Abstract:
A method, program and system for distributing information in a computer network are provided. The invention comprises dividing an electronic file into a plurality of pieces and then downloading a file piece to the first client machine to request that file piece. If a second client machine requests the same file piece, the request is redirected to the first client. The first client then functions as a peer-to-peer server and downloads the requested file piece to the second client.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    The present application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. ______ (IBM Docket No. AUS920010403US1) entitled “Method and Apparatus to Encourage Client into a Distributed Peer to Peer Sharing Technology” filed even date herewith. The content of the above mentioned commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. Patent applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Technical Field  
           [0003]    The present invention relates generally to computer network environments, and more specifically to the mass distribution of data.  
           [0004]    2. Description of Related Art  
           [0005]    Current technology for mass distribution of data over the Internet consists of one or more “master” servers where the content is available, and many more “mirror” sites where the same data is stored. Typically, the master server is overwhelmed very easily, and end users are forced to manually attempt a list of mirror sites. Each of those mirror sites may or may not actually have the updated content because they are typically driven by time-based automation (typically a cron job scheduled at midnight). This distribution scheme is incredibly problematic and wasteful in dealing with the initial wave of interest in specific data.  
           [0006]    Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method for seemless peer-to-peer offloading of demands on master servers to other nearby clients which are downloading the same content.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The present invention provides a method, program and system for distributing information in a computer network. The invention comprises dividing an electronic file into a plurality of pieces and then downloading a file piece to the first client machine to request that file piece. If a second client machine requests the same file piece, the request is redirected to the first client. The first client then functions as a peer-to-peer server and downloads the requested file piece to the second client.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    The novel features believed characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, as well as a preferred mode of use, further objectives and advantages thereof, will best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 depicts a block diagram illustrating a data processing system in which the present invention may be implemented;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart illustrating peer-to-peer offloading in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart illustrating the circumvention of a down peer-to-peer server in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart illustrating security procedures in peer-to-peer data distribution in accordance with the present invention.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0015]    With reference now to the figures, FIG. 1 depicts a pictorial representation of a network of data processing systems in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  is a network of computers in which the present invention may be implemented. Network data processing system  100  contains a network  102 , which is the medium used to provide communications links between various devices and computers connected together within network data processing system  100 . Network  102  may include connections, such as wire, wireless communication links, or fiber optic cables.  
         [0016]    In the depicted example, a server  104  is connected to network  102  along with storage unit  106 . In addition, clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  also are connected to network  102 . These clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  may be, for example, personal computers or network computers. In the depicted example, server  104  provides data, such as boot files, operating system images, and applications to clients  108 - 112 . Clients  108 ,  110 , and  112  are clients to server  104 . Network data processing system  100  may include additional servers, clients, and other devices not shown.  
         [0017]    In the depicted example, network data processing system  100  is the Internet with network  102  representing a worldwide collection of networks and gateways that use the TCP/IP suite of protocols to communicate with one another. At the heart of the Internet is a backbone of high-speed data communication lines between major nodes or host computers, consisting of thousands of commercial, government, educational and other computer systems that route data and messages. Of course, network data processing system  100  also may be implemented as a number of different types of networks, such as for example, an intranet, a local area network (LAN), or a wide area network (WAN). FIG. 1 is intended as an example, and not as an architectural limitation for the present invention.  
         [0018]    Referring to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a data processing system that may be implemented as a server, such as server  104  in FIG. 1, is depicted in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Data processing system  200  may be a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system including a plurality of processors  202  and  204  connected to system bus  206 . Alternatively, a single processor system may be employed. Also connected to system bus  206  is memory controller/cache  208 , which provides an interface to local memory  209 . I/O bus bridge  210  is connected to system bus  206  and provides an interface to I/O bus  212 . Memory controller/cache  208  and I/O bus bridge  210  may be integrated as depicted.  
         [0019]    Peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus bridge  214  connected to I/O bus  212  provides an interface to PCI local bus  216 . A number of modems may be connected to PCI bus  216 . Typical PCI bus implementations will support four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors. Communications links to network computers  108 - 112  in FIG. 1 may be provided through modem  218  and network adapter  220  connected to PCI local bus  216  through add-in boards.  
         [0020]    Additional PCI bus bridges  222  and  224  provide interfaces for additional PCI buses  226  and  228 , from which additional modems or network adapters may be supported. In this manner, data processing system  200  allows connections to multiple network computers. A memory-mapped graphics adapter  230  and hard disk  232  may also be connected to I/O bus  212  as depicted, either directly or indirectly.  
