WO2002050713A2 - Real-time streamed data download system and method - Google Patents

Real-time streamed data download system and method Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2002050713A2
WO2002050713A2 PCT/US2001/043541 US0143541W WO0250713A2 WO 2002050713 A2 WO2002050713 A2 WO 2002050713A2 US 0143541 W US0143541 W US 0143541W WO 0250713 A2 WO0250713 A2 WO 0250713A2
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
data
file
computer
server
operable
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2001/043541
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2002050713A3 (en
Inventor
Juan C. Alvarado
Iii John M. Abney
Original Assignee
Schlumberger Canada Limited
Prad Research And Development N.V
Schlumberger Surenco, S.A.
Schlumberger Oilfield Assistance Limited
Schlumberger Technology B.V.
Services Petroliers Schlumberger
Schlumberger Holdings Limited
Schlumberger Overseas S.A.
Schlumberger Services Limited
Schlumberger Technology Corporation
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Schlumberger Canada Limited, Prad Research And Development N.V, Schlumberger Surenco, S.A., Schlumberger Oilfield Assistance Limited, Schlumberger Technology B.V., Services Petroliers Schlumberger, Schlumberger Holdings Limited, Schlumberger Overseas S.A., Schlumberger Services Limited, Schlumberger Technology Corporation filed Critical Schlumberger Canada Limited
Priority to CA002426675A priority Critical patent/CA2426675A1/en
Priority to AU2002237660A priority patent/AU2002237660A1/en
Priority to GB0307812A priority patent/GB2383929B/en
Publication of WO2002050713A2 publication Critical patent/WO2002050713A2/en
Publication of WO2002050713A3 publication Critical patent/WO2002050713A3/en

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Classifications

    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L67/00Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
    • H04L67/01Protocols
    • H04L67/02Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04LTRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L69/00Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
    • H04L69/30Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
    • H04L69/32Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
    • H04L69/322Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
    • H04L69/329Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Definitions

  • This invention relates in general to the field of data transmission, and in particular to the real-time streamed download of data files over a computer network.
  • Efficient and timely transmission of data is critical to the Petroleum Exploration and Production (E & P) industry.
  • E & P activities are extraordinarily expensive undertakings which often take place in locations that are remote and distant from the offices where decisions are made.
  • data is collected using a variety of surveying methods. These include land and offshore seismic surveys which are vast collections of multi-dimensional data, wireline well-logging in which data is collected from an electronic instrument lowered into a well, and measurements collected during the drilling operation itself.
  • the data acquired in from an E & P operation requires substantial processing before it is useful to malce decisions.
  • processing may include depicting the data graphically on a graphics workstation or executing one or several data interpretation programs. It is useful for that processing to occur concurrently with the acquisition of the data and transmission of the data from the field location to the location where the data is used, e.g., a data interpretation center or the headquarter of an oil company.
  • U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,772 describes a system in which petrophysical data collected at a data acquisition site is transmitted in near real time to a remote location.
  • Near real time data transmission refers herein to transmission of data concurrently with data acquisition so that the acquired data is available for viewing or other processing at a remote location nearly at the same time as it is being acquired.
  • the World Wide Web and the HTTP protocol are designed with the goal of data delivery from a web server to a web browser.
  • a web page written, for example, in html is transmitted from a server computer using the HTTP protocol over the Internet to a web browser running on a client computer.
  • the web browser interprets the web page and renders it on a screen on the client computer.
  • the standard web environment further allows for file transfer from the server to the client.
  • a web page may have a hyperlink to a document stored on the server. By clicking on the hyperlink a user may cause the transfer of the file from the server to the client and either that the document is opened in a rendering program such as Adobe Acrobat or saved to a disk file.
  • RealNetworks Inc. http://www.realnetworks.com
  • WA is a leader in media delivery over the Internet.
  • RealNetworks offer several products for distribution of multimedia.
  • RealNetworks also provides specialized, customizable developer tools for generic stream delivery.
  • a drawback with RealNetworks solution is the requirement that custom software must be installed on the client side, namely, a specialized media server.
  • the RealNetworks products operate over a custom protocol - the Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).
  • RTSP Real-Time Streaming Protocol
  • Push Technology In Push Technology transactions are typically initiated at the server based on individual user information. Push Technology provides management features and content replication. However, because transactions are initiated at the server, Push Technology would be difficult to adapt to real-time data delivery initiated by the client and would require significant software installation on the client side and a large server side infrastructure.
