Service directory profile for a fabric network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9553843-B1
Application number	US-201414588075-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 31, 2014
Priority date	Oct 8, 2014
Publication date	Jan 24, 2017
Grant date	Jan 24, 2017

Abstract

Methods and systems for obtaining service directory information for a remote service including sending a service endpoint query to a remote service requesting a directory of locations within the service. In response to service endpoint query, obtaining the service directory information includes receiving a service endpoint response from the remote service in response to the service endpoint query when the service endpoint query is successful. The service endpoint response includes a directory length field that indicates a number of directory entries. The service endpoint response also includes one or more directory entries indicating one or more locations with the remote service as numerically limited by the directory length field.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for obtaining service directory information for a remote service, comprising:
sending, via a network interface, a service endpoint query to a remote service, the service endpoint query requesting a directory of locations within the remote service;
receiving, via the network interface, a service endpoint response from the remote service in response to the service endpoint query when the service endpoint query is successful, wherein the service endpoint response includes:
a directory length field that indicates a number of directory entries;
one or more directory entries indicating one or more locations with the remote service, wherein the number of directory entries is indicated by the directory length field; and
a message tag that indicates a message type; and

connecting, via the network interface, to a remote resource indicated by a directory entry of the one or more directory entries.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service endpoint query includes a message tag, wherein:
the message tag of the service endpoint query comprises a value of 0x00; and
the message tag of the service endpoint response comprises a value of 0x01.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the service endpoint query comprises the message tag of the service endpoint query and profile headers indicating that a received message is formatted according to a service directory profile, and wherein the service endpoint query has no message payload other than the message tag of the service endpoint query that indicates that the message is a service endpoint query.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving a status report message in response to the service endpoint query when the service endpoint query cannot be successfully completed, wherein the service endpoint query cannot be successfully completed because the service endpoint responding to the service endpoint query with the status message does not have any director information available at the time of the service endpoint query.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service endpoint response comprises a redirect field, wherein the redirect field is a single-bit field that indicates:
when the single-bit field is a first value, the service endpoint response includes an entry for a service directory endpoint from which additional information may be requested; and
when the single-bit field is a complement of the first value, no additional information may be requested because none is available.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the service endpoint response comprises a time field present field that indicates whether the service endpoint response comprises time fields, wherein the time fields comprises a single-bit that indicates whether the service endpoint response includes time information relating to the service endpoint response or the service endpoint query to which the service endpoint response responds.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the time fields comprise a query receipt time field comprising 64 bits in length, wherein the query receipt time field stores information related to a time at which the service endpoint query has been received, and wherein the query receipt time field comprises an absolute time value of the receipt of the service endpoint query.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the time fields comprise a processing time field comprising 32 bits in length, wherein the time processing time field, when present, indicates an elapsed period of time between the service endpoint query and the service endpoint request, wherein the processing time field indicates the duration of processing from the service endpoint query to the service endpoint request in milliseconds.

9. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for obtaining service directory information for a remote service, wherein the instructions, when executed, are configured to cause the processor to:
send, via a network interface, a service endpoint query to a remote service requesting a directory of locations within the service; and
receive, via the network interface, a service endpoint response from the remote service in response to the service endpoint query when the service endpoint query is successful, wherein the service endpoint response includes:
a directory length field that indicates a number of directory entries;
one or more directory entries indicating one or more locations with the remote service, wherein the number of directory entries is indicated by the directory length field; and
a message tag that indicates a message type; and

connecting, via the network interface, to a remote resource indicated by a directory entry of the one or more directory entries.

10. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the service endpoint response comprises:
a suffix table present field that indicates whether a suffix table field is included in the service endpoint response that, when present, includes a suffix table having host name suffix strings and suffix string lengths.

11. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the suffix table field, when present as indicated by the suffix table present field, comprises:
a suffix table length field, wherein the suffix table length field comprises 8 bits in length that indicates a number of entries in the suffix table;
a suffix table including suffices for the locations within the remote service that may be appended to a common prefix to indicate one or more locations within the remote service.

12. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the suffix table comprises:
one or more entries each corresponding to a location of the one or more locations within the remote service, wherein each one or more entries comprises:
a suffix string that is variable in length and includes text in a Universal Character Set and Transformation Format 8-bit (UTF-8); and
a suffix string length having a length of a single byte that indicates a length of the suffix string.

13. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 12 , wherein each of the one or more directory entries comprise a suffix index present field having a single bit field that indicates whether the corresponding directory entry of the one or more directory entries includes a suffix index, wherein the suffix index, when present, has 8 bits in length that indicates an entry in the suffix table that corresponds to the directory entry.

14. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein each of the one or more directory entries comprises a host and port indicator having 3 bits that indicate whether host and port information is present in the respective directory entry of the one or more directory entries, wherein the host and port information, when present, indicate one or more hosts or ports each corresponding to one of the one or more locations within the remote service.

15. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the host and port information comprises:
a host identifier string field that is variable in length and indicates a host an address for one of the one or more locations in a Universal Character Set and Transformation Format 8-bit (UTF-8) format;
a host identifier string length having 8 bits in length that indicates a length of the host identifier string field; and
a port identifier field that specifies a port on the host.

16. The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the host and port information comprises a host identifier type having two bits in length

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Smith Zachary B
• Erickson Grant M
• Logue Jay D
• Neeley Matthew G

Classifications

• H04L12/2803

  Home automation networks · CPC title

• G08B25/001

  Alarm cancelling procedures or alarm forwarding decisions, e.g. based on absence of alarm confirmation · CPC title

• G06F16/38

  Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually · CPC title

• H04L12/281

  indicating a format for calling an appliance service function in a home automation network (for remote control or remote monitoring of applications H04L67/025) · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title