LOAD BALANCED INTER-DEVICE MESSAGING
The present disclosure provides a detailed description of techniques used in methods, systems, and computer program products for using multiple connection URLs to enable load balanced inter-device messaging. The claimed embodiments address the problem of cost-effectively scaling the communications with an increasing number of devices connected to the Internet. More specifically, the claimed embodiments are directed to approaches for registering a listener device (e.g., mobile phone or handset) to receive messages from one or more notification devices (e.g., web camera), selecting a notification server from multiple servers to receive each notification message (e.g., using multiple URLs) and forward the message (e.g., through a push service) to the listener device. The selection of the notification server can be based on load balancing the multiple servers.
1 . A method comprising:
registering a listener device to receive messages from one or more notification devices;
selecting a notification server from a plurality of servers to receive a notification message from at least one notification device;
receiving the notification message at the notification server; and
forwarding the notification message from the notification server to the listener device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification server is selected to load balance the plurality of servers.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification server is selected randomly.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the notification message is contained within an IP protocol message directed to a first function.
5 . The method of claim 4 further comprising intercepting the IP protocol message.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the IP protocol message is intercepted by a processor that emulates the first function.
7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the processor that emulates the first function modifies the IP protocol message to emulate a second function that is different from the first function.
8 . A computer program product, embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a process, the process comprising:
registering a listener device to receive messages from one or more notification devices;
selecting a notification server from a plurality of servers to receive a notification message from at least one notification device;
receiving the notification message at the notification server; and
forwarding the notification message from the notification server to the listener device.
9 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the notification server is selected to load balance the plurality of servers.
10 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the notification server is selected randomly.
11 . The computer program product of claim 8 , wherein the notification message is contained within an IP protocol message directed to a first function.
12 . The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising instructions for intercepting the IP protocol message.
13 . The computer program product of claim 12 , wherein the IP protocol message is intercepted by a processor that emulates the first function.
14 . The computer program product of claim 13 wherein the processor that emulates the first function modifies the IP protocol message to emulate a second function that is different from the first function.
15 . A system supporting a listener device and one or more notification devices, the system comprising:
a registration module to register the listener device to receive messages from one or more notification devices;
a firewall module for receiving a notification message from one or more notification devices;
a notification server to forward the notification message to the listener device; and
a load balancer module to select the notification server from a plurality of servers.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the load balancer module further operates to select the notification server to load balance the plurality of servers.
17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the load balancer module further operates to randomly select the notification server.
18 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the notification message is contained within an IP protocol message directed to a first function.
19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the IP protocol message is intercepted by a processor that emulates the first function.
20 . The system of claim 19 wherein the processor that emulates the first function modifies the IP protocol message to emulate a second function that is different from the first function.