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Routing virtual area based communications

  • US 9,755,966 B2
  • Filed: 07/27/2015
  • Issued: 09/05/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:

  • in association with a virtual area, an intermediate network node establishing a first network connection with a first network node present in the virtual area and establishing a second network connection with a second network node present in the virtual area;

    based on stream routing instructions, the intermediate network node creating between the first network node and the second network node a stream router comprising a directed graph of processing elements operable to receive network data, process the received network data, and output the processed network data;

    on the first network connection, the intermediate network node receiving an input data stream derived from output data generated by the first network node in association with the virtual area;

    the intermediate network node processing the input data stream through the stream router to produce an output data stream;

    on the second network connection, the intermediate network node sending the output data stream to the second network node;

    a third network node respectively establishing a first control session with the first network node, a second control session with the second network node, and a third control session with the intermediate network node, wherein on the first, second, and third control sessions the third network node transmits to the first, second, and intermediate network nodes control messages that administer the establishing of the first and second network connections and the transmission of data on the first and second network connections;

    the third network node sending the stream routing instructions to the intermediate network node on the third control session; and

    the third network node determining the stream routing instructions based on a specification of the virtual area and locations of presence of the first and second network nodes in the virtual area, wherein the virtual area specification maps references to generic sub-routes to node-type-specific processing element configurations, and the determining comprises the third network node ascertaining the generic sub-routes associated with the locations of presence of the first and second network nodes in the virtual area, ascertaining the node-type-specific element configurations corresponding to node types of the first and second network nodes, and creating the stream routing instructions based on the ascertained node-type-specific element configurations.

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