Dynamic content based multicast routing in mobile networks

• US 20030120817A1
• Filed: 10/15/2002
• Published: 06/26/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daniel J. Reininger, Dipankar Raychaudhuri, Leslie French, Maximilian Ott
• Original Assignee: Daniel J. Reininger, Dipankar Raychaudhuri, Leslie French, Maximilian Ott
• Inventors: Reininger, Daniel J., French, Leslie, Raychaudhuri, Dipankar, Ott, Maximilian
• Granted Patent: US 7,293,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/249
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1881 with schedule organisation, e.g. priority, sequence management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/36 due to handover

Abstract

The present invention changes the wireless information service paradigm from a connection-oriented unicast network model to a dynamic content-driven multicast model using a technique called “content routing.” The present invention provides a system, method, and medium for routing content through a network from at least one content provider to at least one content consumer, wherein at least one of the content consumer or content provider communicate with the network using a wireless device. The content is routed though the network based on its content. The content is labeled with at least one content descriptor. The content descriptor characterizes or otherwise describes the content. Interest profiles are received from content consumers. Interest profiles from content consumers with a common network access point are aggregated into a single interest profile. Interest profiles can include more than the wireless consumers stated interest, such as for example, a content consumer'"'"'s geographic location, the capabilities of the wireless terminal, type of service, policy preferences, and the like. Single interest profiles are shared across neighboring network access points to create a content routing table. Content, labeled with at least one descriptor, is routed through the network to content consumers based, in part, on content routing tables created from wireless content consumers'"'"'profiles.

Claims

1. A method for routing content through a network based on its content from at least one content provider to at least one content consumer, wherein at least one of said content consumer or content provider is in communication with the network using a wireless device, said method comprising:

receiving content labeled with at least one content descriptor;

wherein said at least one content descriptor is capable of describing the content;

receiving an interest profile from a content consumer;

generating a single interest profile on at least one network node, wherein said single interest profile comprises at least one received interest profile from said content consumer;

exchanging said single interest profile with neighboring network nodes;

creating a content routing table, wherein said content routing table is capable of routing said content through the network; and

forwarding said content labeled with a content descriptor to said content consumer based on said received interest profile from said content consumer.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said content descriptor is selected from at least one of hierarchically organized ontologies or hierarchically organized taxonomies.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said interest profile is expressed in the XML programming language.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said content routing table is created dynamically based on the content received.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said content descriptor is expressed in the XML programming language.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein said interest profile is hierarchically aggregated with said at least one additional interest profile into a compact representation.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of generating a single interest profile balances the amount of storage and processing used at a each network node and the amount of information leakage at each network node by controlling the degree to which content descriptors and interest profiles match.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising establishing an access point to the network for the wireless device.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising receiving an interest profile update message when the wireless device changes to a different access point to the network.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein said interest profile update message comprises information based on the geographic location of the wireless device.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising determining when to transfer a wireless content consumer'"'"'s interest profile to a new access point within the network, wherein said determination is based on radio link level information received at the current network access point from the wireless device.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising delivering content to the a content consumer'"'"'s wireless device from the new access point to the network.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a policy profile wherein said policy profile restricts the type of content that can be received by said content consumer'"'"'s wireless device independent of the content consumer'"'"'s interest profile.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a capacity profile wherein said capacity profile represents both the capacity of the wireless device and the capacity of a link connecting the wireless device to the network.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising using information contained in the capacity profile to dynamically transform content to fit the capabilities of the wireless device.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a policy profile wherein said policy profile comprises information to dynamically transform content to fit at least one dissemination policy of said content consumer.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising limiting the scope of queries from the content consumer based on the congestion level of the network.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising prioritizing content delivery to the content consumer based on a class assignment associated with said content consumer.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising prioritizing content delivery to said content consumer based on environmental parameters and system resources including at least one of content consumer access modality, cognitive posture, wireless bandwidth availability or terminal information processing load.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein said interest profile changes as a function of at least one of geographic location of the wireless device, usage mode of the wireless device, the wireless device capacity, or combinations thereof.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein said interest profile changes are detected by the access point of at least one of said content consumer or content provider to the network, wherein the access point changes the interest profile based on at least said detected changes.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein forwarding said content labeled with at least one content descriptor to a wireless device comprises comparing incoming content labeled with at least one content descriptor with the content routing table.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of aggregating said interest profile from said content consumer and creating the routing table is distributed throughout the network.

