Multicast Data Reliability via Peer Recovery and Hash Verification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for reliable multicast data transmission are inefficient and costly, particularly in managing large numbers of receivers, as they are prone to data loss and network congestion, and lack effective mechanisms for ensuring data integrity and rapid deployment of security updates.
Innovation Solution
A system utilizing a supervision server to provide client receivers with a list of peers for establishing reliable peer connections, allowing data recovery through a peer network, and employing Merkle hash trees to ensure data integrity, with the data source transmitting the root hash and lower-level hashes before the data to facilitate efficient and reliable data transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a content server farm is used to distribute data to millions of receivers, then data transmission reliability is improved, but network costs and resource requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-service mechanism where receivers that have successfully received data help other receivers recover lost packets. Each receiver acts as both a client and a server, sharing its received data with peers without requiring additional central server resources. This peer-to-peer assistance model resolves the contradiction by maintaining reliability through distributed help while avoiding the need for expensive server farms.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an optional intermediary component called a 'data pump' that can facilitate peer-to-peer data sharing when direct receiver-to-receiver communication is insufficient. The data pump acts as a local intermediary that coordinates packet sharing among receivers in a specific network segment, providing reliable data transmission without requiring a full server farm infrastructure.
2Productivity
If multicast mode is used for rapid data distribution to many receivers, then transmission speed is improved, but data loss increases due to lack of reliability guarantees
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where receivers send acknowledgments to the source and to each other about received and lost packets. When packet loss is detected through feedback, the system triggers recovery actions using peer-to-peer transmission. This feedback loop maintains high-speed multicast distribution while ensuring reliability through automatic error detection and correction.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses Merkle hash trees to provide preliminary verification capability. The root hash is sent with the multicast data, allowing receivers to verify data integrity immediately upon receipt. This preliminary verification action enables rapid detection of data loss or corruption without requiring slow retransmission protocols, maintaining both speed and reliability.
3Quantity of substance
If peer-to-peer data recovery is implemented, then network cost is reduced, but network congestion may occur due to multiple simultaneous requests
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a mechanism where receivers request only the specific missing packets they need from peers, rather than requesting all data. This partial action approach reduces unnecessary network traffic while still achieving complete data recovery. Receivers send targeted requests for lost packets only, minimizing congestion while maintaining cost efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic data transmission from the source to all receivers, allowing receivers to recover lost packets from multiple transmission opportunities rather than requiring immediate retransmission. This periodic action spreads out recovery requests over time, reducing peak network congestion while maintaining reliability through multiple chances for successful packet delivery.
4Reliability
If security updates are deployed urgently to all receivers, then security reliability is improved, but deployment time increases when using traditional methods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent maintains continuous peer-to-peer data sharing channels that remain active even after initial data distribution. When security updates need urgent deployment, these existing continuous channels can immediately transmit the updates without establishing new connections, achieving rapid and reliable security update deployment across the distributed receiver network.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention concerns a burn-in system for multicast data transmission between a source (10) and a plurality of client receivers (201, 202,..., 20N) of said data via a telecommunication network (1). According to the invention, said system comprises a supervising server (30) for providing to each client receiver a list of at least another client receiver, said client receiver being capable of receiving from the other client receiver missing data, via a reliable peer-to-peer link. The invention is applicable to muticast data transmission.