  • WA is a technology that allows browser side (client) scripts to invoke server side scripts using HTTP as the transport protocol and XML as the marshalling language. This technology is well suited for retrieving a small number of discrete items.
  • the invention provides a mechanism for downloading files in real-time using the HTTP protocol without requiring extensive customization on the client side.
  • the client side is capable of properly launching streaming applications and client side functionality is readily extended.
  • the invention may be embodied in a system for near real-time transfer of a datafile from a first computer to a second computer.
  • a system has a first and a second computer both having a connection to a computer network and operable to communicate over the computer network using a standard protocol.
  • a server side script responsive to a download request from a second computer, is operable to launch an httpstreamproducer and to read and write data over the computer network using the standard protocol.
  • the httpstreamproducer reads a designated source file and simultaneously writes data from the source file into a return-data-buffer connected to the server-side script.
  • a read- while-write mechanism allows the httpstreamproducer to read data from the designated source file while the designated source file is being written by a data producer program.
  • the second computer has a transaction handler class, each instance of which is operable to read and write data over the computer network using the standard protocol and to write blocks of data to a destination simultaneously with receiving data from the computer network.
  • the first computer may also have a webserver for transmitting a webpage containing a list of files available for download by other computers in which case the second computer has a corresponding webbrowser for displaying the webpage containing the list of files available for download.
  • the second computer may also have a trusted applet operable, in response to a user selecting a file from the list, to create a transaction handler instance for receiving the selected file.
  • the second computer may also include at least one stream handler class having at least one file interaction method for performing a file operation selected from the set creating a file, opening a file and writing to a file, wherein the transaction handler instance creates a stream handler instance appropriate for the file selected by the user.
  • the standard protocol may for example be http or WAP.
  • the first computer may execute a webserver for transmitting a webpage containing a list of files for download by other computers and the second computer, a webbrowser for displaying the webpage containing the list of files available for download.
  • the second computer may also execute a trusted applet which, in response to a user selecting a file from the list creates a transaction controller instance operable to manage a plurality of file transfer threads. Each file transfer thread, in response to the request from a user to download a file, executes a transaction controller instance to create a transaction handler instance for receiving data from the first computer.
  • a stream handler class has a method for receiving data from the transaction handler instance and for writing data to a destination.
  • the destination may be a data file, an application program that is a data consumer, or a database.
  • the invention may be a method for near real-time download of a file via a computer network. According to that aspect the download of a file is accomplished by operating a client to select a file for download from a server, establishing a network link between a first process executing on the client and a second process executing on the server; reading at the server the selected file one block of data at a time; transmitting the block of data as a continuous stream on the link from the server to the client; and at the client, receiving the data as a continuous stream from the link and writing the data to a destination file one block at a time simultaneously to receiving the data.
  • One link may be shared between multiple stream producer/stream handler pairs. If that is the case, the data stream is broken up into data chunks each corresponding to one stream producer/stream handler pair.
  • the invention may be an article of manufacture, namely, a program storage medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein, wherein the computer readable program code comprises instructions giving direction to a computer system, having a server side computer, a client side computer, and a computer network connecting the server side computer to the client side computer. These instructions cause the computer system to produce a list of files available for download from the server side computer and to display the list of files available for download on the client side computer. Further the instructions cause the computer system to allow a user to select on or more of the files available for download.
  • the computer readable instructions direct the computer system to create a transaction handler instance, wherein each transaction handler is operable to read and write data over the network and to transmit a request over computer network indicating to the server to transmit the selected file.
  • Further instruction include instructions to receive the request at the server and in response to receiving the request at the server read blocks of data from the selected file, place blocks of data in a return buffer, and to transmit the blocks of data from the return buffer to the client concurrently with reading additional blocks of data.
  • Further instructions include instructions to receive the blocks of data at the client; and to write the blocks of data to a destination concurrently with receiving additional blocks of data.
  • the instructions include a web page producer, a web page reader, wherein the web page reader is operable to receive and to display a web page from the web page producer, a server side script operable to receive a download request and to launch an httpstreamproducer and to receive and transmit data over a standard protocol.
  • the instructions also include an httpstreamproducer class each instance of which being operable to read a designated source file and simultaneously write data from the source file to a return-data-buffer; and a read- while- write mechanism providing the computer system instructions to enable the simultaneous reading from and writing to a data source.
