Information polling method, apparatus and system

• US 8,204,032 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Issued: 06/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gao, Zhi Guo, Pei, Yun Zhang, Wang, Chen, Yang, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo, Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): SAMUEL, DEWANDA A
• Application Number:
  US12/201,001
• Publication Number:
  US 20090059950A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,390 Days
• Field of Search: 370/440, 370/346, 370/449, 370/310, 370/447
• US Class Current: 370/346
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• 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

The invention provides an information polling method, apparatus and system thereof, wherein a message gateway receives an information polling request from an application in an application client, and according to the received information polling request, the message gateway acquires at least one message requested by the application and calculates a reference polling cycle of the application, and sends the acquired message requested by the application and the reference polling cycle to the application. The application determines a polling cycle of a next poll according to a load condition of the application client and the received reference polling cycle. According to the invention, efficiency and quality of the information polling is improved, while the system is ensured to run normally, reducing the cases of message blocking and system breakdown which may occur in the existing situations.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for information polling, the computer implemented method comprising:

a computer processor configured to perform;

(a) receiving at least one information polling request from at least one application executing on at least one application client;

(b) acquiring at least one message requested by the application, and calculating a reference polling cycle of the application in response to receiving the information polling request;

(c) sending the message requested by the application and the reference polling cycle to the application;

wherein calculating the reference polling cycle takes into account each of;

a length of a message queue;

an arrival rate of the message;

a load condition of a server for processing the information polling request;

a preference order of responding to the information polling request of the application client;

an information process capability of the application client; and

a validity term of the message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the steps (a) through (c) are repeated in response to a new information polling request of the application.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message requested by the application is acquired from a message queue.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference polling cycle is used by the application to reset a poll clock of the application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the application sends a next information polling request according to reset the poll clock.

6. The method of claims 1, wherein the application determines a polling cycle of sending a next information poll request according to a load condition of the application client and the reference polling cycle which has been received.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the polling cycle which has been determined for sending a next information polling request is greater than the reference polling cycle.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the application immediately sends a polling request for a specific message according to a related emergent request.

9. A computer implemented method for information polling, the computer implemented method comprising:

a computer processor configured to perform;

sending, by an application client on a client device, at least one information polling request to an information processing system, wherein the client device is separate and distinct from the information processing system;

receiving, by the application client, from the at least one information processing system in response to sending the information polling request, a set of information requested by the information polling request and a reference polling cycle, wherein the reference polling cycle indicates to the application client when to send a subsequent information polling request to the information processing system; and

updating, by the application client, a polling cycle used for sending a subsequent information polling request based on the reference polling cycle that has been received and a current load condition of the application client.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

identifying a message requested by the application based on the information polling request; and

acquiring the message from a message queue.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein calculating the reference polling cycle takes into account each of:

a length of a message queue;

an arrival rate of the message;

a load condition of a server for processing the information polling request;

a preference order of responding to the information polling request of the application client;

an information process capability of the application client; and

a validity term of the message.

12. An information polling system, comprising:

a message gateway, wherein the message gateway receives at least one information polling request sent by at least one application running on at least one application client, and in response to the information polling request which has been received, the message gateway acquires at least one message requested by the application and calculates a reference polling cycle of the application, and sends the message requested by the application and the reference poll cycle to the application in the application client,

wherein the application client updates a polling cycle used for sending a subsequent information polling request based on a current load condition of the application client being one of above and below an average load condition of the application client, and also based on the reference polling cycle that has been received.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the message gateway acquires the message requested by the application from a message queue.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein calculating the reference poll cycle takes into account each of:

a length of a message queue;

an arrival rate of the message;

a load condition of a server for processing the information polling request;

a preference order of responding to the information polling request of the application client;

an information process capability of the application client; and

a validity term of the message.

15. The system of claims 14, wherein the reference polling cycle is used by the application to reset a poll clock of the application.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the application sends a next information polling request according to reset the poll clock.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the application determines a polling cycle of sending a next information polling request according to the load condition of the application client and the reference polling cycle which has been received;

wherein the polling cycle which has been determined for sending the next information polling request is greater than the reference polling cycle; and

wherein the application immediately sends a polling request for a specific message according to a related emergent request.

18. A computer program product for calculating polling in a computer system, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory storage medium readable by the computer system, the computer readable medium storing instructions for performing;

(a) receiving at least one information polling request from at least one application executing on at least one application client;

(b) acquiring at least one message requested by the application, and calculating a reference polling cycle of the application in response to receiving the information polling request; and

(c) sending the message requested by the application and the reference polling cycle to the application,

wherein the application client updates a polling cycle used for sending a subsequent information polling request based on the reference polling cycle that has been received and a current load condition of the applicant client being one of above and below an average load condition of the application client.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the instructions (a) through (c) are repeated in response to a new information polling request of the application.