Asset streaming and delivery

• US 10,009,399 B2
• Filed: 07/25/2016
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Numecent Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Numecent Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Kent, Osman, Hitomi, Arthur S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Madamba, Glenford
• Application Number:
  US15/218,085
• Publication Number:
  US 20160337427A1
• Time in Patent Office: 701 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72406 by software upgrading or downloading

Abstract

Streaming assets to an asset streaming client is described. An asset streaming system is configured to generate a request to retrieve at least a portion of an asset. The asset streaming system is part of an asset streaming client and integrated in an operating system abstraction level with the operating system or in an abstraction level beneath the operating system abstraction level. An asset provider system can receive the request that is generated by the asset streaming system and provide the portion of the asset to the asset streaming system. The asset streaming client can then exploit the portion of the asset.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at an asset streaming hypervisor layer a request for a portion of an operating system virtualized at an asset streaming client in an operating system image layer, the asset streaming hypervisor layer implemented between a hardware layer and an asset layer at the asset streaming client;

determining if the portion of the operating system is stored locally at the asset streaming client;

if it is determined that the portion of the operating system is stored in local storage at the asset streaming client;

retrieving the portion of the operating system from the local storage;

providing the portion of the operating system retrieved from the local storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client;

if it is determined that the portion of the operating system is absent from the local storage;

sending a request to retrieve the portion of the operating system from remote storage;

receiving the portion of the operating system from the remote storage in response to the request;

providing the portion of the operating system received from the remote storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing a virtualized application at the asset streaming client using the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing a virtualized application at the asset streaming client using the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client;

intercepting a request for a portion of the virtualized application at the asset streaming client;

determining if the portion of the virtualized application is stored in the local storage at the asset streaming client;

if it is determined that the portion of the virtualized application is stored in the local storage at the asset streaming client;

retrieving the portion of the virtualized application from the local storage;

providing the portion of the virtualized application to the operating system layer for continued execution of the virtualized application at the asset streaming client;

if it is determined that the portion of the virtualized application is absent from the local storage;

sending a virtualized application request to retrieve the portion of the virtualized application from remote storage;

receiving the portion of the virtualized application from the remote storage in response to the virtualized application request;

providing the portion of the virtualized application received from the remote storage for continued execution of the virtualized application at the asset streaming client.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the portion of the virtualized application is provided to an asset layer implemented above the operating system image layer for use in continued execution of the virtualized application by the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the asset streaming client, an instance of the asset streaming client indicating portions of the operating system currently residing in local storage at the asset streaming client;

using the instance of the asset streaming client to determine if the portion of the operating system resides in the local storage.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

intercepting at the asset streaming hypervisor layer a request for a portion of another operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client in a second operating system image layer concurrently with the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client in the operating system image layer;

determining if the portion of the another operating system is stored locally at the asset streaming client;

if it is determined that the portion of the another operating system is stored in the local storage at the asset streaming client;

retrieving the portion of the another operating system from the local storage;

providing the portion of the another operating system retrieved from the local storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the another operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client;

if it is determined that the portion of the another operating system is absent from the local storage;

sending a request to retrieve the portion of the another operating system from the remote storage;

receiving the portion of the another operating system from the remote storage in response to the request;

providing the portion of the another operating system received from the remote storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the another operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the portion of the operating system received from the remote storage in the local storage;

updating an instance of the asset streaming client to indicate that the portion of the operating system is stored in the local storage.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving another portion of the operating system from the remote storage, the another portion of the operating system predicted to be needed for future execution of the operating system absent being requested;

storing the another portion of the operating system in the local storage.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the another portion of the operating system is predicted based on an identification of the portion of the operating system requested from the remote storage.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the another portion of the operating system is provided to the asset streaming client from the remote storage according to a weight given to a plurality of portions of the operating system including the another portion of the operating system.

11. A system comprising:

an asset streaming file system abstraction engine configured to receive at an asset streaming hypervisor layer a request for a portion of an operating system virtualized at an asset streaming client in an operating system image layer, the asset streaming hypervisor layer implemented between a hardware layer and an asset layer at the asset streaming client;

an asset cache management engine configured to;

determine if the portion of the operating system is stored locally at the asset streaming client;

retrieve the portion of the operating system from the local storage, if it is determined that the portion of the operating system is stored in local storage at the asset streaming client;

provide the portion of the operating system retrieved from the local storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client;

an asset request engine configured to;

send a request to retrieve the portion of the operating system from remote storage, if it is determined that the portion of the operating system is absent from the local storage;

receive the portion of the operating system from the remote storage in response to the request;

provide the portion of the operating system received from the remote storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the asset streaming file system abstraction engine is further configured to execute a virtualized application at the asset streaming client using the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

the asset streaming file system abstraction engine further configured to;

execute a virtualized application at the asset streaming client using the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client;

intercept a request for a portion of the virtualized application at the asset streaming client;

the asset cache management engine further configured to;

determine if the portion of the virtualized application is stored in the local storage at the asset streaming client;

retrieve the portion of the virtualized application from the local storage, if it is determined that the portion of the virtualized application is stored in the local storage at the asset streaming client;

provide the portion of the virtualized application to the operating system layer for continued execution of the virtualized application at the asset streaming client;

the asset request engine further configured to;

send a virtualized application request to retrieve the portion of the virtualized application from remote storage, if it is determined that the portion of the virtualized application is absent from the local storage;

receive the portion of the virtualized application from the remote storage in response to the virtualized application request;

provide the portion of the virtualized application received from the remote storage for continued execution of the virtualized application at the asset streaming client.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the portion of the virtualized application is provided to an asset layer implemented above the operating system image layer for use in continued execution of the virtualized application by the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the asset cache management engine is further configured to:

receive an instance of the asset streaming client indicating portions of the operating system currently residing in local storage at the asset streaming client;

use the instance of the asset streaming client to determine if the portion of the operating system resides in the local storage.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

the asset streaming file system abstraction engine further configured to intercept at the asset streaming hypervisor layer a request for a portion of another operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client in a second operating system image layer concurrently with the operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client in the operating system image layer;

the asset cache management engine further configured to;

determine if the portion of the another operating system is stored locally at the asset streaming client;

retrieve the portion of the another operating system from the local storage, if it is determined that the portion of the another operating system is stored in the local storage at the asset streaming client;

provide the portion of the another operating system retrieved from the local storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the another operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client;

an asset request engine configured to;

send a request to retrieve the portion of the another operating system from the remote storage, if it is determined that the portion of the another operating system is absent from the local storage;

receive the portion of the another operating system from the remote storage in response to the request;

provide the portion of the another operating system received from the remote storage to the operating system image layer for continued execution of the another operating system virtualized at the asset streaming client.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the asset cache management engine is further configured to:

store the portion of the operating system received from the remote storage in the local storage;

update an instance of the asset streaming client to indicate that the portion of the operating system is stored in the local storage.

18. The system of claim 11, further comprising:

the asset request engine further configured to receive another portion of the operating system from the remote storage, the another portion of the operating system predicted to be needed for future execution of the operating system absent being requested;

the asset cache management engine further configured to store the another portion of the operating system in the local storage.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the another portion of the operating system is predicted based on an identification of the portion of the operating system requested from the remote storage.