Many-to-One Network Communication via Multicast Address Decoupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication methods in computer networks require complex setups when a large number of processes need to send information to a small number of processes or a single collector, involving unnecessary establishment of unicast connections and requiring knowledge of the receiver's location.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a many-to-one communication system where multiple devices send information to a single device through a multicast address, allowing anonymous communication and decoupling the sender from the receiver's location, with the option to automatically switch to alternate collectors in case of failure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If unicast connections are established between all senders and receivers, then communication reliability is improved, but device complexity and connection management complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple unicast connections into a single multicast connection. Instead of establishing N separate unicast connections from each sender to the collector, all senders subscribe to a single multicast address, consolidating the communication infrastructure and eliminating the need for managing N×M individual connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a multicast address as an intermediary between senders and the collector. This intermediary decouples the direct sender-collector relationship, allowing senders to communicate with the collector indirectly through the multicast group, thereby simplifying connection management while maintaining communication reliability.
2Reliability
If unicast addresses are used for communication, then direct communication paths are established, but the system requires significant monitoring and complex high availability modeling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the location and identity information from the communication address. By using anonymous multicast addresses instead of unicast addresses that encode specific receiver locations, the system removes the need for complex monitoring of receiver locations and simplifies high availability modeling, as senders no longer need to know or track the collector's specific address.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent inverts the traditional communication model by having the collector subscribe to a multicast address rather than senders directly addressing the collector. This inversion allows the system to achieve high availability automatically through multicast group membership management, eliminating the need for complex unicast address mapping and location monitoring.
3Ease of operation
If direct unicast communication is implemented, then communication paths are well-defined, but the scheme becomes unnecessarily complex on both sender and receiver sides
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the multicast address a universal communication endpoint that serves all senders and the collector simultaneously. This single multicast address replaces the need for multiple unicast addresses and connection management logic, simplifying the communication scheme on both sender and receiver sides while maintaining well-defined communication paths through the multicast group.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and computer program product are provided for many-to-one communications in a network. In use, a first single device subscribes to receive communication from a first network address associated therewith, the first network address being an address other than a network address of the first single device. Further, a plurality of devices communicate information to the first network address associated with the first single device. Responsive to communicating the information by the plurality of devices to the first network address, the information is forwarded to the first single device.