Self-stabilizing network nodes in mobile discovery system

• US 9,342,396 B2
• Filed: 03/19/2015
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Robichaud, Brett
• Primary Examiner(s): PATEL, KAMINI B
• Application Number:
  US14/662,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20150261594A1
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: 714/47.2, 709/223, 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0757 by exceeding a time limit, i.e. time-out, e.g. watchdogs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0772 Means for error signaling, e.g. using interrupts, exception flags, dedicated error registers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1402 Saving, restoring, recovering or retrying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/1365 Matching; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/00 Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0805 by checking availability
• 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 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes

Abstract

The disclosure relates to cloud-based mobile discovery networks. For example, a mobile discovery network may include a network responsive to successful watermark detection or fingerprint extraction. One claim recites a cloud-based computing resolver cell in a mobile discovery network, the mobile discovery network comprising a cloud-based traffic router for forwarding requests from remote devices. The resolver cell comprises: memory for storing response information; one or more processors programmed for: monitoring responses to a plurality of status checks issued by the traffic router to said resolver cell, and starting with a first response that includes an error, the monitoring monitors the next n responses from the resolver cell to the traffic router, where n is an integer more than 3, to determine whether: i) a predetermined percentage of the monitored responses included errors; ii) any response included an error within a set time period during said monitoring, and iii) the last response to the traffic router include an error; if any of items i-iii are true, entering a stabilization mode for a predetermined time; and issuing an unavailable status message to the traffic router during the predetermined time. Of course other claims and combinations are provided as well.

Claims

1. A cloud-based computing resolver cell in a mobile discovery network, the mobile discovery network comprising a cloud-based traffic router for forwarding requests from remote devices, said resolver cell comprising:

memory for storing response information;

one or more processors programmed for;

monitoring responses to a plurality of status checks issued by the traffic router to said resolver cell, and starting with a first response that includes an error, the monitoring monitors the next n responses from the resolver cell to the traffic router, where n is an integer more than 3, to determine whether;

i) a predetermined percentage of the monitored responses included errors;

ii) any response included an error within a set time period during said monitoring, and iii) the last response to the traffic router include an error;

if any of items i-iii are true, entering a stabilization mode for a predetermined time; and

issuing an unavailable status message to the traffic router during the predetermined time.

2. The resolver cell of claim 1 in which the set time period comprises a time period biased toward receipt of the nth response.

3. The resolver cell of claim 1 in which the stabilization mode is entered only if any of items i-iii are true and responses to any third party inquiries during a time period spanning said monitoring meet a predetermined threshold, the predetermined threshold comprising:

i) a percentage of errors issued to the third party;

or ii) an error issued within the last m number of responses, where m is an integer.

4. The resolver cell of claim 3 in which the third party comprise a network monitoring service.

5. The resolver cell of claim 1 in which the stabilization mode is entered only if any of items i-iii are true and internal component checks during a time period spanning said monitoring meet a predetermined threshold comprising:

i) a predetermined percentage of failed storage reads or writes;

or ii) a failure of a storage read or write within the last x attempts, where x is an integer.

6. The resolver cell of claim 5 in which the internal component checks comprise a storage availability check.

7. The resolver cell of claim 1 in which the one or more processors are programmed for:

exiting the stabilization mode upon expiration of the predetermined time if the resolver cell meets predetermined operational requirements.

8. The resolver cell of claim 7 in which the predetermined operational requirements comprise:

i) all responses to the traffic router are error-free during the predetermined time; and

ii) all responses to any third party monitoring service are error-free during the predetermined time; and

iii) all checks during the predetermined time for performed storage availability checks are error-free.

9. The resolver cell of claim 7 in which the predetermined operational requirements comprise:

i) a threshold of all responses to the traffic router is error-free during the predetermined time; and

ii) a threshold of all responses to any third party monitoring service is error-free during the predetermined time; and

iii) a threshold of checks during the predetermined time for performed storage availability checks is error-free.

10. The resolver cell of claim 9 in which the threshold in each of i), ii) and iii) comprises a percentage above 94%.

11. The resolver cell of claim 7 further comprising restarting the predetermined time when the predetermined operational requirements are not met.

12. The resolver cell of claim 1, in which said one or more processors are programmed for:

when not in the stabilization mode, providing a response to a mobile device upon receipt of a successful watermark detection or fingerprint extraction, the response being indexed in the response information according to watermark information or fingerprint information.

