Patent ID: 7616590
Filing Date: 2009-11-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of matching a publishing agent's area of coverage with a subscribing agent's area of interest using a distributed tempero-spatial query service, the method comprising: (a) assigning areas of responsibility (AORs) to a plurality of service agents, the AORs corresponding to three-dimensional volumes of space; (b) organizing the service agents into a spatial hierarchy (AORH) based upon each service agent's AOR; (c) distributing and hosting the spatial hierarchy on each of the service agents; (d) matching a request from a subscribing agent with a publishing agent based upon spatial attributes; and wherein (b) includes defining a local AORH stored at each service agent by: (i) a service agent's containing node that corresponds to the service agent's AOR; (ii) a parent oath from the service agent's containing node to a root of the AORH; and (iii) a subtree rooted at the service agent's containing node and ending at a first-encountered contained node of another AOR along each branch of the spatial hierarchy.