Enhanced multicast-based web server

• US 6,981,032 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2001
• Issued: 12/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Boivie, Richard H., Feldman, Nancy K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Assistant Examiner(s): NAWAZ, ASAD M
• Application Number:
  US09/917,088
• Publication Number:
  US 20030023738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 709200-206, 709/230, 709/232, 709/229, 709217-226, 709/228, 709/245, 709/249, 370/390, 370/310, 370/444, 370/389, 370/395, 707/10, 725/97
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A method for distributing web content efficiently across a network preferably using multicast transmission techniques. An information server receives a first request for a portion of information from a first networked device. It then receives a second request for the portion of information from a second networked device. The information server collects the first request and the second request into a bucket. The information server creates a combined response, destined for reception by the first networked device and the second networked device, and then provides the combined response including the portion of information requested by both the first and second networked devices, to a network interface.

Claims

1. A method of delivering information to a plurality of networked devices, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a first request from a first networked device, the first request requesting a first portion of information to be delivered to the first networked device as an ordinary unicast packet;

receiving a second request from a second networked device, the second request requesting a second portion of information to be delivered to the second networked device as an ordinary unicast packet, the second portion of information requested including an overlapping portion of information that overlaps the first portion of information requested by the first request;

collecting the first request and second request into a bucket; and

creating a combined response in response to the first request from the first networked device and the second request from the second networked device, the combined response including the overlapping portion of information requested by the first and second networked devices, the overlapping portion of information destined for reception by the first networked device and by the second networked device, wherein the combined response comprises a multicast packet.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of providing the combined response including the overlapping portion of information to a network interface, the overlapping portion of information being destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the combined response comprises at least one TCP packet destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the least one TCP packet utilizes multicast transmission for transmitting the at least one packet to the first and second networked devices.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the multicast transmission comprises a Small Group Multicast protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first request and the second request comprises an acknowledgment (ACK) requesting a portion of information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first request and the second request comprises an HTTP request requesting a portion of information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the HTTP request includes a URL to at least partially identify a requested portion of information.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining that a retransmit time associated with communication with the first networked device is substantially the same as a retransmit time associated with communication with the second networked device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of retransmitting the overlapping portion of information to the first and second networked devices by using multicast transmission.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the multicast packet comprises information for each of the first networked device and the second networked device, the information for creating a first unicast packet destined for reception by the first networked device and a second unicast packet destined for reception by the second networked device, and wherein each of the first unicast packet and the second unicast packet include at least the overlapping portion of information to be delivered to the first networked device and the second networked device, respectively.

12. A computer readable medium including computer instructions for an information serving system, the computer instructions comprising instructions for:

receiving a first request from a first networked device, the first request requesting a first portion of information to be delivered to the first networked device as an ordinary unicast packet;

receiving a second request from a second networked device, the second request requesting a second portion of information to be delivered to the second networked device as an ordinary unicast packet, the second portion of information requested including an overlapping portion of information that overlaps the first portion of information requested by the first request;

collecting the first request and second request into a bucket; and

creating a combined response in response to the first request from the first networked device and the second request from the second networked device, the combined response including the overlapping portion of information requested by the first and second networked devices, the overlapping portion of information destined for reception by the first networked device and by the second networked device, wherein the combined response comprises a multicast packet.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, further including computer instructions for:

providing the combined response including the overlapping portion of information to a network interfaces, the overlapping portion of information being destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the combined response comprises at least one TCP packet destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the least one TCP packet utilizes multicast transmission for transmitting the at least one packet to the first and second networked devices.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the multicast transmission comprises a Small Group Multicast protocol.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein at least one of the first request and the second request comprises an acknowledgment (ACK) requesting a portion of information.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein at least one of the first request and the second request comprises an HTTP request requesting a portion of information.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the HTTP request includes a URL to at least partially identify a requested portion of information.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 12, further including computer instructions for:

determining that a retransmit time associated with communication with the first networked device is substantially the same as a retransmit time associated with communication with the second networked device.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20, further including computer instructions for:

retransmitting the overlapping portion of information to the first and second networked devices by using multicast transmission.

