Abstract: A method of providing assured message delivery with low latency and high message throughput, in which a message is stored in non-volatile, low latency memory with associated destination list and other meta data. The message is only removed from this low-latency non-volatile storage when an acknowledgement has been received from each destination indicating that the message has been successfully received, or if the message is in such memory for a period exceeding a time threshold or if memory resources are running low, the message and associated destination list and other meta data is migrated to other persistent storage. The data storage engine can also be used for other high throughput applications.

Abstract: A communications apparatus includes several functional modules for implementing an application, a pair of switch modules to provide redundant switching capability for transferring frames between the functional modules. Each functional module is connected to each switch module by a frame-based communication link. A redundancy logic unit at each functional module inserts sequence numbers into outgoing frames, replicates the outgoing frames for forwarding to each of said switch modules, and monitors incoming frames from each of the switch modules to select frames for forwarding to an application based on the sequence numbers. In this way, redundancy is maintained at all times, while duplicate frames are eliminated at the receiving module.

Abstract: A method of matching subscriptions to published documents in a content-routed network involves receiving subscription information, receiving published documents, storing the subscription information and the published documents in memory, instructing an accelerator of the locations in memory of the published documents, transferring portions of the stored published documents from the memory to the accelerator on an as-needed basis, providing the subscription information to the accelerator, and processing the portions in the accelerator to perform subscription matching in the accelerator independently of other functions in the content-router. The accelerator preferably includes a pipeline. In this way, efficiently highly scalable subscription matching can be performed efficiently on a very large number of subscriptions.

Abstract: A method of adding meta-data to document in a content-routed network including a plurality of routers interconnected by links involves adding an encoded meta-tag to the document.

Abstract: An implicit routing protocol for content-based networks having a plurality of XML routers includes an XML Link State Protocol and an XML Subscription Management Protocol that routes customer data based on XML content. The XML Link State Protocol and the XML Subscription Management Protocol includes several messages that must be exchanged between XML routers in the network. These messages are encoded using XML.

Abstract: In a method of performing the asynchronous delivery of messages from a server to a client, the server receives the messages for the client from a message source. The server and client communicate over a packet network using an asymmetric protocol that requires request messages to be originated from the client to the server. At least one request message is sent in advance from the client to the server, and these request messages are stored at the server. When the server receives a message for the client from the message source, it forwards the message to the client as a response to a stored request message.

Abstract: A method for exchanging control and customer data between network element in a communications network involves establishing a virtual connection between the routers, and exchanging the control and customer data over an http layer.

Abstract: A method of providing a shared application infrastructure simultaneously to multiple independent virtual private networks with potentially overlapping IP addresses, involves connecting to an underlying layer 1, 2 or 3 virtual private network offering one or more virtual private networks, determining which virtual private network traffic is being received from or sent into, maintaining logically separate routing tables per VPN to allow overlapping addresses, and providing an application which provides a logical instance of the service to each VPN.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for converting documents from one format to another in a speed efficient way involves a hardware module which implements several operating pipeline stages which work in parallel. The transformations are supplied and decomposed into sequences of control units. The transformation of documents consists of applying control unit sequences to input documents. The control units are themselves executed by a set of dedicated hardware resources. Furthermore the pipeline is capable of operating on more than one document at a time. Fast document transformation is a key capability of document processing systems. The use of parallel processing techniques and hardware that implements highly specialized transformation resources make this invention particularly scalable for its use in large, high speed content networks.

Abstract: A method of providing router redundancy within a distributed network of routers, wherein messages are routed within the network based on virtual router identifiers, involves organizing the routers into one or more redundancy groups; assigning a physical identifier to each router in each of the redundancy groups; assigning one or more virtual identifiers to each redundancy group; selecting one of the routers of a particular redundancy group as a currently active router associated with a particular virtual identifier assigned to that redundancy group; advertising among the distributed network of routers for each redundancy group the physical identifier for the active router and information enabling other routers to determine the virtual identifier with which the currently active router is associated; and forwarding messages destined for a particular virtual router identifier to the currently active router based on the physical identifier of the currently active router.

Abstract: A method of managing a content routed network, involves distributing published documents through said network for delivery to subscribers; maintaining data logs pertaining to said published documents at different points in the network; and correlating the data logs to obtain information about the operation of the network.

Abstract: A method of matching subscriptions to published documents in a content-routed network involves receiving subscription information, receiving published documents, storing the subscription information and the published documents in memory, instructing an accelerator of the locations in memory of the published documents, transferring portions of the stored published documents from the memory to the accelerator on an as-needed basis, providing the subscription information to the accelerator, and processing the portions in the accelerator to perform subscription matching in the accelerator independently of other functions in the content-router. The accelerator preferably includes a pipeline. In this way, efficiently highly scalable subscription matching can be performed efficiently on a very large number of subscriptions.

Abstract: A method of assigning a priority to a document in a content-routed network including a plurality of routers interconnected by links, involves matching rules against the content of a received document to assign a priority, mapping the priority onto an egress link, and mapping the egress links onto the interconnect network between content routers to achieve end-to-end quality of service.

Abstract: An implicit routing protocol for content-based networks having a plurality of XML routers includes an XML Link State Protocol and an XML Subscription Management Protocol that routes customer data based on XML content. The XML Link State Protocol and the XML Subscription Management Protocol includes several messages that must be exchanged between XML routers in the network. These messages are encoded using XML.

Abstract: In a method of managing a content-based network, which is typically XML-based, and optionally may be overlaid on an underlying network having a plurality of network elements interconnected by links, a link state protocol maintains each network element's topological view of the overlay network from the underlying network. A subscription management protocol ensures dissemination of published content within the content-based network independently of the link state protocol.

Abstract: A method for exchanging control and customer data between network element in a communications network involves establishing a virtual connection between the routers, and exchanging the control and customer data over an http layer.

Abstract: In a method of managing a content-based network including a plurality of content routers, such as XML routers, dynamic links are established between the content routers which are not direct neighbors.

Abstract: A carrier grade content router, includes a distinct management plane for housing externally visible management applications, and coordinating and relaying external management requests to appropriate underlying application code in the router; a distinct control plane for running control protocols required within an XML routed network; and a distinct data plane for receiving and forwarding customer data. Some functions can be implemented in software or via a hardware accelerator.

Abstract: A method of adding meta-data to document in a content-routed network including a plurality of routers interconnected by links involves adding an encoded meta-tag to the document.