         [0021]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware depicted in FIG. 2 may vary. For example, other peripheral devices, such as optical disk drives and the like, also may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted. The depicted example is not meant to imply architectural limitations with respect to the present invention.  
         [0022]    The data processing system depicted in FIG. 2 may be, for example, an IBM RISC/System  6000  system, a product of International Business Machines Corporation in Armonk, N.Y., running the Advanced Interactive Executive (AIX) operating system.  
         [0023]    With reference now to FIG. 3, a block diagram illustrating a data processing system is depicted in which the present invention may be implemented. Data processing system  300  is an example of a client computer. Data processing system  300  employs a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus architecture. Although the depicted example employs a PCI bus, other bus architectures such as Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) and Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) may be used. Processor  302  and main memory  304  are connected to PCI local bus  306  through PCI bridge  308 . PCI bridge  308  also may include an integrated memory controller and cache memory for processor  302 . Additional connections to PCI local bus  306  may be made through direct component interconnection or through add-in boards. In the depicted example, local area network (LAN) adapter  310 , SCSI host bus adapter  312 , and expansion bus interface  314  are connected to PCI local bus  306  by direct component connection. In contrast, audio adapter  316 , graphics adapter  318 , and audio/video adapter  319  are connected to PCI local bus  306  by add-in boards inserted into expansion slots. Expansion bus interface  314  provides a connection for a keyboard and mouse adapter  320 , modem  322 , and additional memory  324 . Small computer system interface (SCSI) host bus adapter  312  provides a connection for hard disk drive  326 , tape drive  328 , CD-ROM drive  330 , and DVD drive  332 . Typical PCI local bus implementations will support three or four PCI expansion slots or add-in connectors.  
         [0024]    An operating system runs on processor  302  and is used to coordinate and provide control of various components within data processing system  300  in FIG. 3. The operating system may be a commercially available operating system, such as Windows 2000, which is available from Microsoft Corporation. An object oriented programming system such as Java may run in conjunction with the operating system and provide calls to the operating system from Java programs or applications executing on data processing system  300 . “Java” is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Instructions for the operating system, the object-oriented operating system, and applications or programs are located on storage devices, such as hard disk drive  326 , and may be loaded into main memory  304  for execution by processor  302 .  
         [0025]    Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the hardware in FIG. 3 may vary depending on the implementation. Other internal hardware or peripheral devices, such as flash ROM (or equivalent nonvolatile memory) or optical disk drives and the like, may be used in addition to or in place of the hardware depicted in FIG. 3. Also, the processes of the present invention may be applied to a multiprocessor data processing system.  
         [0026]    As another example, data processing system  300  may be a stand-alone system configured to be bootable without relying on some type of network communication interface, whether or not data processing system  300  comprises some type of network communication interface. As a further example, data processing system  300  may be a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, which is configured with ROM and/or flash ROM in order to provide nonvolatile memory for storing operating system files and/or user-generated data.  
         [0027]    The depicted example in FIG. 3 and above-described examples are not meant to imply architectural limitations. For example, data processing system  300  also may be a notebook computer or hand held computer in addition to taking the form of a PDA. Data processing system  300  also may be a kiosk or a Web appliance.  
         [0028]    In prior art approaches for the mass distribution of data, a direct connection is opened from a client to a server (either the master server or a mirror site). All bytes of the requested file are then downloaded in order, from first to last. In some cases, if the connection is broken the client may re-start the download at the point of error. In all cases the download is linear and sequential, and either byte or packet based. Typically, the server addresses a finite number of requests, until it is saturated by bandwidth limits.  
         [0029]    The present invention provides a method for employing the seemless use of peer-to-peer technology to offload demands on master servers to other nearby clients which are downloading the same content.  
         [0030]    Referring now to FIG. 4, a flowchart illustrating peer-to-peer offloading is depicted in accordance with the present invention. This process modifies the prior art approach in order to reduce bandwidth consumption across the Internet as a whole. The process begins by breaking a large file into pieces (step  401 ). For example, if the file is 650 megabytes (MB), the file might be broken into 650 1-MB pieces. These pieces are then downloaded to different clients (step  402 ). In the present example, each client would then have exactly {fraction (1/650)}th of the total file and could rebroadcast its respective 1-MB piece to a peer client.  
