LOGICAL ROUTING SYSTEM

• US 20110029688A1
• Filed: 10/05/2010
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Open Design Inc (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Open Design Inc (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Jung, Edward, Knight, Holly
• Granted Patent: US 8,819,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/365 Application layer names, e.g. buddy names, unstructured names chosen by a user or home appliance name
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• 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 67/101 based on network conditions

Abstract

A method and system for mapping logical identifiers to physical identifiers is provided. In one embodiment, a logical routing system allows each application, or more generally entity (e.g., user of an application), to register its logical identifier to physical identifier mapping when the application starts executing on a computer. To send a message to an application identified by a logical identifier, a client program uses the registered mapping to identify the physical identifier of the computer. If an application later starts executing on a different computer, then the application can register a different mapping.

Claims

1-86. -86. (canceled)

87. A method for a client node to request services of an application identified by a logical identifier, the application executing at an application node that is identified by a physical identifier, the method comprising:

receiving at the client node from a logical routing layer mappings of logical identifiers to physical identifiers, each mapping being registered with the logical routing layer for an application identified by the logical identifier of the mapping and for an application node identified by the physical identifier of the mapping;

identifying at the client node the logical identifier of an application to which the client node is to send a request for service;

identifying at the client node the physical identifier corresponding to the identified logical identifier using the received mappings; and

sending by the client node to a physical routing layer the request for service, the request being addressed to the identified physical identifier wherein the physical routing layer determines a network identifier for the addressed physical identifier and routes the request for service to the network identifier.

88. The method of claim 87 wherein at least one of the mappings maps a logical identifier to multiple physical identifiers.

89. The method of claim 88 wherein multiple requests for service are sent, each addressed to one of the multiple physical identifiers.

90. The method of claim 88 wherein the request for service is addressed to one of the multiple physical identifiers.

91. The method of claim 87 wherein the receiving of mappings includes receiving a node identification function for a logical identifier that, when invoked, identifies a physical identifier corresponding to the logical identifier.

92. The method of claim 91 wherein the identifying of the physical identifier includes invoking the node identification function passing a parameter so that the physical identifier that is identified is based on the passed parameter.

93. The method of claim 92 wherein the parameter is a priority.

94. The method of claim 87 including sending from the client node to nodes to which the client node is connected a search request for a mapping of a logical identifier to a physical identifier wherein the search request is forwarded to other nodes until a mapping of the logical identifier to a physical identifier is located.

95. The method of claim 87 wherein a logical identifier is a user name that identifies a user and a mapping maps that logical identifier to a physical identifier of a node through which the user is registered with the logical routing layer.

96. The method of claim 87 including receiving a mapping of a logical identifier to a physical identifier to replace a previously received mapping of that logical identifier to a physical identifier.

97. A routing system for routing messages from client nodes to application nodes, comprising:

a logical routing layer that;

receives a mapping of a logical identifier of an application to a physical identifier of an application node associated with the application;

receives a message addressed to the logical identifier of the application;

identifies from the received mapping the physical identifier corresponding to the logical identifier; and

sends to a physical routing layer the message addressed to physical identifiers; and

a physical routing layer that;

receives the message addressed to a physical identifier;

identifies a network address corresponding to the physical identifier; and

sends to a transport layer the message addressed to the network address.

98. The routing system of claim 97 wherein the mapping maps the logical identifier to multiple physical identifiers.

99. The routing system of claim 98 wherein multiple messages are sent to the physical routing layer, each addressed to one of the multiple physical identifiers.

100. The routing system of claim 97 wherein the mapping is represented as a node identification function for the logical identifier that, when invoked, identifies the physical identifier corresponding to the logical identifier.

101. The routing system of claim 100 wherein the identifying of the physical identifier includes invoking the node identification function passing a parameter so that the physical identifier that is identified is based on the passed parameter.

102. The routing system of claim 97 wherein the logical routing layer receives a mapping of a logical identifier to a physical identifier to replace a previously received mapping of that logical identifier to a physical identifier.

103. A computer-readable medium containing computer-executable instructions for controlling an application executing at an application node to receive messages, the application identified by a logical identifier and the application node identified by a physical identifier, by a method comprising:

registering with a logical routing layer a mapping of the logical identifier to the physical identifier; and

receiving from a client node via a transport layer a message, the message being sent from the client node to the logical routing layer and being addressed to the logical identifier,

wherein the logical routing layer identifies the physical identifier based on the registered mapping and sends the message to a physical routing layer addressed to the identified physical identifier, and

wherein the physical routing layer identifies a network address corresponding to the physical address and sends the message to the application node via a transport layer by addressing the message to the network address.

104. The computer-readable medium of claim 103 wherein the registering of the mapping includes registering a node identification function for the logical identifier that, when invoked, identifies the physical identifier corresponding to the logical identifier.

105. The computer-readable medium of claim 104 wherein the logical routing layer invokes the node identification function passing a parameter so that the physical identifier that is identified is based on the passed parameter.

106. The computer-readable medium of claim 103 including registering a new mapping of the logical identifier to a physical identifier to replace a previously registered mapping of the logical identifier to a physical identifier.