Publish-Subscribe Message Broker for Low-Latency Live Auctions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing online auction platforms face challenges in timeliness of information distribution, user interactivity, and scalability, particularly when handling large numbers of mobile computing devices, leading to issues like failed bids and reduced user engagement.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a publish/subscribe messaging framework with a message broker to facilitate real-time communication among mobile devices, using a publish/subscribe channel that allows devices to publish and subscribe to predefined message classes without direct recipient knowledge, enabling scalable and real-time auction information updates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If a traditional request-response architecture is used for online auctions, then the system structure is simple, but information distribution timeliness deteriorates and latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a message broker as an intermediary component that manages publish/subscribe channels between mobile devices. The broker receives messages from publishers, routes them to appropriate subscribers, and maintains message queues, thereby enabling real-time information distribution without direct peer-to-peer connections between devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the communication architecture into distinct functional components: publishers (devices sending auction updates), subscribers (devices receiving updates), message brokers (routing intermediaries), and publish/subscribe channels (communication pathways). This segmentation enables independent optimization of each component for real-time performance.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system handles large numbers of mobile devices, then user coverage increases, but system scalability and performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The message broker acts as a scalable intermediary that can handle multiple publish and subscribe operations concurrently. It manages message queues and routing logic, allowing the system to scale to large numbers of devices without requiring each device to communicate directly with every other device, thus maintaining processing performance.
Solution Approach 2:
The publish/subscribe channel architecture provides universal communication capabilities that work across different device types and auction scenarios. The same messaging infrastructure handles various message types (auction updates, bids, notifications) and supports multiple simultaneous auction events, enabling the system to scale versatilely.
3Ease of operation
If real-time communication is implemented among all devices, then user interactivity improves, but network traffic and processing load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The message broker intermediates all communications, consolidating network traffic through a central routing point. Instead of each device communicating with every other device (which would create O(n²) connections), the broker manages all message routing, significantly reducing network processing load while maintaining real-time interactivity among all users.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements selective message distribution where subscribers receive only the specific message types they have subscribed to, rather than all messages generated in the system. This partial action approach reduces unnecessary network traffic and processing load on devices that don't need certain types of updates.
4Speed
If message routing is performed without pre-defined channels, then communication flexibility increases, but message routing efficiency and timeliness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system establishes pre-defined publish/subscribe channels and message routes in advance, during system initialization or channel creation. This preliminary configuration enables the message broker to use efficient lookup tables or routing trees for message distribution, achieving fast O(1) or O(log n) routing performance while still supporting flexible subscription patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The pre-defined channel architecture provides universal routing capabilities that handle multiple message types and device combinations through a standardized interface. The same channel infrastructure supports various communication patterns (one-to-many, many-to-many, topic-based publishing) without requiring custom routing logic for each case.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and method may implement a publish/subscribe messaging framework for distributing messages among a plurality of mobile computing devices. A particular “publish/subscribe channel” may be implemented in the context of an auction for one or more items, e.g., collectibles such as trading cards, toys, and/or figurines. The implementation of the publish/subscribe messaging framework may allow for real-time communications of developments in the auction(s) which, in combination with a real-time video stream from a host to a plurality of guests in the channel, amounts to an improved user experience at host devices and guest devices. Additional computing techniques may supplement the implementation of the live auction channel, said computing techniques providing improved scalability for live auction channels comprising hundreds or even thousands of guests.