System and method for flow control in an adaptive file delivery system

• US 8,589,508 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opanga Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Opanga Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Harrang, Jeffrey Paul, Gibbons, David B., Burnette, John Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, MINH CHAU
• Application Number:
  US12/831,558
• Publication Number:
  US 20100274872A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709/224, 709231-233
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0038 Blind format detection for detection of modulation format H04L27/0012
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1671 the supervisory signal being transmitted together with control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/19 at layers above the network layer network arrangements for networked applications for scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/283 in response to processing delays, e.g. caused by jitter or round trip time [RTT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/35 by embedding flow control information in regular packets, e.g. piggybacking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/365 Dynamic adaptation of the packet size
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests

Abstract

An adaptive file delivery system and method transmits a data file, such as an audio-video file, over a network or collection of networks in segments, each segment transmitted during a different time period. Each time period has a transmission portion to transmit its associated file segment and a wait portion in which no further interaction with the network occurs regarding the transmitted segment. In some implementations, the duration of the transmission portion of each time period is sufficient to reach a steady-state throughput condition, which allows the traffic load status of the network or networks to be determined from rate measurements of file segment transmissions. The duration of the wait portion of each time period is at least long enough to limit the average rate of file segment transmission to adapt to network traffic load variations and avoid network congestion. Various techniques for measuring congestion are described.

Claims

1. A system to transmit a data file made up of a plurality of file segments from a sending system to a receiving computing system, comprising:

a hardware data storage element configured to store the data file to be transmitted to the receiving computing system;

a hardware network interface communicatively coupled to the data storage element and configured to receive the data file therefrom, the network interface being further configured to transmit the plurality of data file segments to the receiving system via a communications network having a communication path extending from the sending system to the receiving system; and

a network interface controller configured to control transmission of the plurality of file segments to the receiving system via the network interface, the network interface controller being configured to receive a request for the transmission of an additional file segment from the receiving computer system upon expiration of a dynamically alterable wait period between transmission of individual ones of the plurality of file segments based on a level of network congestion in the communication path.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the network interface controller is configured to measure the wait period and to cause the network interface to send a next subsequent file segment upon expiration of the wait period measured by the network interface controller.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the network interface controller is further configured to calculate the wait period for the subsequent file segment based at least in part on the determined congestion level.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the wait period for the subsequent file segment increases as the determined congestion level increases.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the network interface controller is further configured to send the file segment with time data indicating a transmit time of transmission of the file segment from the network interface and to receive an acknowledgement message from the receiving computing system, the acknowledgement message including data indicating a transit time to transmit the file segment from the to the receiving computing system, the transit time being indicative of the congestion level.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the network interface controller is configured to receive an acknowledgement message from the receiving computer system upon receipt of the file segment and prior to the expiration of the wait period.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the network interface controller is configured to receive a request for transmission of a subsequent file segment from the receiving computer system upon expiration of the wait period.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the request for transmission of a subsequent file segment from the receiving computer system includes a request for a subsequent file segment having a file segment size specified in the request for transmission, the network interface controller being configured to send the next subsequent file segment of the requested file segment size upon receipt of the request from the receiving computing system.

9. A method for transferring a file from a sending system to a receiving system, comprising:

sending a file made up of a plurality of file segments from the sending system along a file transmission path, the file transmission path extending from the sending system to the receiving system, the sending of the file including sending the file segments by a plurality of transmissions spaced out in time with a dynamically alterable wait period occurring after the transmission of each of the plurality of file segments;

determining a congestion level along the file transmission path;

the receiving system controlling the transmission of subsequent file segments by determining the wait period based on the determined congestion level, waiting for the expiration of the wait period, and, upon expiration of the wait period, transmitting a request to the sending system for an additional one of the subsequent file segments; and

the sending system sending the additional one of the subsequent file segments upon receipt of the request transmitted from the receiving system.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the receiving system calculating a segment size for a subsequent file segment and sending an acknowledgement message to the sending system upon expiration of the wait period, the acknowledgement message acknowledging successful reception of the prior file segment and including a request for a subsequent file segment having a file segment size specified in the acknowledgement message.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the receiving system calculates the segment size for a subsequent file segment based at least in part on the determined congestion level.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the receiving system sends an acknowledgement message to the sending system upon expiration of the wait period, the acknowledgement message acknowledging successful reception of the prior file segment and including the request for the additional one of the subsequent file segments.

13. A method for transferring a file from a sending system to a receiving system, comprising:

sending a file made up of a plurality of file segments from the sending system along a file transmission path, the file transmission path extending from the sending system to the receiving system, the sending of the file including sending the file segments by a plurality of transmissions spaced out in time with a dynamically alterable wait period occurring after the transmission of each of the plurality of file segments;

determining a congestion level along the file transmission path;

