Adaptive Allocation of Server Resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016127199-A1
Application number	US-201414532507-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 4, 2014
Priority date	Nov 4, 2014
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of dynamically allocating media resources includes providing a plurality of microservices in a signaling server and receiving, by one of the microservices, a call message from a client capable of browser-to-browser communications. The call message includes an identifier specifying a target. The identifier is send by the microservice to a cache with a request for capability information of the target. The cache is configured to retrieve the capability information of the target using the identifier. The microservice receives the capability information of the target from the cache. The microservice sends a media resource request to a service directory server coupled to a plurality of media servers when the capability information of the target indicates that the target is not capable of browser-to-browser communications, and initiates browser-to-browser communications between the client and the target when the capability information of the target indicates the target is capable of browser-to-browser communications.

First claim

What is claimed:

1 . A service discovery server capable of dynamically allocating media server resources, comprising:
a processor operably coupled to a memory; a service discovery module stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor is configured to:
receive a media resource request from one of a plurality of microservices in a signaling server, the media resource request indicating that a target is not capable of browser-to-browser communications with a client; and
allocate at least one of a plurality of microservices in a media server in response to receipt of the media resource request such that the client is capable of engaging in communications with the target.

2 . The service discovery server of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to make a determination of whether additional microservices are needed to support the communications between the client and the target prior to the communications between the client and the target starting.

3 . The service discovery server of claim 2 , wherein the processor is configured to allocate the additional microservices to the client and the target when a number of the microservices needed to support the communications between the client and the target is below a predetermined threshold.

4 . The service discovery server of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the signaling server through a first discovery agent in the signaling server, and wherein the processor is configured to communicate with the media server through a second discovery agent in the media server.

5 . The service discovery server of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to allocate additional microservices in a second media server to support the communications between the client and the target.

6 . A method of dynamically allocating media server resources, comprising:
providing a plurality of microservices in a signaling server; receiving, by a first one of the microservices, a call message from a client capable of browser-to-browser communications, wherein the call message includes an identifier specifying a target; sending, by the first one of the microservices, the identifier to a cache with a request for capability information of the target, wherein the cache is configured to retrieve the capability information of the target using the identifier; receiving, by the first one of the microservices, the capability information of the target from the cache in response to the request for the capability information; sending, by the first one of the microservices, a media resource request to a service directory server operably coupled to a plurality of media servers when the capability information of the target indicates that the target is not capable of browser-to-browser communications; and initiating, by the first one of the microservices, browser-to-browser communications between the client and the target when the capability information of the target indicates the target is capable of browser-to-browser communications.

7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising using a discovery agent in the signaling server to translate the media resource request into a format compatible with a service discovery server, and to translate a response to the media resource request received from the service discovery server into a format compatible with the first one of the microservices.

8 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising sending a register message to the target to prompt the target to update the capability information of the target in the cache prior to receipt of the call message.

9 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising sending the identifier to a carrier with a request for a location of the target.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a location of the client from a carrier in response to a request for a location of the target.

11 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the identifier specifying the target is a phone number of the target.

12 . The method of claim 6 , wherein a startup time of each of the microservices is one second or less.

13 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the target is a mobile device and the client is a personal computer, and wherein the microservices are organized in a Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) architecture.

14 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the browser-to-browser communications include at least one of a video call, a video chat, and peer-to-peer file sharing.

15 . The method of claim 6 , wherein each of the media servers operably coupled to the service directory server includes a pool of the microservices.

16 . A method of dynamically allocating media server resources, comprising:
providing a pool of microservices in a signaling server; receiving, by a first one of the microservices, a call message from a client, wherein the call message includes a client identifier and a target identifier; sending, by the first one of the microservices, the client identifier and the target identifier to a cache with a request for capability information of a client corresponding to the client identifier and for capability information of a target corresponding to the target identifier; receiving, by the first one of the microservices, the capability information of the client and the capability information of the target from the cache in response to the request; and sending, by the first one of the microservices, a media resource request to a service directory server operably coupled to a plurality of media servers when the capability information of the client indicates that the client is capable of browser-to-browser communications and the capability information of the target indicates that the target is not capable of browser-to-browser communications.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising initiating, by the first one of the microservices, browser-to-browser communications between the client and the target when the capability information of the client indicates that the client is capable of browser-to-browser communications and the capability information of the target indicates the target is also capable of browser-to-browser communications.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the client is a personal computer (PC) and the target is a mobile device, and wherein the client and the target register with the cache such that the capability information of the client and the capability information of the target are stored in the cache prior to the call message being received.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein each of the media servers includes a pool of microservices, and wherein the microservices in the signaling servers and the microservices in the media servers each have a startup time of one second or less.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the client identifier and the target identifier are each a phone number.

Assignees

• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Ding Xinmin
• Gan Yilin
• Ren Huipeng

Classifications

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L41/5051 Primary

  Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time · CPC title

• H04L67/10

  in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) · CPC title

• H04L67/16

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/51

  Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services · CPC title