13. A registration portal in a cloud-based mobile discovery network, the mobile discovery network comprising a message queue, main storage, and a plurality of resolver cells for responding to requests from mobile devices, said registration portal comprising:

memory for storing executable instructions; and

one or more processors programmed with said executable instructions for;

upon receipt of new information via the registration portal, queuing a first message in the message queue, the first message indicating the presence of the new information, and in which the first message has a predetermined life span within the message queue;

controlling storage of the new information in main storage;

communicating with the message queue and accessing the first message and the new information from the main storage;

attempting to replicate the new information to storage within the plurality of resolver cells;

upon an unsuccessful replication attempt, queuing a second message in the message queue, the second message indicating which resolver cell the new information was unsuccessfully replicated to.

14. The registration portal of claim 13 in which the message queue comprises the main storage.

15. The registration portal of claim 13 in which said one or more processors are programmed with said executable instructions for periodically polling the message queue.

16. The registration portal of claim 13 in which said one or more processors are programmed with said executable instructions for receiving interrupts from the message queue.

17. The registration portal of claim 13 in which the second message indicates a location of the new information within main storage.

18. The registration portal of claim 13 in which the first message indicates a location of the new information within the main storage.

19. A cloud-based computing resolver cell in a mobile discovery network, the mobile discovery network comprising a cloud-based traffic router for forwarding requests from remote devices, said resolver cell comprising:

memory for storing response information;

means for monitoring responses to a plurality of status checks issued by the traffic router to said resolver cell, in which said means for monitoring, starting with a first response that includes an error, monitors the next n responses from the resolver cell to the traffic router, where n is an integer more than 3, to determine whether;

i) a predetermined percentage of the monitored responses included errors;

ii) any response included an error within a set time period during said monitoring, and iii) the last response to the traffic router include an error;

means for entering a stabilization mode for a predetermined time, in which the stabilization mode is entered if any of items i-iii are true; and

means for issuing an unavailable status message to the traffic router during the predetermined time.

20. The resolver cell of claim 19 in which said means for entering a stabilization mode enters only if any of items i-iii are true and responses to any third party inquiries during a time period spanning monitoring meet a predetermined threshold, the predetermined threshold comprising:

i) a percentage of errors issued to the third party;

or ii) an error issued within the last m number of responses, where m is an integer.

21. The resolver cell of claim 19 in which said means for entering a stabilization mode enters only if any of items i-iii are true and internal component checks during a time period spanning monitoring meet a predetermined threshold comprising:

i) a predetermined percentage of failed storage reads or writes;

or ii) a failure of a storage read or write within the last x attempts, where x is an integer.

22. The resolver cell of claim 19 further comprising means for exiting the stabilization mode upon expiration of the predetermined time if the resolver cell meets predetermined operational requirements.

23. The resolver cell of claim 22 in which the predetermined operational requirements comprise:

i) all responses to the traffic router are error-free during the predetermined time; and

ii) all responses to any third party monitoring service are error-free during the predetermined time; and

iii) all checks during the predetermined time for performed storage availability checks are error-free.

24. The resolver cell of claim 22 in which the predetermined operational requirements comprise:

i) a threshold of all responses to the traffic router is error-free during the predetermined time; and

ii) a threshold of all responses to any third party monitoring service is error-free during the predetermined time; and

iii) a threshold of checks during the predetermined time for performed storage availability checks is error-free.

25. The resolver cell of claim 19 further comprising means for providing a response to a mobile device upon receipt of a successful watermark detection or fingerprint extraction, the response being indexed in the response information according to watermark information or fingerprint information, in which said means for providing a response is active only when not in the stabilization mode.

26. A registration portal in a cloud-based mobile discovery network, the mobile discovery network comprising a message queue, main storage, and a plurality of resolver cells for responding to requests from mobile devices, said registration portal comprising:

memory for storing messages;

means for queuing a first message in the message queue upon receipt of new information via the registration portal, the first message indicating the presence of the new information, and in which the first message has a predetermined life span within the message queue;

means for managing storage of the new information in main storage;

means for communicating with the message queue and accessing the first message and the new information from the main storage;

means for replicating the new information to storage within the plurality of resolver cells;

means for queuing a second message in the message queue upon an unsuccessful replication attempt, the second message indicating which resolver cell the new information was unsuccessfully replicated to.

27. The registration portal of claim 26 further comprising means for polling the message queue.

28. The registration portal of claim 26 in which the second message indicates a location of the new information within main storage.