  • the server script causes the computer system to read data blocks from the return-data-buffer and to transmit the data blocks over the computer network.
  • a transaction controller causes the computer system to receive a create instruction and in response to the create instruction, to create a transaction handler.
  • the transaction handler is computer readable instruction that operate to cause the computer system to create an httpstreamhandler, to transmit get commands to a server side script, to receive blocks of data from the server side script; and to transfer the data to the httpstreamhandler.
  • the httpstreamhandler is computer readable instructions to receive data from the transactionhandler; and to write data to a destination.
  • Figure 1 is a system architecture diagram of a data delivery system embodying the invention.
  • Figure 2 is a data flow diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 3 is an exemplary illustration of a web page listing files available for real-time download using an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating the architecture for a system for near real-time download according to the invention.
  • the invention is embodied in a novel data delivery mechanism that has the ability to transfer file data, from a server to a client, in real-time over HTTP and to launch real-time applications.
  • Narious techniques for data transfer using HTTP exist. However, these techniques require extensive custom software at the client and cannot readily extend the client side functionality.
  • the present invention provides a generic mechanism for downloading data over in near real-time.
  • the invention uses the HTTP and HTTPS protocols to transfer data between a server and a client.
  • the invention provides for extensibility hitherto not achievable.
  • the invention is described herein in the context of a data delivery system for the Petroleum E & P industry in which data is transferred from a data acquisition site (e.g., an oil field being explored) to a data delivery site (e.g., an oil company headquarters).
  • the invention is equally applicable to other data delivery scenarios which may benefit from the real-time delivery of data.
  • One example is the management and exploration for underground water resources.
  • Another example is the delivery of medical imaging data from a remote clinic to a hospital thereby allowing an expert physician aid a local physician in diagnosis and treatment of a patient.
  • a third example is the delivery of video and sound images.
  • Fig. 1 is a system architecture diagram of the data delivery system 10.
  • the data delivery system with its framework components has been designed around the data to be handled, the data workflow, the time domains to be accommodated, and the variety of computer platforms and network connections available. Specifically, it has been designed around three main sites or functions: the acquisition site (wellsite) 11, the delivery site (operators' office) 12, and the auxiliary sites such as the data services center 13, data management center 14, and product delivery center 15.
  • a secure central data hub 16 Although not explicitly shown in Fig. 1, there may be multiple delivery sites, auxiliary sites and acquisition sites connected to the central data hub 16.
  • the hub 16 receives data and forwards it to the required locations, either to the delivery site 12, to an auxiliary site 13-15 or to the acquisition site 11.
  • Real-time data delivery to the delivery site (in this case the operator's desktop) 12 may be achieved through the use of the HTTP protocol through a web data server 18 as described below in conjunction with Figure 2.
  • the web data server 18 may be located either within a secure Intranet or within an associated secure enclave.
  • the system can also accommodate point-to-point communication 17 directly between the acquisition site 11 and the delivery site 12.
  • this central data hub may be at least one product delivery center 15 comprised of specialized hardware and software systems designed specifically to generate hardcopy output in the form of products such as prints, tapes, films and CDs.
  • the product delivery centers 15 may be located local to or in the operators' offices at the delivery site 12 or may be located virtually anywhere, removing the need for products to be generated at the acquisition site. Network transmission to the local product delivery centers 15 greatly reduces product delivery times from remote acquisition sites.
  • the central data hub 16, product delivery center 15 and/or web data server of choice 18 are typically, but are not required to be, co- located within a single data service center.
  • the data delivery framework is flexible and can be configured in a number of ways. There are many permutations on the data delivery theme depending upon the preferences of an operator at project time, as well as the communications configuration of a given acquisition site.
  • Desktop hardware and software tools located on the operator desktop at the delivery site 12 or on desktops at the data services center 13 complete the data delivery framework system components.
  • the tools facilitate the reception, handling and manipulation of data, received either physically or electronically, and assist the operators with their next step decision process, be that data integration, interpretation, processing or archiving.
  • Data delivery from the acquisition site 11, including both measurement data and job status information, may be transmitted over satellite, landline, microwave, ISDN, cell phone, direct Ethernet connection or by any method that supports the TCP/IP protocol or any other protocol that supports HTTP.
  • the operator or the service company provides communications from the well site.
  • the service company's data acquisition system must include hardware and software to allow it to communicate over any of these various links using standard protocols. Since data files can be written over hours (wireline) or days (for, example, in logging-while-drilling (LWD) operations), the ability to transmit files as they are being created is an essential facet, crucial to timely decision-making.
