US 10,951,739 B2Granted

Data differencing across peers in an overlay network

AssigneeAkamai Technologies, Inc.

InventorCharles E. Gero

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A data differencing technique enables a response from a server to the request of a client to be composed of data differences from previous versions of the requested resource. To this end, data differencing-aware processes are positioned, one at or near the origin server (on the sending side) and the other at the edge closest to the end user (on the receiving side), and these processes maintain object dictionaries. The data differencing-aware processes each execute a compression and differencing engine. Whenever requested objects flow through the sending end, the engine replaces the object data with pointers into the object dictionary. On the receiving end of the connection, when the data arrives, the engine reassembles the data using the same object dictionary. The approach is used for version changes within a same host/path, using the data differencing-aware processes to compress data being sent from the sending peer to the receiving peer.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method to perform data differencing between a receiving peer entity and a sending peer entity of an overlay network using a dictionary comprising, for a piece of content associated with a host/path, one or more versions of the piece of content and, for each version, a fingerprint, comprising:

receiving a request for a new version of the piece of content and, in response, associating with the request one or more fingerprints corresponding to the one or more versions of the piece of content in the dictionary to generate a modified request that includes the one or more fingerprints;
receiving a data stream in response to the modified request, the data stream including data representing a difference between the new version of the piece of content and that version of the piece of content represented by a given one of the one or more fingerprints that was included in the modified request, the given one having been selected by the sending peer entity and used to perform the data differencing, the data stream also including an identification of the given one of the one or more fingerprints;
and
responsive to receiving the data stream, generating the new version of the piece of content from the difference and the version of the piece of content represented by the given one of the fingerprints selected;
wherein the receiving and sending peer entities are endpoints of the overlay network between a communication link that experiences latency, the data differencing improving the operation of the overlay network by reducing the latency for delivery of content over the communication link.

2 more elements

A method to perform data differencing between a sending peer entity and a receiving peer entity of an overlay network using a dictionary comprising, for a piece of content associated with a host/path, one or more versions of the piece of content and, for each version, a fingerprint, comprising:

receiving a request for a new version of the piece of content, the request having been modified to include one or more fingerprints corresponding to the one or more versions of the piece of content that are then available at the receiving peer entity and, in response, selecting a given one of the one or more fingerprints to perform the data differencing and providing an instruction to obtain from an origin server the new version of the piece of content;
and
receiving the new version of the piece of content provided by the origin server and, in response, generating data representing a difference between the new version of the piece of content and that version of the piece of content represented by the selected given one of the one or more fingerprints;
returning, for delivery to the receiving peer entity, a data stream including the differenced data and an identification of the given one of the one or more fingerprints;
wherein the receiving and sending peer entities are server endpoints of the overlay network between a communication link that experiences latency, the data differencing improving the operation of the overlay network by reducing the latency for delivery of content over the communication link.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/911,215Filed 5 Mar 2018 · continuation
Priority: 23 Dec 2011
Published: US 2018/0262596 A113 Sep 2018
Granted: 16 Mar 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

H04L 67/565
Provisioning of proxy services: conversion or adaptation of application format or content
H04L 45/7453
Address table lookup; Address filtering: using hashing
H04L 67/02
Protocols: based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
H04L 67/1095
In which an application is distributed across nodes in the network: replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data…

Family

Application61/579,672Us provisional application · filed 23 Dec 2011
Application13/726,036Parent of this continuation · filed 22 Dec 2012
Application14/827,341Parent of this continuation · filed 17 Aug 2015
US 9,112,826 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 18 Aug 2015
US 9,912,784 B2Parent of this continuation · filed 6 Mar 2018
US 2018/0262596 A1Pre-grant publication · published 13 Sep 2018
US 2013/0185387 A1Published application
US 2016/0205221 A1Published application
US 10,951,739 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.