the sending system determining the wait period based on the determined congestion level, waiting for expiration of the wait period, and, upon expiration of the wait period, sending an additional one of the plurality of file segments to the receiving system.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the sending system sending the file segment with time data indicating a transmit time of transmission of the file segment from the sending system and the receiving system sending an acknowledgement message to the sending system acknowledging receipt of the file segment and including data indicating a transit time to transmit the file segment from the sending system to the receiving system, the transit time being indicative of the congestion level.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the acknowledgement message includes data indicating a receipt time that the receiving system receives the file segment from the sending system, the sending system calculating the transit time based on the transmit time data and the receipt time data.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising the receiving system calculating the transit time based on the transmit time data and a receipt time that the receiving system receives the file segment from the sending system wherein the acknowledgement message includes the transit time calculated by the receiving system.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising the sending system calculating a segment size for the subsequent file segment and sending the subsequent file segment having calculated file segment size upon expiration of the wait period.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the sending system calculates the segment size for a subsequent file segment based at least in part on the determined congestion level.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the receiving system sends an acknowledgement message to the sending system upon receipt of the file segment, the acknowledgement message acknowledging successful reception of the prior file segment.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the wait period for the subsequent file segment increases as the determined congestion level increases.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer instructions that cause a processor to:

send a file made up of a plurality of file segments from a sending system along a file transmission path extending from the sending system to a receiving system, the sending of the file including sending the file segments by a plurality of transmissions spaced out in time with a dynamically alterable wait period occurring after the transmission of each of the plurality of file segments;

determine a congestion level along the file transmission path; and

control the transmission of subsequent file segments by determining the wait period based on the determined congestion level.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer instructions that cause the processor to calculate a segment size for the subsequent file segment and to send the subsequent file segment having calculated file segment size upon expiration of the wait period.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 22 wherein the computer instructions cause the processor to calculate the segment size for a subsequent file segment based at least in part on the determined congestion level.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer instructions that cause the processor to measure the wait period and send a subsequent file segment to the receiving system upon expiration of the wait period.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer instructions that cause the processor to calculate the wait period for the subsequent file segment based at least in part on the determined congestion level.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 21, further comprising computer instructions that cause the processor to send the file segment with time data indicating a transmit time of transmission of the file segment from the sending system and receive an acknowledgement message from the receiving system acknowledging receipt of the file segment and including data indicating a transit time to transmit the file segment from the sending system to the receiving system, the transit time being indicative of the congestion level.

27. A receiving computer system for the transfer of a data file made up of a plurality of file segments from a sending computer system to the receiving computing system, the receiving computer system comprising:

a hardware data storage element configured to receive the data file transmitted from the sending computer system;

a hardware network interface communicatively coupled to the data storage element and configured to store the data file therein, the network interface being further configured to receive the plurality of data file segments from the sending computer system via a communications network having a communication path extending from the sending computer system to the receiving computer system; and

a network interface controller configured to control transmission of the plurality of file segments to the receiving computer system via the network interface, the network interface controller being configured to determine a dynamically alterable wait period between transmission of individual ones of the plurality of file segments based in part on a level of network congestion in the communication path, wait for an expiration of the wait period, and, upon expiration of the wait period, to transmit a request for the transmission of an additional file segment from the sending system.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the request for transmission of the additional file segment from the sending computer system includes a request for a subsequent file segment having a file segment size specified in the request for transmission, the network interface controller being configured to receive the next subsequent file segment of the requested file segment size.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the wait period for the additional file segment increases as the determined congestion level increases.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the network interface controller is further configured to receive the file segment with time data indicating a transmit time of transmission of the file segment from the sending computer system and to determine a transit time to transmit the file segment from the sending computer system to the receiving computer system, the transit time being indicative of the congestion level.

31. A receiving computer system for the transfer of a data file made up of a plurality of file segments from a sending computer system to the receiving computing system, the receiving computer system comprising:

a hardware data storage element configured to receive the data file transmitted from the sending computer system;

a hardware network interface communicatively coupled to the data storage element and configured to store the data file therein, the network interface being further configured to receive the plurality of data file segments from the sending computer system via a communications network having a communication path extending from the sending computer system to the receiving computer system; and

a network interface controller configured to control receipt of the plurality of file segments from the sending computer system via the network interface with a dynamically alterable wait period between transmission of individual ones of the plurality of file segments based in part on a level of network congestion in the communication path, the network interface controller being configured to transmit an acknowledgement message to the sending computer system upon receipt of the file segment and prior to the expiration of the wait period and, upon expiration of the wait period, to receive an additional file segment from the sending computer system.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the network interface controller is further configured to receive the file segment with time data indicating a transmit time of transmission of the file segment from the sending computer system and to transmit the acknowledgement message to the sending computer system wherein the acknowledgement message includes data indicating a transit time to transmit the file segment from the sending computer system to the receiving computer system, the transit time being indicative of the congestion level.

33. A sending computer system to transmit a data file made up of a plurality of file segments to a receiving computing system, the sending computer system comprising:

a hardware data storage element configured to store the data file to be transmitted to the receiving computing system;

a hardware network interface communicatively coupled to the data storage element and configured to receive the data file therefrom, the network interface being further configured to transmit the plurality of data file segments to the receiving system via a communications network having a communication path extending from the sending system to the receiving system; and

a network interface controller configured to control transmission of the plurality of file segments to the receiving system via the network interface, the network interface controller being configured to determine a dynamically alterable wait period between transmission of individual ones of the plurality of file segments based in part on a level of network congestion in the communication path, and, upon expiration of the wait period, to transmit an additional file segment of the plurality of file segments.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the network interface controller is configured to receive an acknowledgement message from the receiving computer system upon receipt of the file segment and prior to the expiration of the wait period.