  • a router-based mobile connection solution designed to facilitate connection of the acquisition unit to the most common communications methods encountered ('standard modem' dial-up, ISDN or Ethernet) may be used. Intended for mobile systems that must reconfigure their network connection on a regular basis, it consists of a router, power supplies and connectors, along with a software interface preconfigured and ready to enable any Internet Protocol (IP) based network application. It is designed for users who are not networking specialists and is straightforward to set up and run. The software 'manager' provides network and connectivity information and assists with troubleshooting, automatically indicating where and when a link has dropped out.
  • IP Internet Protocol
  • the data delivery system needs to transfer data from the often-remote temporary acquisition site 11 to a site hooked to an established communication infrastructure.
  • the data delivery system uses, for example, the HTTP protocol as described below in conjunction with Figure 2.
  • the data delivery system 10 provides for interactive, real-time, collaborative viewing of acquisition site data in the operator's office 12, which is a key and growing need in today's E&P industry. This is especially true relative to interpreting critical drilling and logging data, both of which are used for 'next step' formation evaluation and well construction decision-making.
  • drilling mechanics, resistivity and sonic data are delivered in real- time to facilitate pore pressure analysis for selecting casing points and minimizing fluid loss while drilling.
  • Sonic (Delta-T) data while drilling are delivered to data service centers for integration and correlation with seismic data in order to "put the bit on the seismic map" and update the well plan in real time.
  • LWD data are delivered for real-time integration into a reservoir model for the purpose of geosteering. Getting the logging information to the right people at the right time and place — wherever they may be relative to the well site — may be achieved through point to point communications 17 using an interactive remote witness software package, originally designed for point-to-point (standalone), two way transmission.
  • Real-time communication allows specialists to provide timely expertise on multiple wells worldwide from a central location or multiple locations.
  • FIG. 2 is a data flow diagram illustrating the real-time bulk data transfer according to the invention.
  • the data flow diagram of Figure 2 illustrates the transfer of a source file 201 residing on a server 211 to a client 213 where it may be stored as a destination file 203 or provided in real-time to a real-time application 205.
  • the client side 211 may, for example, be the acquisition system 11 or the operator desktop 12 of Figure 1.
  • the server 213 may be the web data server 18 of Figure 1.
  • a data producer running on the server side produces data that is consumed by a data handler running on the client side.
  • the data producer may be an HTTPStreamProducer 231 that reads from a data file 201.
  • the corresponding data handler is a HTTPStreamHandler 229 running on the client side 213.
  • the HTTP StreamPr oducer 231 and HttpStreamHandler 229 provide specific defined interfaces between the data transfer mechanism of the invention and the source and destination files.
  • the server side 211 and client side 213 are interfaced through a network 205.
  • a user on the client side 213 interfaces with the system using a standard web browser such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer. Alternatively, the user uses a customized web browser that provides application specific functionality.
  • the client side 213 functionality is provided by a web browser extended by a trusted Java applet 221, described herein below.
  • the client-side functionality may also be implemented as a component that may be used by other application programs.
  • An example of such an application are well-log interpretation and reservoir modeling systems, e.g., the Geoframe system from GeoQuest Corporation, Houston, Texas.
  • a system according to the invention operates according to a pull-model. That is to say, a user at a client-side 213 initiates a data transfer from the server-side 211.
  • a first step 1 the user browses to a DHTML web page 217 generated by a web server 215 on the server side 211 that displays links to source files available for download.
  • Figure 3 is a screen shot of an exemplary web page 301. Having browsed to the web page 217 the web page is transferred in a standard manner to the 213 where it is displayed 219 to the user.
  • the web page 301 contains a list of files 303a, 303b, and 303c available for download.
  • a second step 2 the user, still interacting through the web browser selects a file from the list of available source files. Typically the user would select the file by clicking on a link associated with the file. In the preferred embodiment, the selection of the file activates a trusted applet 221.
  • a trusted applet is a Java applet with a cryptographic signature applied to it so the identity of the author is certified.
  • the signature along with special software code, allows the applet to perform privileged operations such as establishing network connections or writing to files, which are generally not allowed by the security system in the Java runtime (also known as the "sandbox").
  • the trusted applet 221 asks for those privileges using browser specific APIs for that purpose.
