Facilitating resource access using prioritized multicast responses to a discovery request

• US 20030187931A1
• Filed: 03/29/2002
• Published: 10/02/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Eatough, David A., Olsen, Gregory P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,343,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/288 Distributed intermediate devices, i.e. intermediate devices for interaction with other intermediate devices on the same level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to facilitate resource access using prioritized multicast responses to a discovery request.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating access to resources through a network, comprising:

receiving, at a first agent, a second agent'"'"'s response to a third agent'"'"'s discovery request associated with a resource; and

storing information associated with the response in a cache.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first agent comprises at least one of:

(i) a network device, (ii) a personal computer, and (iii) a server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving is associated with at least one of:

(i) a communication network, (ii) a peer-to-peer network, (iii) a packet network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received response comprises a multicast or broadcast response.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the resource comprises at least one of:

(i) a file, (ii) executable information, (iii) update information, (iv) text information, (v) audio information, and (vi) image information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the third agent'"'"'s discovery request includes at least one of:

(i) an agent identifier, (ii) a resource identifier, (iii) a file name, (iv) a file path, (v) a file size, (vi) a file date, (vii) a cyclic redundancy checking value, (viii) a hash value, (ix) a remote location identifier, and (x) a priority value.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the third agent'"'"'s discovery request indicates that the third agent is attempting to receive the resource.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the received response indicates that the second agent is able to provide at least a portion of the resource.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the third agent'"'"'s discovery request indicates that the third agent is attempting to provide the resource.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the received response indicates that the second agent wants to receive at least a portion of the resource.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing comprises storing information associated with a plurality of responses in the cache.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing comprises storing information associated with a plurality of resources in the cache.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

removing information associated with a response from the cache.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said removing is performed based on at least one of:

(i) a pre-determined time, (ii) a pre-determined period, (iii) a periodic basis, and (iv) a subsequently received response.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining at the first agent that the resource will be accessed;

retrieving information from the cache; and

accessing the resource in accordance with the retrieved information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said accessing is associated with at least one of:

(i) the second agent and (ii) the third agent.

17. A device, comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device adapted to communicate with said processor and storing instructions adapted to be executed by said processor to;

receive a second device'"'"'s response to a third device'"'"'s discovery request associated with a resource; and

store information associated with the response in a cache.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein said storage device further stores a local response cache.

19. A medium storing instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to perform a method of facilitating access to resources, said method comprising:

receiving, at a first agent, a second agent'"'"'s response to a third agent'"'"'s discovery request associated with a resource; and

storing information associated with the response in a cache.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein said method further comprises:

determining at the first agent that the resource will be accessed;

retrieving information from the cache; and

accessing the resource in accordance with the retrieved information.

21. A method of facilitating access to resources through a network, comprising:

determining at a first agent that a resource will be accessed;

retrieving from a cache information associated with a second agent'"'"'s response to a third agent'"'"'s discovery request; and

accessing the resource in accordance with the retrieved information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the resource is accessed via at least one of:

(i) the second agent and (ii) the third agent.

23. A method of facilitating access to resources through a network, comprising:

determining at a first agent that a resource will be accessed;

transmitting a discovery request to a plurality of agents; and

receiving a response to the discovery request, the response also being received by another agent.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said receiving comprises:

receiving a plurality of multicast responses, each including a priority value.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein further comprising:

selecting an agent based on the plurality of priority values.

26. A method of facilitating access to resources through a network, comprising:

receiving at a first agent a second agent'"'"'s discovery request associated with a resource;

determining whether the first agent is associated with the resource; and

transmitting a response to a plurality of agents, including the second agent.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the response includes a priority value.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the priority value is associated with at least one of:

(i) an information exchange capability, (ii) a processor capability, (iii) a processor utilization, (iv) a connection capability, (v) a resource amount, (vi) a resource date, and (vii) a manually assigned priority value.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein said transmitting is performed after a delay period based on a priority value.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the delay period is further based on a random value.

31. A method of facilitating access to resources through a network, comprising:

receiving at a first agent a second agent'"'"'s discovery request associated with a resource; and

determining a priority value based on the first agent'"'"'s suitability to provide the resource; and

transmitting a response to the second agent in accordance with the priority value.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein said transmitting comprises:

transmitting a multicast response indicating the priority value to a plurality of agents, including the second agent.

33. A computer-implemented method of facilitating access to files through a peer-to-peer network, comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a second device'"'"'s multicast response to a third device'"'"'s discovery request associated with a file, the response including a device identifier, a file identifier, and a priority value;

storing information associated with the response in a local response cache, the local response cache including information associated with a plurality of responses and a plurality of files;

determining at the first device that the file will be accessed;

retrieving information from the local response cache; and

accessing the file via at least one of the second device and the third device in accordance with the retrieved information.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the first device comprises a personal computer associated with the peer-to-peer network.

35. A method of facilitating access to files via a subnet having a plurality of devices, comprising:

determining at a first device that a file will be accessed;

transmitting a discovery request to other devices within the subnet; and

if no response to the discovery request is received;

becoming a subnet representative,

accessing the file from outside the subnet, and

distributing the file within the subnet as appropriate.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

if at least one response to the discovery request is received;

selecting a subnet representative, and

requesting that the selected subnet representative distribute the file to a target list of devices.