Granted Patent B2

US 8,140,618 · App. 11/381,702 · Granted Mar 20, 2012

Abstract

Claims (39)

1. A method for bandwidth adaptive communication among a plurality of participants in a distributed system, the method comprising:

receiving, a server computing device remotely located from each of the plurality of participant computing devices, a plurality of communications from a first participant, each communication including metadata and payload data;

storing, for each received communication, the payload data in a channel memory element, at the server computing device, the channel memory element comprising a plurality of memory locations, each memory location associated with a respective one of the plurality of participants so that all participants read from each of the plurality of memory locations but each participant only writes to a memory location with which the participant is associated, one of the plurality of memory locations that is associated with the first participant being selected following the receipt of each communication using the metadata;

upon a second participant being able to receive communications from the server computing device;

comparing, by the server computing device, contents of the channel memory element to a record of a copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the second participant; and

transmitting, by the server computing device to the second participant, payload data stored in a first memory location associated with the first participant upon the determination that the comparing between the contents of the channel memory element and the record of the copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the second participant reveals an update to the payload data, stored in the first memory location; and

upon a third participant being able to receive communications from the server computing device;

comparing, by the server computing device, the contents of the channel memory element to a record of a copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the third participant; and

transmitting, by the server computing device to the third participant, the payload data stored in the first memory location associated with the first participant upon the determination that the comparing between the contents of the channel memory element and the record of the copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the third participant reveals art update to the payload data stored in the first memory location,

the second participants communicating via a connection which permits the second participant to receive more data from the server computing device in a given time period than the third participant and the payload data stored in the first memory location being the payload data stored in the first memory location to the second participant more often in the given time period than to the third participant.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein a received communication comprises a participant identifier and payload data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein a received communication represents a state of the first participant and comprises metadata.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of storing the payload data in a channel memory element comprises storing the payload data in one of a plurality of array locations, the one of the plurality of array locations selected using the metadata and associated with the first participant.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the step of transmitting payload data to the second participant comprises transmitting the array to the second and third participants.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting payload data to the second participant comprises transmitting the payload data to a second participant in response to information identifying the first participant payload data most-recently received from the first participant.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting payload data to the second participant comprises transmitting the payload data to a second participant in response to a request from the second participant.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting payload data to the second participant comprises transmitting the payload data to a second participant in response to a request from the second participant, the request identifying the first participant payload data most recently stored by the second participant.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving a communication from the second participant, the communication including metadata and payload data;

storing the payload data in one of a plurality of memory locations, the one of the plurality of memory locations selected using the metadata and associated with the second participant; and

transmitting the payload data to the first participant.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein first payload data from a first communication received from the first participant is stored in the first memory location associated with the first participant and second payload data from a second communication received from the first participant is stored in a second memory location associated with the first participant.

11. A server computing system for enabling bandwidth adaptive communication among a plurality of participants in a distributed system, the server computing system comprising:

a channel memory element comprising a plurality of memory locations, each memory location associated with a representative one of the plurality of participants so that all participants read from each of the set of the plurality of memory locations, but each participant only writes to a memory location with which the participant is associated; and

a processor for executing computer readable instructions that, when executed, cause the server computing device to:

store state data received from a first participant in the channel memory element;

upon a second participant being able to receive communications from the server computing device;

compare contents of the channel memory element to a record of a copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the second participant; and

transmit, to the second participant, state data stored in a first memory location associated with the first participant upon the determination that the comparing between the contents of the channel memory element and the record of the copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the second participant reveals an update to the state data stored in the first memory location; and

upon a third participant being able to receive communications from the server computing device;

compare the contents of the channel memory element to a record of a copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the third participant; and

transmit, to the third participant, state data stored in the first memory location associated with the first participant upon the determination that the comparing between the contents of the channel memory element and the record of the copy of the channel memory element locally maintained by the third participant reveals art update to the state data stored in the first memory location,

the state data stored in the first memory location being transmitted from the server computing device to the second participant more often in a given time period than to the third participants, the second participants having a connection with the server computing device which permits the second participant to receive more data from the server computing device in the given time period than the third participant can with the server computing device.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the state data received from the first participant comprises metadata and payload data.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the state data received from the first participant comprises a participant identifier and payload data.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the server transmits stored state data to a second participant in response to a request from the second participant.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the server transmits stored state data to a second participant in response to a request from the second participant, the request identifying the first participant payload data most recently stored by the second participant.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein the server overwrites stored state data when new state data is received.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the processor further executes computer readable instructions that cause the server computing system to store state data received from each of the second and third participants in the channel memory element, and wherein the state data is received from the second participant more often that from the third participant.

Assignments (15)