Centralized Asset Server for Cloud Application Independence
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Solution Overview
Problem
In cloud computing environments, existing methods require each application to maintain its own local database for data assets, leading to code duplication and increased infrastructure needs when serving multiple applications, resulting in inefficiencies and higher costs.
Innovation Solution
A method and system where an asset request from an application is processed by a service discovery server to identify and serve the appropriate asset server, eliminating the need for local data storage by centralizing backend functionality and using a content delivery network with asset servers, authentication, and virtual tokens for permission management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If each application maintains its own local database for data assets, then the application can access its required assets independently, but this leads to code duplication and increased infrastructure needs when serving multiple applications
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the local database functionality into a centralized asset server that serves multiple applications. Instead of each application having its own local database, a single centralized asset server stores and manages all data assets, eliminating redundant infrastructure while maintaining application independence through standardized access interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized asset server provides universal service to multiple applications, replacing the need for each application to have dedicated local storage. The asset server handles asset storage, retrieval, and version management for all applications uniformly, reducing overall system complexity while preserving individual application autonomy.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a full web server is used to serve all API requests and assets, then all functionality is available, but this results in large amounts of code duplication in multi-application platforms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the web server functionality into separate specialized components: an API server handling API requests and an asset server handling asset delivery. This segmentation eliminates code duplication by allowing each server to be optimized for its specific function while serving multiple applications, rather than requiring each application to have a full web server stack.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary asset server that sits between applications and data assets. This intermediary handles all asset-related operations centrally, eliminating the need for applications to include embedded web server functionality for asset serving, thus reducing code duplication while maintaining full functionality.
3Ease of operation
If local databases are maintained in each application, then asset access is straightforward, but this increases infrastructure costs and reduces efficiency in cloud environments
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the database functionality from individual applications and places it in a centralized asset server. Applications simply reference assets by ID rather than maintaining local copies, which simplifies asset access through standardized interfaces while dramatically improving infrastructure efficiency by eliminating redundant storage across multiple applications.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for serving assets is disclosed, comprising receiving an asset request to serve an asset, wherein the asset request originates at an application, and wherein the asset request comprises an advertisement of an asset to be served and a request for the network address of an asset server configured to serve the requested asset. The method further comprises causing a service discovery server to identify an asset server configured to serve the requested asset, and causing the requested asset to be served to the application.