Multicast Service System for Online Gaming Scalability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional online gaming systems face scalability issues with multicasting due to the limitations of game servers managing large numbers of end-users, leading to increased complexity and performance trade-offs, as they must handle both game logic and user connections, resulting in inefficient data distribution and increased operating costs.
Innovation Solution
A separate online gaming multicast service system with interconnected multicast managers and servers that receive messages and distribute them efficiently to end-users, decoupling multicast logic from game servers and optimizing each component for its specific function, allowing for scalable and cost-effective communication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If game servers directly manage multicast distribution to end-users, then multicast functionality is integrated into the gaming system, but the scalability is limited due to the single game server's capacity constraints
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a dedicated multicast server as an intermediary component between game servers and end-users. The multicast server receives messages from game servers and handles the distribution to multiple end-users, allowing the gaming system to scale multicast operations without increasing game server complexity. This mediator absorbs the multicast management burden, enabling the gaming domain to remain focused on game logic while multicast functionality scales independently.
2Productivity
If game servers handle both game logic and multicast connection management, then all functionality is consolidated in one component, but performance is reduced due to the trade-off between IO throughput and rule processing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the system functionality by separating multicast management from game logic processing. Game servers focus exclusively on game rule processing and game state management, while a dedicated multicast server handles all multicast connection management and message distribution. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized for its specific function, with game servers achieving maximum rule processing performance and the multicast server achieving efficient IO throughput for handling large numbers of end-user connections.
3Quantity of substance
If all end-users are connected to a single game server for multicast, then the system structure is simple, but the number of end-users is limited by the server's capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The multicast server acts as an intermediary that enables a single game server to reach a large number of end-users without requiring each end-user to maintain a direct connection to the game server. The game server sends multicast messages to the multicast server, which then distributes them to all connected end-users. This architecture allows the system to support an arbitrary number of end-users while maintaining a simple game server structure focused on game logic.
4Reliability
If broadcast is used to send messages to all end-users, then distribution is simple, but security is compromised and unnecessary data traffic is generated
Solution Approach 1:
The multicast server implements selective distribution by maintaining knowledge of which end-users are connected and routing messages only to the appropriate recipients. Instead of broadcasting to all end-users, the multicast server receives messages from game servers and intelligently distributes them only to the intended recipient list. This eliminates unnecessary data traffic and maintains security by ensuring that sensitive game data is only transmitted to authorized players, while the multicast server manages the complexity of tracking and routing to multiple end-users.
Data Source
AI summary
An online gaming multicast service system includes a set of interconnected multicast managers (MM1, MM2, MM3) for receiving messages from game servers (GS1, GS2) to end-users (A-H). Each message and an associated end-user recipient list ({B,E,F}, {A,G,H}) is received by one of the multicast managers. The multicast service system further includes a set of multicast servers (MS1, MS2, MS3), one multicast server being connected to each multicast manager, for distributing each message to all end-users in the associated end-user recipient list. Each multicast manager includes means for determining which recipients in an end-user recipient list associated with a message are connected to which multicast server and for dividing the end-user recipient list into corresponding end-user recipient sub-lists. Each multicast manager also includes means for forwarding the message and non-empty end-user recipient sub-lists to the respective multicast servers for further distribution of the message to the end-users in each non-empty end-user recipient sub-list.