22. An information serving system, comprising:

a plurality of networked devices including first and second networked devices; and

an information server comprising;

a network interface for communication at least with the plurality of networked devices;

a controller communicatively coupled to the network interface;

a data memory for storing data including

content,

a first request corresponding to the first networked device, the first request requesting a first portion of the content to be delivered to the first network device as an ordinary unicast packet, and

a second request corresponding to the second networked device, the second request requesting a second portion of content to be delivered to the second networked device as an ordinary unicast packet, the second portion of content requested including an overlapping portion of content that overlaps the first portion of content requested by the first request; and

a program memory for storing computer program instructions for the controller, the computer instructions including instructions for

collecting the first request and second request into a bucket, and

creating a combined response in response to the first request from the first networked device and the second request from the second networked device the combined response including the overlapping portion of content requested by the first and second networked devices, the overlapping portion of content destined for reception by the first networked device and by the second networked device, wherein the combined response comprises a multicast packet.

23. The information serving system of claim 22, further comprising:

a portion transmitter, communicatively coupled to the controller, for providing the combined response including the overlapping portion of content to a network interface, the overlapping portion of content being destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

24. The information serving system of claim 22, wherein the combined response comprises at least one TCP packet destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

25. The information serving system of claim 24, wherein the least one TCP packet utilizes multicast transmission for transmitting the at least one packet to the first and second networked devices.

26. The information serving system of claim 25, wherein the multicast transmission comprises a Small Group Multicast protocol.

27. The information serving system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the first request and the second request comprises an acknowledgment (ACK) requesting a portion of information.

28. The information serving system of claim 22, wherein at least one of the first request and the second request comprises an HTTP request requesting a portion of information.

29. The information serving system of claim 28, wherein the HTTP request includes a URL to at least partially identify a requested portion of information.

30. The information serving system of claim 22, further comprising a retransmit timer, communicatively coupled to the controller, for determining that a retransmit time associated with communication with the first networked device is substantially the same as a retransmit time associated with communication with the second networked device.

31. The information serving system of claim 30, wherein the computer instructions further including instructions for:

retransmitting the overlapping portion of information to the first and second networked devices by using multicast transmission.

32. The information serving system of claim 31, wherein the multicast transmission comprises a Small Group Multicast protocol.

33. The information serving system of claim 22, wherein the multicast packet comprises information for each of the first networked device and the second networked device, the information for creating a first unicast packet destined for reception by the first networked device and a second unicast packet destined for reception by the second networked device, and wherein each of the first unicast packet and the second unicast packet include at least the overlapping portion of information to be delivered to the first networked device and the second networked device, respectively.

34. An information server, comprising:

a network interface for communication to first and second networked devices;

a controller communicatively coupled to the network interface;

a data memory for storing data including

content,

a first request corresponding to the first networked device, the first request requesting a first portion of the content to be delivered to the first networked device as an ordinary unicast packet, and

a second request corresponding to the second networked device, the second request requesting a second portion of content to be delivered to the second networked device as an ordinary unicast packet, the second portion of content requested including an overlapping portion of content that overlaps the first portion of content requested by the first request; and

a program memory for storing computer program instructions for the controller, the computer instructions including instructions for

collecting the first request and second request into a bucket, and

creating a combined response in response to the first request from the first networked device and the second request from the second networked device, the combined response including the overlapping portion of content requested by the first and second networked devices, the overlapping portion of content destined for reception by the first networked device and by the second networked device, wherein the combined response comprises a multicast packet.

35. The information server of claim 34, further comprising:

a portion transmitter, communicatively coupled to the controller, for providing the combined response including the overlapping portion of content to a network interface, the overlapping portion of content being destined for reception by the first and second networked devices.

36. The information server of claim 35, wherein the portion transmitter provides the combined response including the overlapping portion of content to the network interface for transmitting the combined response by using multicast transmission for delivering the overlapping portion of content to the first and second networked devices.

37. The information server of claim 34, further comprising a retransmit timer, communicatively coupled to the controller, for determining that a retransmit time associated with communication with the first networked device is substantially the same as a retransmit time associated with communication with the second networked device.

38. The information server of claim 37, wherein the computer instructions further including instructions for:

retransmitting the overlapping portion of content requested by the first and second networked devices by using multicast transmission for delivering the same portion of content to the first and second networked devices.

39. The information server of claim 38, wherein the multicast transmission comprises a Small Group Multicast protocol.