Hierarchical space partitioning for scalable data dissemination in large-scale distributed interactive applications

摘要

We present exemplary methods involving hierarchical indexing of an application space, and exemplary techniques for scalable management of shared application state update distribution. The application space is partially replicated at each individual client who controls a limited number of static and dynamic objects of the application space. State updates are generated for each modification of objects' dynamic attributes. Multiple dynamic objects may change state simultaneously, requiring dissemination of the state updates to non-overlapping groups of clients. A client's communication interest is described using multiple dynamic attributes. The communication interest space is represented as an N-dimensional attribute space with coordinates spanning the set of dynamic object attributes contained in the communication interest space. We provide a method for partitioning the application space, creation of communication interest cells and hierarchical indexing of the communication interest space. In addition we provide methods for the creation and dynamic modification of the hierarchical index.