Site selection based on internet protocol address

• US 20020087725A1
• Filed: 12/29/2000
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Narasimhan, Hrishikesh, Sloss, Reed J., Cummings, Gregory, Gupta, Ajay G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,080,129 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/243
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/742 Route cache; Operation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4541 Directories for service discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• 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 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1017 based on a round robin mechanism
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In one aspect of the invention is a method for selecting a site in a network based on the IP (Internet Protocol) of a requesting system. When a request for data is made from a requesting system, the requesting system'"'"'s IP address is used to determine if an edge server, that is, a streaming server co-located with the requesting system'"'"'s Web host, exists for the requesting system. If an edge server for the requesting system exists, then the requesting system receives the requested data from the edge server. If no edge server exists, then the requesting system receives the requested data from a deployment server.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a request for data from a requesting system, the requesting system having a corresponding address;

selecting one of a plurality of edge servers having the requested data, said selecting being based on the requesting system'"'"'s address; and

causing the requested data to be sent from a selected edge server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting an edge server having the requested data based on the requesting system'"'"'s address comprises looking up the address in a site database having a predetermined list of addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address, and selecting an edge server corresponding to the address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting an edge server having the requested data based on the requesting system'"'"'s address comprises looking up the address in a site database having a predetermined list of CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) blocks each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address, and each CIDR block corresponding to a group of addresses, and selecting an edge server corresponding to the CIDR block in which the address belongs.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the address comprises an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said causing the requested data to be sent from the selected edge server comprises redirecting the requesting system to the selected edge server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said request for data comprises a request for media data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said request for media data comprises a request for live media data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said causing the requested data to be sent from a selected edge server comprises:

connecting the selected edge server to an origin server receiving the live media data; and

sending the live media data from the origin server to the selected edge server.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a request for data from a requesting system, the requesting system having a corresponding address;

looking up the address on a site database, the database having predetermined addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to the requesting system corresponding to the address; and

if the address exists on the site database, causing the requested data to be sent from the edge server corresponding to the address of the requesting system.

10. The method of claim 9, additionally comprising if the address doesn'"'"'t exist on the database, causing the requested data to be sent from a deployment server to the requesting system, the deployment server being selected based on a non-address based protocol.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said causing the requested data to be sent from the selected edge server comprises redirecting the requesting system to the selected edge server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said redirecting the requesting system to the selected edge server comprises sending location information to the requesting system, the location information comprising the address of the selected edge server and the location of the requested data on the selected edge server.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined addresses are in CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) block notation, and each CIDR block corresponds to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to each address of the CIDR block.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the processor selects an edge server having the requested data based on the requesting system'"'"'s address by looking up the address in a site database having a predetermined list of addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address, and by selecting an edge server corresponding to the address.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the address comprises an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor selects an edge server having the requested data based on the requesting system'"'"'s address by looking up the address in a site database having a predetermined list of addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address, and by selecting an edge server corresponding to the address.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor selects an edge server having the requested data based on the requesting system'"'"'s address by looking up the address in a site database having a predetermined list of CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) blocks each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address, and each CIDR block corresponding to a group of addresses, and by selecting an edge server corresponding to the CIDR block in which the address belongs.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the address comprises an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

14. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive a request for data from a requesting system, the requesting system having a corresponding address;

select one of a plurality of edge servers having the requested data, said selecting being based on the requesting system'"'"'s address; and

cause the requested data to be sent from a selected edge server.

17. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

a machine-readable medium having instructions encoded thereon, which when executed by the processor, are capable of directing the processor to;

receive a request for data from a requesting system, the requesting system having a corresponding address;

select one of a plurality of edge servers having the requested data, said selecting being based on the requesting system'"'"'s address; and

cause the requested data to be sent from a selected edge server.

21. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a request for data from a requesting system, the requesting system having a corresponding address;

means for selecting one of a plurality of edge servers having the requested data, said selecting being based on the requesting system'"'"'s address; and

means for causing the requested data to be sent from a selected edge server.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein said means for selecting an edge server having the requested data based on the requesting system'"'"'s address comprises means for looking up the address in a site database having a predetermined list of addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address, and means for selecting an edge server corresponding to the address.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the address comprises an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the predetermined addresses are in CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) block notation, and each CIDR block corresponds to an edge server that is the nearest streaming server to a requesting system corresponding to addresses of a given CIDR block.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the address comprises an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein said requesting system comprises a viewer, and said redirection module causes requested data to be sent from an edge server to a requesting system comprises initiating a dialog session between the viewer and the edge server.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the address comprises an IP (Internet Protocol) address.

24. An apparatus comprising:

a site database having predetermined addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest edge server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address; and

a redirection server coupled to the site database to;

lookup an address on the site database, the address corresponding to a requesting system from which a request for data is received; and

cause requested data to be sent from an edge server corresponding to an address of a requesting system.

27. A system comprising:

a requesting system to request data, the requesting system having a corresponding address;

an operations center coupled to the requesting system to handle requests from the requesting system, the operations center having;

a site database having a predetermined a list of addresses each corresponding to an edge server that is the nearest edge server to a requesting system corresponding to a given address; and

a redirection module to cause requested data to be sent from an edge server corresponding to the requesting system'"'"'s address to the requesting system; and

one or more edger servers to send data to the requesting system.