Method and system for dispatching received sessions between a pluratlity of instances of an application using the same IP port
View Patent ↗A logical module, referred as Load Balancer Module (LBM), is disclosed which listens to one of certain common predefined port number. These well-known ports for receiving communication video conference signaling and control protocols is thereafter load balanced and multi-plexed to a number of instances of protocol stack applications. By balancing the multi-media data stream across a multitude of application instances multiple multi-media data streams may be serviced and processed by a single internet protocol host processor. A multipoint control unit (MCU) may therefore process multiple input data streams containing multi-media video conferencing information.
1. A method of load balancing a plurality of instances of processes supporting one or more multi-media conferences over an internet protocol network comprising:
instantiating a load balancing module on a host processing unit;
instantiating one or more instances of a protocol stack on the host processing unit in response to a request from the load balancing module;
receiving at the host processing unit inbound multi-media data packets from a plurality of endpoints participating in one or more multimedia conferences;
selecting, by the load balancing module, an instance from the one or more instances of the protocol stack to process each received inbound multi-media data packet;
associating, by the load balancing module, the endpoint with the selected instance for the duration of a multi-media conference;
transferring the received inbound multi-media data packets toward the associated instance independently of the load balancing module;
receiving one or more inbound multi-media data packets not previously associated with an instance of the protocol stack by the load balancing module;
instantiating, at the request of the load balancing module, a new instance of the protocol stack; and
passing the received one or more multi-media data packets not previously associated with an instance of the protocol stack to the instantiated new instance.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the load balancing module services multimedia conferences using H.323 protocol.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein inbound and outbound multi-media data packets from an endpoint are handled directly by the selected instance of the protocol stack that was associated to the endpoint for the duration of a multimedia conference.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the load balancing module services Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the transport protocol used to carry the SIP data is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the host processing unit is a multipoint control unit.
7. An Internet Protocol (IP) host comprising:
a programmable processing unit;
a computer readable medium; and
an operating system stored in the computer readable medium for controlling the programmable processing unit;
wherein the programmable processing unit is configured to:
instantiate a load balancing module on the programmable processing unit;
instantiate one or more instances of a protocol stack on the programmable processing unit wherein each instance of the protocol stack is instantiated in response to a request from the load balancing module;
receive inbound multi-media video conference data packets from a plurality of endpoints participating in one or more multi-media conferences;
select an instance from the plurality of instances of the protocol stack to process each received inbound multi-media conference data packet from the plurality of endpoints;
associate the endpoint with the selected instance for duration of a multi-media conference;
transfer the received inbound multi-media data packets toward the associated instance independently of the load balancing module;
receive one or more inbound multi-media data packets not previously associated with an instance of the protocol stack by the load balancing module;
instantiate, at the request of the load balancing module, a new instance of a protocol stack; and
pass the received one or more multi-media data packets not previously associated with an instance of the protocol stack to the associated instance.
8. The host of claim 7 , wherein the load balancing module services multimedia conferences using H.323 protocol.
9. The host of claim 8 , wherein inbound and outbound multi-media conference data packets from an endpoint are handled directly by the selected instance of the protocol stack that was associated to said endpoint for duration of a multimedia conference.
10. The host of claim 7 , wherein the load balancing module services Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages.
11. The host of claim 10 , wherein the transport protocol used to carry the SIP data is User Datagram Protocol (UDP).
12. The host of claim 7 wherein, the programmable processing unit is incorporated into a multipoint control unit.
13. A non-transitory computer readable medium with programmable processor instructions stored thereon to cause a programmable processing unit to:
instantiate a load balancing module on the programmable processing unit;
instantiate one or more instances of a protocol stack on the programmable processing unit wherein each instance of the protocol stack is instantiated in response to a request from the load balancing module;
receive inbound multi-media data packets from a plurality of endpoints participating in one or more multi-media conferences;
select an instance from the plurality of instances of the protocol stack to process each received inbound multi-media conference data packet from the plurality of endpoints;
associate the endpoint with the selected instance for duration of a multi-media conference;
transfer the received inbound multi-media data packets toward the associated instance independently of the load balancing module;
receive one or more inbound multi-media data packets not previously associated with an instance of the protocol stack by the load balancing module;
instantiate, at the request of the load balancing module, a new instance of a protocol stack; and
pass the one or more multi-media data packets not previously associated with an instance of the protocol stack to the associated instance.
14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions stored thereon cause the load balancing module to service multi-media conference H.323 protocol messages.
15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the instructions stored thereon cause inbound multi-media data packets from an endpoint to be handled directly by the selected instance of the protocol stack that was associated to said selected instance for duration of a multimedia conference.
16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions stored thereon cause the load balancing module to service Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) messages.
17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions stored thereon further cause the programmable processing unit to use User Datagram Protocol (UDP) as the transport protocol to carry the SIP data.
18. The non-transitory computer readable medium claim 13 wherein the instructions stored thereon are intended to control a programmable processing unit incorporated into a multipoint control unit.