1. A vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure comprising:
a vehicle rear end structure including a taillight receiving recess and a tailgate support structure;
a taillight assembly detachably disposed in the taillight receiving recess of the vehicle rear end structure;
a vehicle tailgate pivotally coupled to the tailgate support structure to open and close by rotation about a tailgate pivot axis; and
a lift assist device located entirely within the taillight receiving recess, with a first connection of the lift assist device coupled to the vehicle tailgate and a second connection of the lift assist device coupled to an interior surface within the taillight receiving recess, the lift assist device being configured to dampen opening movement of the vehicle tailgate relative to the vehicle rear end structure and to apply a closing torque to the vehicle tailgate during closing movement of the vehicle tailgate relative to the vehicle rear end structure.
2. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein
the tailgate support structure includes a tailgate hinge and a hinge reinforcement bracket disposed within the taillight receiving recess that is directly attached to two generally perpendicular surfaces for supporting the tailgate hinge.
3. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein
the tailgate support structure includes a tailgate hinge and a hinge reinforcement bracket having a first reinforcing part coupled directly to a first wall of the taillight receiving recess that supports the tailgate hinge, a second reinforcing part coupled directly to a second wall of the taillight receiving recess and at least one brace coupled between the first and second reinforcing parts.
4. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 3, wherein
the first reinforcing part of the hinge reinforcement bracket is attached to the first wall of the taillight receiving recess by at least two attachment points and the second reinforcing part of the hinge reinforcement bracket is attached to the second wall of the taillight receiving recess by at least two attachment points.
5. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 4, wherein
the second wall includes a supporting plate reinforcing in an area adjacent the second connection of the lift assist device.
6. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein
the lift assist device is configured to apply a closing force of at least about 115 Newtons, and the tailgate support structure includes a tailgate hinge and a hinge reinforcement bracket that are configured and arranged to withstand the closing force.
7. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein
the interior surface supporting the lift assist device is part of a wall that includes a supporting plate disposed at the second connection of the lift assist device.
8. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein
the tailgate support structure includes a tailgate hinge with a pivot bearing arrangement to form a rotary joint about the tailgate pivot axis.
9. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 1, wherein
the vehicle tailgate includes a pivot pin extending from the vehicle tailgate into the taillight receiving recess, the pivot pin having a bellcrank arm fixed thereto within taillight receiving recess with a distal end of the bellcrank arm having a first attachment pin that is attached to a second end of the lift assist device, and
the second connection of the lift assist device is attached to a second attachment pin that is supported by the interior surface within the taillight receiving recess.
10. The vehicle tailgate lift assist support structure as set forth in claim 9, wherein
the first attachment pin extends in a direction generally parallel to the tailgate pivot axis, and
the second attachment pin extends in a direction that is generally perpendicular to the direction of the first attachment pin.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method comprising:
aggregating, by an application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server that stores network topology information for a network of a plurality of endpoints that provides a service, the plurality of endpoints into a plurality of PIDs, wherein each PID of the plurality of PIDs includes one or more endpoints of the plurality of endpoints;
generating, by the ALTO server, an ALTO map for the service that includes representations of each of the PIDs and outputting the ALTO map to a client of the ALTO server;
receiving, by the ALTO server, a status update for an endpoint of the plurality of endpoints that comprises information indicating a condition of the endpoint that affects a performance of the endpoint with respect to the service;
generating, by the ALTO server and based on the status update for the endpoint, an updated ALTO map and an incremental map revision that enables the client of the ALTO server to conform the ALTO map to the updated ALTO map to account for the received information for the endpoint; and
sending, by the ALTO server to the client, the incremental map revision.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
modifying a PID of the plurality of PIDs to modify an association with the endpoint,
wherein generating the updated ALTO map comprises, in response to modifying the PID, generating the updated ALTO network map to include a representation of the modified PID.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the PID comprises removing an association with the endpoint.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein modifying the PID comprises adding an association with the endpoint.
