Delivering partially processed results based on system metrics in network content delivery systems
AssigneeYahoo! Inc.
InventorsZengyan Zhang, George E. Mavromatis, Jinhui Liu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods, apparatuses and systems directed to processing client requests in distributed systems. Particular implementations of the invention are directed to allowing application servers to return partially processed results after having consumed a time slice allocation based on performance estimates, network performance metrics, and/or system performance metrics.
Claims31
A method for delivering partially processed content in network content delivery systems comprising:
- receiving a request for multimedia content from a client host, the request being associated with a time budget specifying an amount of time within which to return a response to the request;
- adjusting the time budget based on one or more of a network delay component, a server delay component, and a processing component;
- setting a time limit for processing a response to the request based on the adjusted time budget;
- and
- processing the response to the request for multimedia content, wherein in response to the time limit expiring prior to completion of the processing of the response, the partially processed content is transmitted to the client host.
An apparatus comprising:
- a memory;
- a network interface operative to generate time stamps responsive to receipt of packets comprising a request for multimedia content, read received packets into the memory, associate the generated time stamps to the packets read into the memory, and store pointers to the received packets on a processing queue;
- a processor;
- and
- a server module, stored on a storage medium, comprising computer-readable instructions operative to cause the processor to:
- access the processing queue to select a packet for processing;
- and
- process a request embodied in the selected packet by
- identifying an initial time budget specifying an amount of time within which to respond to the request,
- adjusting the initial time budget based on one or more of a network delay component, a server delay component, and a processing component,
- setting a time limit for processing a response to the request based on the adjusted time budget, and
- initiating transmission of partially processed multimedia content to the client host in response to the time limit expiring prior to completion of the processing of the response.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for delivering partially processed content in network content delivery systems, the logic embodied in a computer-readable medium and operable to:
- process a request for multimedia content from a client host, the request associated with a time budget specifying an amount of time within which to respond to the request;
- adjust the time budget based on one or more of a network delay component, a server delay component, and a processing component;
- set a time limit for processing a response to the request based on the adjusted time budget;
- and
- process the response to the request for multimedia content, wherein in response to the time budget expiring prior to completion of the processing of the response, the partially processed content is transmitted to the client host.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.