  • the trusted applet 221 may have been previously loaded. If the trusted applet 221 does not yet reside on the client side 213, it is automatically downloaded from the server side 211.
  • the trusted applet 221 has an entry point, the get() method.
  • the get() method is an implementation of a signature (i.e., function name and arguments) agreed-upon by the trusted applet 221 and the DHTML code of the web page 217.
  • the browser at the client side 213 invokes and passes the URL (Universal
  • the URL points to a server-side script 223 (in a Microsoft implementation, the server- side script is an Active Server Pages script).
  • the arguments for the get() message are specified at the end of the URL in the standard HTTP GET syntax.
  • the HTTP GET command is an HTTP command used by a client to request a server to return some data, e.g., a file.
  • step 3 is to create a TransactionController instance.
  • the get() method of the trusted applet 211 operates to create a TransactionController instance 225 in the thread that the get() method is executing in.
  • the transaction controller 225 manages the worker threads that carry out the stream transfers.
  • the transaction controller 225 creates new threads when the applet get() method is invoked, it forwards applet events (i.e., page transitions and applet shutdown) to the active threads, and shuts down the active threads when the browser exits.
  • applet events i.e., page transitions and applet shutdown
  • the TransactionController instance 225 creates a TransactionHandler thread 227 for the file to be downloaded.
  • the TransactionHandler establishes a connection to a remote stream producer and moving data from the server-side ASP script 223 to a client-side HTTPStreamHandler instance 229.
  • the HTTPSTreamHandler implements an open() method which when invoked creates a destination file.
  • the TransactionHandler 227 creates the HTTPStreamHandler instance 229. If time-outs are enabled and no data is available the com ection is timed out to prevent having open connections without activity. If the connection is timed- out, it is reestablished after a pre-defined waiting period.
  • the TransactionHandler 227 invokes the open() method of the HTTPStreamHandler 229.
  • the open() method creates the destination file 203 and optionally launches the real-time application.
  • the original URL string is passed to the open() call.
  • the HTTPStreamHandler 229 modifies the arguments in the string as may be appropriate.
  • the URL string is how the HTTPStreamHandler communicates with its server counterpart, the HTTPStreamProducer.
  • a real-time file transfer system according to the invention provides an error-recovery mechanism. If a part of a file is already present on the client-side 213 the HTTPStreamHandler 229 indicates in the URL string how much of the file is present to the server-side 211.
  • the received data may be directed to a real-time application, for example, a data viewer such as Schlumberger's PDSNiew program. That scenario is illustrated in Figure 2 using the TransactionHandler 227' and the HTTPStreamHandler 229'.
  • the HTTPStreamHandler 229' launches the real-time application 205, step 5'.
  • no destination file is opened and the data is directly streamed to the real-time application 205.
  • a read while write mechanism 206 allows data to be written to a destination file 203' simultaneously as being presented to the real-time application 205.
  • two stream handlers are shown: HTTPStreamHandler 229 and HTTPStreamHandler 229'. In practice there is no limit on how many stream handlers operate in parallel.
  • step 6 the TransactionHandler 227 attempts to connect to the server-side 211 by sending an HTTP GET request using the URL string (possibly modified, if appropriate). Over a successfully established connection, the TransactionHandler 227 (or TranactionHandler 227') enters a state of being capable of receiving data from the server-side 211 via an https RESPONSE message.
  • An HTTP GET message is a request from a client for a delivery of something (e.g., a file) specified in the argument presented to the HTTP GET.
  • the HTTP RESPONSE message is the server's answer to the HTTP GET.
  • HTTPStreamProducer 229 In the discussion here in, for purposes of illustration, two stream producers are shown: HTTPStreamProducer 229 and HTTPStreamProducer 229'. In practice there is no limit on how many stream producers operate in parallel.
  • the HTTP protocol limits the number of connections between a client and a server to two.
  • the stream of data from the server to the client may service multiple HTTP stream producer - HTTP streamhandler pairs by breaking up the stream into multiple request-response pairs, wherein each request-response pair corresponds to a portion of a file to be downloaded.
  • the transaction handlers 227 alternate in accessing the data stream in a round-robin fashion.
  • step 7 when the connection has been established, in response to the get() message, the server-side script 223 creates an appropriate type of HttpSfreamProducer 231.
  • An HttpStreamProducer 231 and a Http Streamhandler 229 work together, that is to say, these components agree on the structure and meaning of the data stream.
