METHOD FOR RECOVERABLE MESSAGE EXCHANGE INDEPENDENT OF NETWORK PROTOCOLS

• US 20070174393A1
• Filed: 01/20/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progress Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: IONA Technologies Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Hayes, David J., Osborne, Jamie Vaughan, Bosschaert, Allaert J. D., Newcomer, Eric Andrew, Baker, Sean P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,710,958 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

A remote mobile device periodically connects with a centralized data server to receive updated information. Because of the mobile nature of the remote device, a download of all available information may not be able to be completed during the initial network connection. When the mobile device can again reconnect to the centralized data server, the two machines are able to continue the exchange of information even if the new network connection uses different underlying technologies or different connection protocols. A fragmentation layer is used in the protocol stack above the transport layer to separate messages into chunks. By tracking which chunks are successfully sent between the two machines, the efficient exchange of messages can occur across multiple, different network connections.

Claims

1. A method for ensuring the completion of interrupted message transfers between a first and second device, said method comprising:

a. generating and storing a message at said first device;

b. separating said message into a plurality of fragments;

c. establishing a first network connection between said first and second device;

d. initiating a transfer of said plurality of fragments from said first device to said second device using said first network connection;

e. determining if said first network connection has been interrupted;

f. if so, establishing a subsequent network connection with said second device;

g. identifying which, if any, of the plurality of fragments have not been transferred to said second device;

h. transferring, via the subsequent network connection, any of the plurality of fragments which had not been transferred;

i. repeating steps e-h until said message transference is complete; and

j. reassembling said fragments at said second device to duplicate said sent message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said transferring comprises either a push or pull of message fragments.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein for said network connections, one or more characteristics of a first network connection are potentially different than a subsequent network connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said one or more characteristics include any of:

application protocol, security, speed, reach, bandwidth capability, cost of usage, network type, physical layer type, data-link layer type, and IP address of one or both of the first and second devices.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the application protocol is one of:

HTTP, FTP, Telnet, CORBA, IIOP, and HTTPS.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the network type is one of WiFi, BlueTooth, GPRS, GSM, Frame Relay, and LAN.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

retransferring any of the plurality of fragments not received by the second device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

repeating steps a-j for a plurality of different messages.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said method comprises an intermediary store and a plurality of protocols/networks to reach this store when transferring one or more messages and a potentially different, overlapping or non-overlapping plurality of protocols/networks when transferring said one or more messages from the intermediary store.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

associating a first identifier with the first device;

associating a second identifier with the second device, and

wherein said first and second identifiers retain their same respective values while transmitting any respective fragments via said network connections.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein when a connection is dropped, the message transfer can be resumed without having to resend the whole message, even if the underlying protocol is different.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein whenever a message is sent, it is accepted by a transport of the first device, regardless of whether a decision has been made over which network connection the message will eventually flow, with the actual network connection dependent on which connection is accepted by the transport.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein messages can be retracted by the sender while they are in transit, said method comprising:

discontinuing, at said second device, receiving additional message fragments and discarding received portions.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said messages are assigned stamps which are in association with a set of rules that are used to determine items such as the order of transmission or reception of one or more messages, which messages are to be transmitted or received over a given network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said rules are changed over time, potentionally changing the order of transmission or reception of said one or more messages.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said stamps are changed over time, potentionally changing the order of transmission or reception of said one or more messages.

17. A system for exchanging messages between a first device and a second device, said system ensuring the completion of interrupted message transfers between said first and second devices, said system comprising:

a. a first device with a memory configured to generate and store a message;

b. a first fragmentation layer configured to separate said message into one or more fragments;

c. a first network link establishing a first network connection between said first and second device;

d. a transport layer configured to initiate a transfer of said one or more fragments from said first device to said second device using said first network connection;

e. a mechanism to determine if said first network connection has been interrupted, and if so, said mechanism configured to establish a subsequent network connection with said second device;

f. a tracking mechanism identifying which, if any, of the fragments have not been transferred to said second device;

g. said transport layer configured to transfer, via the subsequent network connection, any of the fragments which had not been transferred; and

h. a fragmentation layer of said second device reassembling said fragments at said second device to duplicate said message stored at said first device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein for a plurality of network connections, one or more characteristics of each network connection are potentially different.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said one or more characteristics include any of:

application protocol, security, speed, reach, bandwidth capability, cost of usage, network type, physical layer type, data-link layer type, and IP address of one or both of the first and second devices.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the application protocol is one or more of:

HTTP, FTP, Telnet, CORBA, IIOP, and HTTPS.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the network type is one or more of:

WiFi, BlueTooth, GPRS, GSM, Frame Relay, and LAN.

22. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

a first identifier associated with the first device, a second identifier associated with the second device, and wherein the first and second identifiers retain their same respective value across both the first and subsequent network connections.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein said system additionally comprises an intermediary store and a plurality of protocols/networks to reach this store when transferring the messages and a potentially different, overlapping or non-overlapping plurality of protocols/networks when transferring the messages from the intermediary.

24. A method for a device to retrieve a message from a data source, wherein the message is separated into a plurality of fragments, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a first network connection with the data source;

receiving a subset of the plurality of fragments;

determining the first network connection has ended before completion of said message;

establishing one or more subsequent network connections with the data source; and

receiving any of the plurality of fragments not within the subset.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein one or more characteristics of the first network connection are potentially different than the subsequent network connections.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein said one or more characteristics include any of:

application protocol, security, speed, reach, bandwidth capability, cost of usage, network type, physical layer type, data-link layer type, and IP address of one or both of the first and second devices.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the application protocol is one or more of:

HTTP, FTP, Telnet, CORBA, IIOP, and HTTPS.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the network type is one or more of WiFi, Bluetooth, GPRS, GSM, Frame Relay, and LAN.

29. A method for exchanging messages between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

a. generating a message, at the first device, to transmit via a first network link to the second device;

b. fragmenting the message into one or more fragments;

c. forwarding the one or more fragments to a transport layer of a protocol stack of the first device;

d. transmitting to the second device, using the transport layer of the protocol stack of the first device, the one or more fragments over a plurality of network connections, said one or more network connections comprising one or more protocols or types; and

e. tracking and ordering said one or more fragments transmitted.

30. A method as per claim 29, wherein said tracking step includes retransmitting fragments not received by said second device.

31. A system for exchanging messages between one or more mobile devices and a centralized server, each of said one or more mobile devices and centralized server, the system comprising:

said centralized server with a memory configured to store a plurality of messages for transmission to said one or more mobile devices;

a first fragmentation layer of a protocol stack of said centralized server configured to break each of the plurality of messages into one or more chunks;

a transport layer of the protocol stack of said centralized server configured to receive the one or more chunks and transfer them over a plurality of discontinuous network links to the transport layers of the protocol stacks of the one or more mobile devices;

the transport layer of the protocol stack of the one or more mobile devices configured to receive the one or more chunks and forward the one or more chunks to a fragmentation layer of the protocol stack of the one or more mobile devices, and

the fragmentation layer of the protocol stack of the one or more mobile devices configured to reassemble the one or more chunks into the plurality of messages.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein one or more of said discontinuous network links in said sequence retain varying characteristics.

33. The system of claim 31, further comprising an intermediary store and a plurality of protocols/networks to reach this store when sending the messages and a potentially different, overlapping or non-overlapping plurality of protocols/networks when receiving messages from the intermediary.