Fault-tolerant distributed system for collaborative computing

• US 7,069,298 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2000
• Issued: 06/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: WebEx Communications Incorporated (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhao, Bin, Zhu, Min, Shen, Jian, Yan, Shi
• Primary Examiner(s): Coulter, Kenneth R.
• Application Number:
  US09/751,807
• Publication Number:
  US 20030167303A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,006 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/223, 709/224, 709/229, 709/225, 707/202, 707/200, 370/260, 714/4, 714/43, 345751-759, 718/105, 715751-759
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1868 Measures taken after transmission, e.g. acknowledgments
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

A fault-tolerant distributed collaborative computer system is provided that comprises a plurality of server computers interconnected via a high-speed link. By replicating the conference information on more than one server computer, the single point of failure limitation is eliminated. In fact, if a server hosting or participating in a conference malfunctions, the failure is detected by other server computers and the client computer is able to reconnect to the conference through a new server computer. In addition, the state of processes executed by the server computers is periodically replicated, so that when failure of a process is detected a new processes can be spawned and the replicated state information loaded onto the new process, allowing the on-line conference to continue.

Claims

1. A computer system for fault-tolerant distributed collaborative computing, the system comprising:

a plurality of server computers connected to a plurality of client computers via a global-area computer network;

a high-speed direct connection link connecting the plurality of server computers;

a plurality of server programs executable by the server computers configured to conduct a plurality of on-line conferences among an arbitrary number of client computers connected to an arbitrary number of the server computers via the global-area network and the high-speed direct connection link, wherein the plurality of server programs comprise;

at least one meeting zone configured to connect one of the arbitrary number of client computers to one of the plurality of on-line conferences, each meeting zone comprising;

a process manager configured to monitor the plurality of server programs and the plurality of server computers for software and hardware failures and to spawn a new server program in the event that an existing server program fails,

a meeting database configured to store user information and state information for the plurality of on-line conferences,

a zone manager configured to provide a communication channel between the plurality of server programs and configured to monitor the plurality of server programs,

a plurality of meeting managers configured to monitor the plurality of server programs, wherein the plurality of meeting managers and the process manager mutually monitor each other for software failures, further wherein the plurality of meeting managers monitor a load on each of the plurality of server computers, and further wherein the plurality of meeting managers store state information for the plurality of on-line conferences in the meeting database,

a collaborative server configured to host at least one of the plurality of on-line conferences,

a ping server configured to receive and forward requests from a user to join an on-line conference,

a log server configured to communicate with a plurality of meeting managers via the zone manager and configured to log users joining and leaving an on-line conference,

a license manager configured to monitor users in an on-line conference to determine whether a user is authorized to participate in an on-line conference, and

an application server configured to enabling users of an on-line conference to share desktops.

2. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of client computers communicate with at least one of the plurality of server computers through a virtual socket operating over a hypertext transport protocol.

3. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of server programs further comprise a web zone configured to enable a client computer to access the plurality of server programs via a web browser installed on the client computer.

4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of server programs further comprises a plurality of ping servers, wherein the ping server that is fastest to respond to a user'"'"'s request to join an on-line conference forwards the request to the on-line conference.

5. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of meeting managers are further configured to adjust a particular load corresponding to one of the server computers if the particular load reaches a pre-determined threshold, wherein adjusting the load comprises reducing the load on existing server computers conducting the on-line conference and spawning new processes on additional server computers for conducting the on-line conference.

6. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the application server is further configured to enable multiple users to share control of desktops.