  • an HttpStreamProducer 231 that reads data from a database should be paired with an HttpStreamHandler 229 that is designed to interpret the database stream.
  • the ASP script 223 parses the URL string and creates the right HttpStreamProducer 231 based on the name provided.
  • An HttpStreamProducer is a server-side component that implements the producer interface (a preferred embodiment producer interface is set forth in the code appendix).
  • the producer interface defines how a stream producing agent provides services to the server-side script 223. This common interface allows any agent to be used without regard to how it is implemented. Thus, you could have a database stream producer, and a serial file stream producer, and either could be accessed by a single ASP script via the common interface.
  • the ASP script 223 calls the open() method of the HttpStreamProducer 231 to open the source file to be transferred.
  • the source file may be a source file that is in the process of being generated, e.g., from a data source 233.
  • a data stream is fed from the data source 233 to a read while write mechanism 235.
  • the data may then be simultaneously written to a source file 201' and transmitted to an HttpStreamProducer 231 ' .
  • source file 201 and 201' For illustrative purposes two source files are shown: source file 201 and 201'. In practice many more files may exist or be in the process of being created on the server side 211.
  • the server-side script 223 calls the open() method of the HttpStreamProducer 231 or 231' passing it the URL string as an argument. If the call succeeds, the SERVER-SIDE script 223 then repeatedly calls the getHeaderAtQ method of the HttpStreamProducer to get any headers that should be passed to the client side 213 and adds these to the response message.
  • step 8 to retrieve the data of the data file 201 or 201', the server-side script 223 repeatedly calls the f ⁇ llBuffer() method of the HttpStreamProducer 231 or 231'. Each call to fiUBuffer() prompts the HttpStreamProducer 231 or 231' to fill a buffer of data.
  • step 9 the buffer of data that is returned from the call to fillBuffer() is written in a response message from the HttpStreamProducer 231 or 231' to the server- side script 223.
  • a system according to the present invention provides for real-time transfer of data from a serial data file.
  • the code appendix includes an implementation of the HttpStreamProducer interface called SerialFileProducer.
  • the SerialFileProducer implementation i.e., one
  • HttpStreamProducer instance 231) of the HttpStreamProducer interface operates to produce a data stream from real-time serial file 201' using a Read- While- rite mechanism 235. If the HttpStreamProducer 231' is a SerialFileProducer and the buffer represents bytes read from a file, e.g., source file 201', that is being uploaded to the server-side 211.
  • step 10 the server-side Script 223 upon receiving buffers of data from the HttpStreamProducer 231 or 231 ' transmits the data buffer in an https response message to where the data buffer is received by the TransactionHandler 227.
  • the response is streamed continuously to the client side 213 over an open https connection.
  • step 11 the Trans ActionHandler 227 upon receiving data over the open https connection, calls the WriteBlock() method of the HttpStreamHandler 229 or 229'.
  • the TransActionHandler 227 and HttpStreamHandler 229 or 229' for one transaction runs in a separate thread.
  • the TransActionHandler 227 and HttpStreamHandler 229 shut themselves down.
  • the functionality of an embodiment of the invention is readily extended by adding a new HttpStreamProducer and a new HttpStreamHandler and plugging these components into the system.
  • a user wishing to use the extension downloads the new HttpStreamHandler class from server-side 211.
  • the trusted applet 221 creates an instance of the new HttpStreamHandler.
  • the transport of data between the server-side 211 and client-side 213 proceeds as described above.
  • the process described above in conjunction with Figure 3 may be repeated for multiple files in parallel. While one or more file transfers are in progress the user may again select one of the available files from the web page 219 for download. This action by the user triggers the invocation of another get() on the trusted applet 221.
  • the trusted applet 221 then directs the transaction controller 225 to create another transactionhandler instance 227 which, in turn, creates another HttpStreamHandler instance appropriate for this file download.
  • the server-side Script 223 when the server-side Script 223 receives a further request for an additional file download, the server-side Script 223 creates a new HttpStreamProducer 231 instance appropriate for that file. In one embodiment the communication between corresponding
  • HttpStreamProducer-HttpStreamHandler pairs is carried out on a dedicated http connection between the server-side 211 and client-side 213.
  • a fixed maximum number of connections are established. If the number of file transfers that are being carried out in parallel exceeds that maximum number, the client Java Runtime causes the files to be transmitted on the established connections in a shared fashion, for example, in a round-robin scheme.
  • FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the architecture for a system for near real- time download according to one embodiment of the invention.
  • a server-side computer 211 is connected to a client-side computer 213 via network 205.
  • the sever- side computer has a central processing unit (CPU) 401.
  • the client-side computer 213 has a central processing unit (CPU) 403.
  • the server side CPU 401 is connected to one or more disk drives or other permanent storage system 405.
  • a client-side computer 211 may have many disk drives or other permanent storage systems.
  • the disk drive or storage system 405 stores the source files 201.
  • the disk drive or storage system 405 stores the server-side script 223 and an HttpStreamProducer class 431.
  • the CPU 401 loads the server-side script 223.
  • Appendix A contains an exemplary server-side script 223.
  • the server-side script creates an HTTPStreamProducer instance 231. That HTTPStreamProducer instance is derived from an HTTPStreamProducer class 431 stored on disk drive 405.
  • Appendix B contains a program listing of an exemplary HTTPStreamProducer class 431.
  • the data stream is compressed.
  • the HttpStreamProducer 231 and HttpStreamHandler 229 are directed to turn on compression through the URL passed via the HTTP GET ( Figure 2, step 6) and HTTP RESPONSE ( Figure 2, step 10) commands, respectively.
  • the compression may, for example, be the compression algorithm provided through the standard JAVA runtime environment. Other compression algorithms may also be used.
  • the HttpStreamProducer 231 is requested to provide a buffer of data through the f ⁇ llbufferQ message ( Figure 2, step 8), it compresses the data placed in the buffer before providing the data in the ReturnBuffer() message ( Figure 2, step 9).
  • the HttpStreamHandler 229 decompresses the data before writing the data to a destination file 203 or providing it to a real-time application 205.
  • One embodiment of the invention is implemented in the source code of the source code appendices, namely:
  • TRACE "Browser can host TRX client”
  • KillableFrame fakeFrame new KillableFrame ( "False frame”); ModalOKDialog mokd; try ⁇
  • URL Request. ServerVariables ("URL" )
  • ReconstructedURL URL + "?” + Params lg.Log 0, "Opening stream with " + sProducer, 0 on error resume next fio . open ReconstructedURL if err ⁇ > 0 then lg.Log 3, "Producer open failure: " & Err .description, 0
  • EventReceiver eventReceiver public String open(String urlString) throws IOException, MalformedURLException, ClientNo Interes edException; public void writeBlock(byte [] dataToWrite, int size) throws IOException, ClientNot interestedException; public void reportHeaders (Dictionary headers) throws ClientNo InterestedExcep ion; public long getFlags ( ) ; public void close () throws IOException;
  • the SerialFileHandler is one implementation of the HttpStreamHandler. It is the
  • ModalOKDialog mokd new ModalOKDialog (parentFrame, "File Output Error", Msg); mokd. sho ( ) ; throw new ClientNotlnterestedException (Msg) ;
  • headerDictionary headers; processLengthHeaders ( ) ; processErrorHeaders ( ) ; parentFrame . startThroughputTimer ( ) ;
  • writeBlock() will take in a byte[] and write
  • EventSignal sig */ public synchronized void signal (EventSignal sig) ⁇
  • if (parentFrame ! null) ⁇ parentFrame. setMaxCoun (transferLength) ; ⁇
  • ModalOKDialog mokd new ModalOKDialog (parentFrame, "File not found”, “Sorry, that file was not found on the remote server.”); mokd. show ( ) ; throw new ClientNotlnterestedException ( "File not found on remote server”);
  • FileDialog fileSelect new FileDialog (f, "Save File Location” ) ;
  • TRACE " Instantiated”
  • defaultDestDirectory selectedDirectory
  • TRACE "promptForLocalFile () : got " + selectedDirectory + selectedFileName) ; return new File (selectedDirectory + selectedFileName);
  • ModalOKDialog mbox new ModalOKDialog (parentFrame,
  • TRACE "User chose to refer to a different file”); return null; default:
  • This method brings up a dialog box that asks the user whether or not they would like to recover the old transfer.
