server resource; and

receiving a second subscription request from the client for the second server resource.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first notification message and the second notification message are communicated between the notification queue and the client using one or more of a comet-style hypertext transfer protocol (“

HTTP”

) connection and a transmission control protocol (“

TCP”

) connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a presence that communicates to at least one of the first server resource and the second server resource that the client is no longer connected to that at least one of the first server resource and the second server resource.

7. A method of communicating with resources in a remote data center, the method comprising:

subscribing to a first server resource and a second server resource associated with a service operating in the remote data center;

receiving a first notification message from the first server resource in response to an update of information at the first server resource, the first notification message received through a notification queue at an aggregation component established by the remote data center, the first notification message including a client identification associated with the notification queue; and

receiving a second notification message from the second server resource in response to an update of information at the second server resource, the second notification message received through the notification queue at the aggregation component, the second notification message including the client identification associated with the notification queue, the notification queue not querying the first and second server resources for the first and second notification messages, the second notification message being received from the second server resource through a data-center intermediary server that aggregates notification messages from the multiple server resources within a first data center that are addressed to multiple clients that have notification queues in a second data center, thereby allowing a single connection between the first data center and the second data center to carry the notification messages, the first notification message and the second notification message being communicated between the notification queue and a client through a stateless front-end machine that performs a load balancing function.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

communicating a first subscription request from a first client for the first server resource; and

communicating a second subscription request from the first client for the second server resource.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises communicating an HTTP Get request to the notification queue operating on the aggregation component.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the first server resource and the second server resource are chat room instances.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises maintaining a connection to the service over which notifications are received.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

generating a presence that communicates to at least one of the first server resource and the second server resource that the client is no longer connected to that at least one of the first server resource and the second server resource.

13. A computing system comprising:

a processor; and

computer storage memory having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, implement a method of communicating updates from multiple sever resources to a client device over a single connection, the method comprising;

assigning a single client to a single notification queue and associating a client identification for the single client with the single notification queue, wherein the single client is subscribed to a service that is associated with multiple resources that individual clients subscribe to, and wherein the single client is subscribed to a first resource and a second resource that are both provided by the service;

automatically routing a first event notification from the first resource to the single notification queue, wherein the routing is based on the client identification for the single client; and

automatically routing a second event notification from the second resource to the single notification queue, wherein the routing is based on the client identification for the single client, the single notification queue not querying the first and second resources for the first and second event notifications, the second event notification being received from the second resource through a data-center intermediary server that aggregates event notifications from the multiple resources within a first data center that are addressed to multiple clients that have notification queues in a second data center, thereby allowing a single connection between the first data center and the second data center to carry the event notifications, wherein the first event notification and the second event notification are communicated between the single notification queue and the single client through a stateless front-end machine that performs a load balancing function.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the service operates in a data center comprising multiple computing devices, and wherein the single notification queue is assigned to a different computing device than the service.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first event notification describe a change in state within the first resource.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the first resource and the second resource are chat room instances.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the single client is a media playback device and the service synchronizes a media play state.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises polling the single notification queue to determine whether the single client is still connected to the service and generating a presence notification that communicates a connection status for the single client.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the first resource operates in a first data center and the second resource operates in a second data center, wherein the single notification queue operates in the first data center, and wherein the second event notification from the second resource is aggregated with multiple event notifications from the second data center and communicated to the first data center.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the first resource is a shared data resource.