24. The method according to claim 1, wherein said content is sensor content from a wireless sensor network and said at least one content descriptor is at least one attribute of a sensor device in said wireless sensor network.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein said interest profile from said content consumer comprises at least one query of said wireless sensor network.

26. A method for interfacing client and server applications to a content based routing network comprising:

converting information objects from content providers and content descriptors associated with said information objects into formatted packets;

sending said formatted packets on top of a transport protocol to an assigned access router;

converting interest profiles from content consumers into resource profile messages; and

sending said resource profile messages to an assigned access router.

27. A system for routing content through a network based on content from at least one content provider to at least one content consumer, wherein at least one of said content consumer or content provider is in communication with the network using a wireless device, the system comprising:

at least one content server, wherein said at least one content server is capable of participating in managing network resources;

a plurality of content routers;

a plurality of access routers, wherein at least one content consumer is associated with at least one of said plurality of access routers and said at least one of said plurality of access routers aggregates at least one interest profile from the at least one wireless content consumer associated with it into a single interest profile; and

at least one wireless device, wherein said at least one wireless device receives content from the at least one content provider based on said at least one interest profile of the at least one content consumer.

28. The system according to claim 27, wherein each of said plurality of access routers is capable of supporting at least one of local cache services or data broadcasting services based on aggregated interest profiles stored at each of said plurality of access routers.

29. A system for routing content from at least one content provider through an IP network to at least one content consumer'"'"'s wireless device, wherein said content is routed through the IP network based on content descriptors associated with said content and wherein at least one of said content consumer or content provider is in communication with the network using a wireless device, said system comprising:

an IP network;

at least one content server in communication with said IP network, wherein said at least one content server comprises;

a content delivery middleware,

a content multicast socket, and

a transport service interface;

a plurality of content routers in communication with said IP network, wherein said each of said plurality of content routers comprises;

a content delivery middleware, and

a transport service interface;

at least one of a wired link or a wireless link;

a plurality of access routers in communication with said IP network and at least one of a wired link or a wireless link, said plurality of access routers comprising;

a content delivery middleware, and

a transport service interface;

at least one wireless terminal in communication with said at least one of a wired link or a wireless link, said wireless terminal comprising;

a content delivery middleware,

a content multicast socket, and

a transport service interface.

30. A system for routing content through a network based on its content from at least one content provider to at least one content consumer, wherein at least one of said content consumer or content provider is in communication with the network using a wireless device, the system comprising:

at least one content server, wherein said at least one content server is capable of participating in the management of network resources;

a plurality of dual-stack routers, wherein said plurality of dual-stack routers are capable of both content routing and IP address routing;

a plurality of access routers, wherein each of said plurality of access routers aggregates interest profiles of said content consumers into a single interest profile; and

a wireless device, wherein said wireless device receives content based on said interest profile of said device content consumer.

31. A computer readable medium for storing computer executable instructions for routing content through a network based on its content from at least one content provider to at least one content consumer, wherein at least one of said content consumer or content provider is in communication with the network using a wireless device, said executable instructions comprising the steps of:

receiving content labeled with at least one content descriptor;

wherein said at least one content descriptor is capable of describing the content;

receiving an interest profile from a content consumer;

generating a single interest profile on at least one network node, wherein said single interest profile comprises at least one received interest profile from said content consumer;

exchanging said single interest profile with neighboring network nodes;

creating a content routing table, wherein said content routing table is capable of routing said content through the network; and

forwarding said content labeled with a content descriptor to said content consumer based on said received interest profile from said content consumer.