Virtual resource locator

• US 10,182,096 B1
• Filed: 03/28/2014
• Issued: 01/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Original Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Inventors: Siddiqi, Faisal Zakaria, Serbin, Alexey, Schneidman, Alexander, Kolbasov, Alexander, Mitra, Soumyadeb, Ganjam, Aditya R., Stoica, Ion, Zhang, Hui
• Primary Examiner(s): Rahman, Sm A
• Application Number:
  US14/229,724
• Time in Patent Office: 1,754 Days
• Field of Search: 709219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand

Abstract

Directing a content player to a content source is disclosed. A message from a content management system including information associated with a client that is currently requesting content is received. Based at least in part on the information included in the message, a set of content sources is determined. Instructions indicating the set of content sources for the client are sent to the content management system.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive, from a remote content management system, a message including a set of client attributes associated with a client that sent a request for content to the content management system;

subsequent to receiving the message from the content management system, dynamically determine, based at least in part on information aggregated from a plurality of clients determined to be correlated to the client based at least in part on the set of client attributes included in the message received from the remote content management system, a set of candidate content delivery networks (CDNs) usable to serve the requested content to the client; and

return, to the remote content management system, the set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes, wherein the content management system is configured to select a CDN in the returned set of candidate CDNs, and wherein the content management system is configured to redirect the client to the selected CDN; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

2. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the content comprises a video.

3. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a video streaming protocol.

4. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of an operating system of a device associated with the client.

5. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a type of a device associated with the client.

6. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a connectivity of a device associated with the client.

7. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an Internet Protocol address of a device associated with the client.

8. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the message includes a name of the content being requested by the client.

9. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a firmware version of a device associated with the client.

10. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a device identifier of a device associated with the client.

11. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the message includes a default CDN.

12. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the client is redirected to the default CDN in response to a failure.

13. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the message is a Virtual Resource Locator.

14. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine and prioritize a set of bitrates.

15. The system recited in claim 1, wherein the client request for content is buffered at the content management system.

16. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a remote content management system, a message including a set of client attributes associated with a client that sent a request for content to the content management system;

subsequent to receiving the message from the content management system, dynamically determining, based at least in part on information aggregated from a plurality of clients determined to be correlated to the client based at least in part on the set of client attributes included in the message received from the remote content management system, a set of candidate content delivery networks (CDNs) usable to serve the requested content to the client; and

returning, to the remote content management system, the set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes, wherein the content management system is configured to select a CDN in the returned set of candidate CDNs, and wherein the content management system is configured to redirect the client to the selected CDN.

35. The method of claim 16, wherein the content comprises a video.

36. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a video streaming protocol.

37. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of an operating system of a device associated with the client.

38. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a type of a device associated with the client.

39. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a connectivity of a device associated with the client.

40. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an Internet Protocol address of a device associated with the client.

41. The method of claim 16, wherein the message includes a name of the content being requested by the client.

42. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a firmware version of a device associated with the client.

43. The method of claim 16, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a device identifier of a device associated with the client.

44. The method of claim 16, wherein the message includes a default CDN.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein the client is redirected to the default CDN in response to a failure.

46. The method of claim 16, wherein the message is a Virtual Resource Locator.

47. The method of claim 16, further comprising determining and prioritizing a set of bitrates.

48. The method of claim 16, wherein the client request for content is buffered at the content management system.

17. A computer program embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving, from a remote content management system, a message including a set of client attributes associated with a client that sent a request for content to the content management system;

subsequent to receiving the message from the content management system, dynamically determining, based at least in part on information aggregated from a plurality of clients determined to be correlated to the client based at least in part on the set of client attributes included in the message received from the remote content management system, a set of candidate content delivery networks (CDNs) usable to serve the requested content to the client; and

returning, to the remote content management system, the set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes, wherein the content management system is configured to select a CDN in the returned set of candidate CDNs, and wherein the content management system is configured to redirect the client to the selected CDN.

18. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive, from a remote content management system, a message including a set of client attributes associated with a client that sent a request for content to the content management system;

subsequent to receiving the message from the content management system, dynamically determine, based at least in part on the set of client attributes included in the message received from the remote content management system, a set of candidate content delivery networks (CDNs) usable to serve the requested content to the client;

prioritize the set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes; and

return, to the remote content management system, the prioritized set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes, wherein the content management system is configured to select a CDN in the returned prioritized set of candidate CDNs, and wherein the content management system is configured to redirect the client to the selected CDN; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

19. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the content comprises a video.

20. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a video streaming protocol.

21. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of an operating system of a device associated with the client.

22. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a type of a device associated with the client.

23. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a connectivity of a device associated with the client.

24. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an Internet Protocol address of a device associated with the client.

25. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the message includes a name of the content being requested by the client.

26. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a firmware version of a device associated with the client.

27. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a device identifier of a device associated with the client.

28. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the message includes a default CDN.

29. The system recited in claim 28, wherein the client is redirected to the default CDN in response to a failure.

30. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the message is a Virtual Resource Locator.

31. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to determine and prioritize a set of bitrates.

32. The system recited in claim 18, wherein the client request for content is buffered at the content management system.

33. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a remote content management system, a message including a set of client attributes associated with a client that sent a request for content to the content management system;

subsequent to receiving the message from the content management system, dynamically determining, based at least in part on the set of client attributes included in the message received from the remote content management system, a set of candidate content delivery networks (CDNs) usable to serve the requested content to the client;

prioritizing the set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes; and

returning, to the remote content management system, the prioritized set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes, wherein the content management system is configured to select a CDN in the returned prioritized set of candidate CDNs, and wherein the content management system is configured to redirect the client to the selected CDN.

49. The method of claim 33, wherein the content comprises a video.

50. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a video streaming protocol.

51. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of an operating system of a device associated with the client.

52. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an indication of a type of a device associated with the client.

53. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a connectivity of a device associated with the client.

54. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes an Internet Protocol address of a device associated with the client.

55. The method of claim 33, wherein the message includes a name of the content being requested by the client.

56. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a firmware version of a device associated with the client.

57. The method of claim 33, wherein the set of client attributes associated with the client includes a device identifier of a device associated with the client.

58. The method of claim 33, wherein the message includes a default CDN.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the client is redirected to the default CDN in response to a failure.

60. The method of claim 33, wherein the message is a Virtual Resource Locator.

61. The method of claim 33, further comprising determining and prioritizing a set of bitrates.

62. The method of claim 33, wherein the client request for content is buffered at the content management system.

34. A computer program embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving, from a remote content management system, a message including a set of client attributes associated with a client that sent a request for content to the content management system;

subsequent to receiving the message from the content management system, dynamically determining, based at least in part on the set of client attributes included in the message received from the remote content management system, a set of candidate content delivery networks (CDNs) usable to serve the requested content to the client;

prioritizing the set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes; and

returning, to the remote content management system, the prioritized set of candidate CDNs dynamically determined based at least in part on the set of client attributes, wherein the content management system is configured to select a CDN in the returned prioritized set of candidate CDNs, and wherein the content management system is configured to redirect the client to the selected CDN.