Flow characteristic based peer-to-peer system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016205171-A1
Application number	US-201514636208-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 3, 2015
Priority date	Jan 14, 2015
Publication date	Jul 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In one embodiment, there is provided a device implementing a leecher peer, the device including a processor to request a list of seeder peers from a tracker, receive the list, select a first seeder peer from the list from which to download at least part of a content item, start downloading the at least part of the content item from the first seeder peer, receive a message from the first seeder peer indicating a deterioration in an upload flow characteristic of the first seeder peer, in response to receiving the message, request an updated list of seeder peers, receive the updated list, select a second one of the seeder peers from the updated list from which to download another part of the content item, cease downloading the content item from the first seeder peer, and start downloading the other part of the content item from the second seeder peer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device implementing a leecher peer, the device comprising a processor; and a memory to store data used by the processor, wherein the processor is operative to:
request a list of seeder peers from a peer-to-peer tracker; receive the list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker, the list being based on the upload flow characteristic of each of the seeder peers; select a first one of the seeder peers from the list of seeder peers from which to download at least part of a content item; start downloading the at least part of the content item from the first seeder peer; receive a first message from the first seeder peer indicating a deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of the first seeder peer; in response to receiving the first message, request an updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; receive the updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; select a second one of the seeder peers from the updated list of seeder peers from which to download another part of the content item; cease downloading the content item from the first seeder peer; and start downloading the other part of the content item from the second seeder peer.

2 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the list of seeder peers is sorted by the upload flow characteristic.

3 . The device according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is operative to:
receive a second message from the first seeder peer indicating an improvement in the upload flow characteristic of the first seeder peer; and in response to receiving the second message, recommence downloading the content from the first seeder peer.

4 . The device according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is operative to:
in response to receiving the second message, request a further updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; receive the further updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; and re-select the first seeder peer from the further updated list from which to recommence downloading the content item.

5 . A device implementing a seeder peer, the device comprising a processor; and a memory to store data used by the processor, wherein the processor is operative to:
register with a service to receive a plurality of upload flow characteristic updates; receive the upload flow characteristic updates from the service; send the upload flow characteristic updates to a peer-to-peer tracker which prepares a list of seeder peers based on the upload flow characteristic of each of the seeder peers; receive a request from a leecher peer to download at least part of a content item; and in response to receiving the request, start sharing the at least part of the content item with the leecher peer.

6 . The device according to claim 5 , wherein the processor is operative to:
receive a first one of the upload flow characteristic updates, the first upload flow characteristic update indicating a deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer; in response to receiving the first upload flow characteristic update indicating the deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer, send a first message to the leecher peer indicating the deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer; and cease sharing the content item with the leecher peer.

7 . The device according to claim 6 , wherein the processor is operative to send the first upload flow characteristic update to the peer-to-peer tracker to update the list of seeder peers based on the first upload flow characteristic update.

8 . The device according to claim 6 , wherein the processor is operative to:
receive a second one of the upload flow characteristic updates, the second upload flow characteristic update indicating an improvement in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer since the first upload flow characteristic update; and in response to receiving the second upload flow characteristic update indicating the improvement in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer, send a second message to the leecher peer indicating the improvement in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer.

9 . The device according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is operative send the second upload flow characteristic update to the peer-to-peer tracker to update the list of seeder peers based on the second upload flow characteristic update.

10 . The device according to claim 8 , wherein the processor is operative to recommence sharing the content item with the leecher peer.

11 . A method comprising:
requesting a list of seeder peers from a peer-to-peer tracker; receiving a list of the seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker, the list being based on the upload flow characteristic of each of the seeder peers; selecting a first one of the seeder peers from the list of seeder peers from which to download at least part of a content item; starting downloading the at least part of the content item from the first seeder peer; receiving a first message from the first seeder peer indicating a deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of the first seeder peer; in response to receiving the first message, requesting an updated the list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; receiving the updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; selecting a second one of the seeder peers from the updated list of seeder peers from which to download another part of the content item; ceasing downloading the content item from the first seeder peer; and starting downloading the other part of the content item from the second seeder peer.

12 . The method according to claim 11 , wherein the list of seeder peers is sorted by the upload flow characteristic.

13 . The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a second message from the first seeder peer indicating an improvement in the upload flow characteristic of the first seeder peer; and in response to receiving the second message, recommence downloading the content from the first seeder peer.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the second message, requesting a further updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; receiving the further updated list of seeder peers from the peer-to-peer tracker; and re-selecting the first seeder peer from the further updated list from which to recommence downloading the content item.

15 . A method comprising:
registering with a service to receive a plurality of upload flow characteristic updates; receiving the upload flow characteristic updates from the service; sending the upload flow characteristic updates to a peer-to-peer tracker which prepares a list of seeder peers based on the upload flow characteristic of each of the seeder peers; receiving a request from a leecher peer to download at least part of a content item; and in response to receiving the request, starting sharing the at least part of the content item with the leecher peer.

16 . The method according to claim 15 , further comprising:
receiving a first one of the upload flow characteristic updates, the first upload flow characteristic update indicating a deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of a seeder peer; in response to receiving the first upload flow characteristic update indicating the deterioration in the upload flow characteristic of the seeder peer, sending a first message to the leecher peer indicating the deterioration in the upload flow characteristi

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Reddy Tirumaleswar
• Wing Daniel
• Ver Steeg Bill

Classifications

• H04L67/06 Primary

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• H04L67/1085

  involving dynamic management of active down- or uploading connections · CPC title

• H04L67/104

  Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks · CPC title