5. The method of claim 1,
wherein the ALTO map comprises an ALTO cost map that includes one or more cost entries that each specify a different pair of the plurality of PIDs and an associated value that represents a cost between the members of the PID pair for the service, and
wherein generating the updated ALTO map comprises modifying an associated value for a cost entry of the cost entries in the ALTO cost map using the received information.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the service comprises one of a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) service, a file transfer protocol (FTP) service, a media streaming service, domain name service (DNS), and an advertising service.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the incremental map revision comprises one or more instructions to cause the client to conform the ALTO map stored by the client to the updated ALTO map.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the condition of the endpoint comprises one of a network condition, availability of a content on the endpoint, an availability of the service, and a health of the endpoint.
9. A method comprising:
receiving, by a client of an application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server from the ALTO server, an ALTO map for a service that includes representations of a plurality of PIDs, wherein each PID of the plurality of PIDs includes one or more of the plurality of endpoints;
receiving, by the client from the ALTO server, an incremental map revision; and
applying, by the client, the incremental map revision to the ALTO map to conform the ALTO map to an updated ALTO map of the ALTO server.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the service comprises one of a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) service, a file transfer protocol (FTP) service, a media streaming service, domain name service (DNS), and an advertising service.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the incremental map revision comprises one or more instructions to cause the client to conform the ALTO map stored by the client to the updated ALTO map of the ALTO server.
12. The method of claim 9,
wherein the ALTO map comprises an ALTO cost map that includes one or more cost entries that each specify a different pair of the plurality of PIDs and an associated value that represents a cost between the members of the PID pair for the service, and
wherein applying the incremental map revision to the ALTO map comprises modifying an associated value for a cost entry of the cost entries in the ALTO cost map.
13. An application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server comprising:
a network information base configured to store network topology information for a network of a plurality of endpoints that provides a service;
a map module configured to aggregate the plurality of endpoints into a plurality of PIDs, wherein each PID of the plurality of PIDs includes one or more endpoints of the plurality of endpoints,
wherein the map module is configured to generate an ALTO map for the service that includes representations of each of the PIDs and outputting the ALTO map to a client of the ALTO server;
a resource interface configured to receive a status update for an endpoint of the plurality of endpoints that comprises information indicating a condition of the endpoint that affects a performance of the endpoint with respect to the service,
wherein the map module is configured to generate, based on the status update for the endpoint, an updated ALTO map and an incremental map revision that enables the client of the ALTO server to conform the ALTO map to the updated ALTO map to account for the received information for the endpoint difference engine to determine a difference between the first ALTO map and the second ALTO map; and
a client interface to send, to the client, the incremental map revision.
14. The ALTO server of claim 13,
wherein the map module is configured to modify a PID of the plurality of PIDs to modify an association with the endpoint,
wherein, to generate the updated ALTO map, the map module is configured to modifying the PID, generating the updated ALTO network map to include a representation of the modified PID.
15. The ALTO server of claim 14, wherein the map module is configured to modify the PID comprises by removing an association with the endpoint.
16. The ALTO server of claim 14, wherein the map module is configured to modify the PID comprises by adding an association with the endpoint.
17. The ALTO server of claim 13,
wherein the ALTO map comprises an ALTO cost map that includes one or more cost entries that each specify a different pair of the plurality of PIDs and an associated value that represents a cost between the members of the PID pair for the service, and
wherein, to generate the updated ALTO map, the map module is configured to modifying an associated value for a cost entry of the cost entries in the ALTO cost map using the received information.
18. The ALTO server of claim 13, wherein the service comprises one of a hyper-text transfer protocol (HTTP) service, a file transfer protocol (FTP) service, a media streaming service, domain name service (DNS), and an advertising service.
19. The ALTO server of claim 13, wherein the incremental map revision comprises one or more instructions to cause the client to conform the ALTO map stored by the client to the updated ALTO map.
20. A network device that is a client of an application-layer traffic optimization (ALTO) server, the network device comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive, from the ALTO server, an ALTO map for a service that includes representations of a plurality of PIDs, wherein each PID of the plurality of PIDs includes one or more of the plurality of endpoints;
receive, from the ALTO server, an incremental map revision; and
apply the incremental map revision to the ALTO map to conform the ALTO map to an updated ALTO map of the ALTO server.