  • TRACE " In userRecoverySelection ( ) " ) ;
  • ModalOKDialog mbox new ModalOKDialog (parentFrame, "Output File
  • TRACE "User chose to refer to a different file”); return null; default:
  • writeSemaphoreFile * This writes out the semaphore, signalling the beginning of a session. If the * file already exists, displayErrorMessage ( ) is called. */ private void writeSemaphoreFile ( ) throws IOException ⁇ Debug.TRACE ( " In writeSemaphoreFile ( ) " ) ; if ( semaphoreFile. exists () ) ⁇
  • FileOutputStream semFos new FileOutputStream(semaphoreFile) ;
  • PrintWriter semPw new PrintWriter (semFos) ; se P .prin (SEMAPHORE_MAGIC) ; semPw. flush( ) ; semPw. close ( ) ; semFos . close ( ) ;
  • TRACE "createDestStreamAndLauncher ( ] created uncompressed stream” ) ; return fos; ⁇ else ⁇
  • TRACE "createDestStreamAndLauncher ( created compressed stream”); return new DecompressOutputStream( fos) ; ⁇ /* deleteSemaphoreFile ( )
  • TRACE Got null file in deleteSemaphoreFile ( ) " ) ; return deleted;
  • This class is designed to be packaged with a COM DLL output format.
  • SerialFileProducer implements streamproducer .
  • This method creates a buffer of data to send back to the caller in the form of
  • File actualFile new File (fileName) ; headers . addHeader (HeaderEnumeration. CONTENT_LENGTH , String . valueOf ( actualFile . length ( ) ) ) ;
  • Private member variables */ private String initialURLString; private CustomURLBuilder builder; private byte[] readBuffer; private byte[] returnBuffer; private boolean openedSuccessfully; private int compressionLevel; private ManualOutputStream mos; private DeflaterOutputStream compOs; private boolean compressionStreamlsOpen; private String fileName; private String fileld; private RwwFile fileToRead; private long fileStartPos; private IEhubLog m_Log;
  • This class represents a way to centrally control all ongoing transactions .
  • This method causes a new transaction to be started on the given URL. It spawns a new
  • TransactionHandler transHandler new TransactionHandler (urlString) ; transHandler . start ( ) ;
  • EventSignal sig new EventSignal ( EventSignal . APPLET_START ) ; broadcastEventSignal ( sig) ;
  • EventSignal sig new EventSignal (EventSignal .APPLET_STOP) ; broadcastEventSignal (sig) ;
  • This class represents the threads that are spawned by the TransactionController.
  • EventSignal sig public synchronized void signal
  • TRACE "TransactionHandler . signal ( ) : caught e. toString ( ) ) ;
  • TRACE "prepareConnection ( ) session has expired”
  • handler signal
  • new EventSignal EventSignal .CONNECTION_NOT_ESTABLISHED
  • throw new ClientNotlnterestedException () ;
  • Privi1egeManager enablePrivi1ege ( "Netcaster” ) ; PrivilegeManager . enablePrivilege ( "UniversalExecAccess “ ) ; connectionLoop ( ) ; ⁇
  • PolicyEngine assertPermission (PermissionlD. SYSTEM) ; connectionLoop ( ) ;
  • KillableFrame kf new KillableFrame ( "Fakeout frame”); ModalOKDialog bokd;
  • TRACE "prepareConnection ( ) failed to create handler ! " ) ;
  • RACE "Client signalled CNIE, closing connection” closeConnection ( ) ; return; ⁇ catch (IOException e) ⁇ handler . signal (new EventSignal (EventSignal .CONNECTION_BAD) ) ;
  • TRACE "blockForBuffer () : Signalling bad connection” ) ;
  • Hashtable hash new Hashtable ( ) ;
  • connection must remain ideal in order to be considered timed out .
  • Private member variables */ private HttpStreamHandlerFactory handlerFactory; private boolean handlerReady; private CustomURLBuilder builder; private int timeoutlnterval; private HttpStreamHandler handler; private byte[] buffer; private String originalURLString, finalURLString; private URLConnection theConnection null; private InputStream urlstream; private boolean inNetworkRead; private boolean handlerlsClosed;

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
  • Information Retrieval, Db Structures And Fs Structures Therefor (AREA)
PCT/US2001/043541 2000-12-18 2001-11-14 Real-time streamed data download system and method WO2002050713A2 (en)

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US09/741,618 US20020083182A1 (en) 2000-12-18 2000-12-18 Real-time streamed data download system and method

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CA2426675A1 (en) 2002-06-27
WO2002050713A3 (en) 2003-07-31
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GB2383929B (en) 2004-12-15
US20020083182A1 (en) 2002-06-27
GB2383929A (en) 2003-07-09

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