System for distributing nameless objects using self-certifying names

• US 9,535,968 B2
• Filed: 07/21/2014
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Mosko, Marc E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Cheryl
• Application Number:
  US14/337,026
• Publication Number:
  US 20160019275A1
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A content replication system can cache nameless Content Object across multiple replica servers in a Content Centric Network (CCN). During operation, a CCN client can obtain a nameless Content Object from one or more content-hosting services by disseminating an Interest for a data collection, and receives a Content Object that includes a manifest for the data collection. The manifest can include Content Object hash (COH) values for a set of other Content Objects of the data collection. The client then determines a name prefix for a content-hosting service that hosts the data collection, and generates another Interest for a Content Object of the data collection. This Interest'"'"'s name includes the name prefix for the content-hosting service, and also includes a COH value for the respective Content Object. The client disseminates the new Interest over CCN to obtain the respective Content Object of the data collection.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

disseminating an Interest for a data collection;

receiving a Content Object that includes a manifest for the data collection, wherein the manifest includes Content Object hash (COH) values for a set of other Content Objects of the data collection;

determining a name prefix for a content-hosting service that hosts at least a portion of the data collection;

generating a second Interest for a respective Content Object of the data collection, wherein a name for the second Interest includes the name prefix for the content-hosting service, does not indicate a name for the respective Content Object, and includes a COH value for the respective Content Object;

disseminating the second Interest to obtain the respective Content Object of the data collection; and

verifying the obtained respective Content Object by determining that a computed hash of the respective Content Object matches the COH value included in the name for the second Interest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the other Content Objects of the data collection do not include a name, and are accessed based on their Content Object hash value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the manifest includes a root manifest that specifies a name prefix for one or more content-hosting services that host at least a portion of the data collection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the root manifest includes a signature for the root manifest.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the name prefix for the content-hosting service involves obtaining the name prefix from the root manifest.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the manifest includes a non-root manifest.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the non-root manifest does not include a name.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the non-root manifest does not include a signature for the non-root manifest.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein obtaining the name prefix for the content-hosting service involves obtaining the name prefix from a root manifest associated with the data collection.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the other Content Objects of the data collection include a set of non-root manifests, or a set of data Content Objects.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

disseminating an Interest for a data collection;

receiving a Content Object that includes a manifest for the data collection, wherein the manifest includes Content Object hash (COH) values for a set of other Content Objects of the data collection;

determining a name prefix for a content-hosting service that hosts at least a portion of the data collection;

generating a second Interest for a respective Content Object of the data collection, wherein a name for the second Interest includes the name prefix for the content-hosting service, does not indicate a name for the respective Content Object, and includes a COH value for the respective Content Object;

disseminating the second Interest to obtain the respective Content Object of the data collection; and

verifying the obtained respective Content Object by determining that a computed hash of the respective Content Object matches the COH value included in the name for the second Interest.

12. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the other Content Objects of the data collection do not include a name, and are accessed based on their Content Object hash value.

13. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the manifest includes a root manifest that specifies a name prefix for one or more content-hosting services that host at least a portion of the data collection.

14. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein the root manifest includes a signature for the root manifest.

15. The storage medium of claim 13, wherein determining the name prefix for the content-hosting service involves obtaining the name prefix from the root manifest.

16. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the manifest includes a non-root manifest.

17. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the non-root manifest does not include a name.

18. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein the non-root manifest does not include a signature for the non-root manifest.

19. The storage medium of claim 16, wherein obtaining the name prefix for the content-hosting service involves obtaining the name prefix from a root manifest associated with the data collection.

20. The storage medium of claim 11, wherein the other Content Objects of the data collection include a set of non-root manifests, or a set of data Content Objects.

21. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a server of a content-hosting service, an Interest whose name includes a name prefix for the content-hosting service, and also includes a Content Object hash (COH) value for a Content Object hosted by the content-hosting service;

obtaining the Content Object whose hash matches the COH value; and

returning the Content Object, along a face from which the Interest was received, to satisfy the Interest.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the Content Object does not include a name.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the Content Object does not include a signature.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the Content Object includes one or more of:

metadata; and

a payload.

25. The method of claim 21, wherein the Content Object includes a manifest for a data collection, wherein the manifest includes COH values for a set of other Content Objects of the data collection.