         [0031]    When a new client requests a piece of the file (step  403 ), the server containing the original complete file determines if the file piece requested by the client has already been downloaded to another client (step  404 ). If the requested file piece has not been downloaded, the server fulfills the request and downloads the requested file piece to the new client (step  405 ). If the requested file piece has already been downloaded to another client, the server redirects the new requesting client to a peer-to-peer server (step  406 ). This redirection could be based on relative network location. For example, all requests for a file piece in Texas would go to a peer-to-peer server in Texas.  
         [0032]    The effect of employing the present invention is that as the number of people attempting to access the file increases, the list of peer-to-peer servers mirroring the file (and the potential bandwidth added by those servers) also increases at the same or potentially faster rate. The size and number of pieces into which a file is divided can be dynamically altered based on load. In this way, the greater the load, the smaller the pieces given from the master server and the greater the dependency on peer-to-peer servers.  
         [0033]    The following example helps further illustrate the application of the present invention. 650 clients attempt to download the same 650-MB file at the same time from the same master server and wait in queue to be serviced. The first 65 machines connect to the master server and receive a piece of the file and share it with at least ten other client machines. In this way, the master server only has to deal with 65 downloads (assuming none of the peer-to-peer servers share data, otherwise the number will be less), plus the overhead of redirecting the other clients to the right machines. The cost of redirecting the clients (in CPU use and bandwidth) is less than the cost of retransmitting the same file 650 times.  
         [0034]    Referring to FIG. 5, a flowchart illustrating the circumvention of a down peer-to-peer server is depicted in accordance with the present invention. Using the above example, there is the potential that any of the 65 peer-to-peer servers could go down at any time (after all, they are owned by the end users) (step  501 ). As a result, clients will lose their connection to the peer-to-peer server (step  502 ) and have to reconnect to the master server (step  503 ). The master server will then redirect the clients to another peer-to-peer server, or turn the clients into peer-to-peer servers themselves (step  504 ). The master server then removes the down peer-to-peer server from the list of peer-to-peer mirrors (step  505 ).  
         [0035]    Referring now to FIG. 6, a flowchart illustrating security procedures in peer-to-peer data distribution is depicted in accordance with the present invention. For security reasons, the master server may transmit a small digest for the file directly to the clients (step  601 ). This is done so that the clients can accurately tell if any of the peer-to-peer servers have corrupted their respective file pieces (step  602 ). A digest is typically a set of verification bytes, such as Cyclic Redundancy Checking (CRC), that are unique to a block of data. As a simplified example, a chunk of data such as “this is my happy string” might have a CRC value of  14 . It is a one-way algorithm that works almost uniquely to verify that the data is intact. Continuing the above example, a server/peer might send the CRC first, then “this is my happy string”, and the client would compare the CRC for the string and verify that it was transmitted successfully.  
         [0036]    In the case of sending an entire file at once, the server/peer only needs to send a single digest for the whole file, because the granularity is on a fine basis. The client either does or does not receive the whole file. In the case of transmitting pieces of a file, a separate digest must be sent to verify each piece (as opposed to a single digest for the whole file). In addition, verifying each file piece is more effective for large files, because the higher the ratio of data to digest (i.e. one digest for the whole file), the less likely one is to get a unique number, and the larger the possibility of undetected problems.  
         [0037]    If one of the peers decides to pass on unwanted data (e.g. a computer virus), the digest of the data will not match the digest from the master server, and the client will know to throw away the bogus data. If a file piece has been corrupted, the receiving client will contact the master server the master server, which will then drop the connection to the corrupting peer-to-peer server (step  603 ). In addition, digests for each file piece could be sent from the master server to the client so that the client can determine which piece of the file needs to be retransmitted (step  604 ). The master server can then retransmit the necessary file piece (step  605 ). It is also suggested that detailed information about the server be sent in the digest of the entire file. In this way, it would be possible to immediately determine the origin of the illegally distributed materials, regardless of how many peer-to-peer servers are involved in the transfer.  
         [0038]    It is important to note that while the present invention has been described in the context of a fully functioning data processing system, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the processes of the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of a computer readable medium of instructions and a variety of forms and that the present invention applies equally regardless of the particular type of signal bearing media actually used to carry out the distribution. Examples of computer readable media include recordable-type media, such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a RAM, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and transmission-type media, such as digital and analog communications links, wired or wireless communications links using transmission forms, such as, for example, radio frequency and light wave transmissions. The computer readable media may take the form of coded formats that are decoded for actual use in a particular data processing system.  
         [0039]    The description of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description, and is not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention, the practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.