API Acceleration Intermediary Reducing Roundtrip Latency

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Solution Overview

Problem

Cloud-based systems experience high communication latency and slow API call processing due to geographical distance between clients and servers, leading to undesirable user experiences, especially with multiple handshakes required for secure connections.

Innovation Solution

An acceleration system that acts as an intermediary between clients and API processing systems, reducing round trip times by establishing shorter connections and reusing existing connections for multiple API calls, and utilizing API edge gateways to steer clients to the most latency-efficient processing endpoints.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If clients connect directly to remote API servers, then secure communication and API processing are achieved, but communication latency and round trip time increase due to geographical distance

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecure communicationVSAvoidcommunication latency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces an acceleration system as an intermediary component positioned between the client and the remote API server. This intermediary establishes a network connection with the client and facilitates API call processing, thereby reducing the geographical distance for communication handshakes while maintaining secure communication through TLS/SSL encryption between the acceleration system and the API server

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If multiple handshakes are performed for secure connections, then communication security is ensured, but connection establishment time increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommunication securityVSAvoidconnection establishment time
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The acceleration system performs preliminary actions by establishing and maintaining persistent network connections with multiple API servers in advance. When a client needs to access an API, the acceleration system already has pre-established connections ready, eliminating the need for clients to perform multiple handshakes including TCP and TLS/SSL handshakes with remote servers, thus reducing connection establishment time while maintaining security

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Productivity

If clients are routed to nearest servers, then network topology optimization is achieved, but distance remains sizeable leading to slow access

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork routing efficiencyVSAvoidaccess time
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The acceleration system acts as a strategic intermediary positioned in network locations that are geographically closer to clients than the remote API servers. By routing client requests through these strategically positioned intermediaries, the system optimizes network topology and reduces the physical distance for communication, thereby decreasing access time while maintaining routing efficiency

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

4Loss of time

If connection reuse is implemented, then round trip time is reduced, but connection management complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveround trip timeVSAvoidconnection management
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The acceleration system implements universal connection management by establishing persistent connections that can be reused across multiple API calls and served to multiple clients. This multi-functional approach allows a single connection to serve multiple purposes and multiple clients, reducing round trip time for connection establishment while the system abstracts away the management complexity through centralized connection pooling and reuse mechanisms

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

Data Source

PatentEP3643045B1Acceleration system for facilitating processing of API calls
Publication Date: 2023.12.13 NETFLIX INC
  • EP3643045B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3643045B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3643045B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

One embodiment includes acceleration systems that operate as intermediaries between the API processing system and the clients to reduce API call roundtrip latencies. The acceleration systems are a network of interconnected systems that are distributed across the globe. A given acceleration system establishes a network connection with a given client and receives a request for processing an API call over the connection. The programming function associated with the API call is configured in the API processing system. The acceleration system facilitates the processing of the API call over an established connection with the API processing system.