Specifying titles of video on demand content for provisioning on a content delivery network

• US 10,445,286 B1
• Filed: 05/09/2012
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nijim, Yousef Wasef, Langa, Jay Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Kanervo, Virpi H
• Application Number:
  US13/467,625
• Time in Patent Office: 2,715 Days
• Field of Search: 705 40, 705 36 R, 709204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

On demand content is delivered to a network edge server based on rules. A central storage, disposed at a head end of a content distribution system, stores content for distribution to users. A decision server, coupled to the central storage, collects information regarding business rules and usage of content by users and processes the collected business rules and usage of content by users to identify content for reprovisioning. A network edge server, coupled to the decision server, and which includes storage, receives and stores content identified by the decision server for reprovisioning from the central storage for distribution from the network edge server directly to the users.

Claims

1. A method for improving a user device in communication with a content distribution system by delivering video on demand content to a network edge server based on rules, comprising:

originating, by an application server, content from a central location having a central storage of content to be distributed to users via the network edge server;

collecting, by a decision server coupled to the central storage of content, business rules;

collecting, by the decision server, usage of content by the users, wherein collecting the usage of content by the users comprises identifying users who are requesting specific content;

generating, by the decision server, an area profile that identifies a plurality of users who are within an area of service of the network edge server, wherein the generated area profile is operable to identify different habits of consuming the content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server;

processing, by the decision server, the collected business rules and the collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server;

identifying, by the decision server, content to be reprovisioned from the central storage of content to the network edge server based on the generated area profile and based on the processed collected business rules and the processed collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server, wherein an access to the identified content from the central storage of content to be reprovisioned is controlled by the network edge server;

reprovisioning, by the decision server, the identified content from the central storage of content to the network edge server to be distributed directly to the users from the network edge server situated at the area of service;

storing the identified content from the central storage of content onto the network edge server; and

distributing, by the network edge server coupled to the decision server, the identified content directly to the users who are within the area of service of the network edge server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reprovisioning the identified content to the network edge server comprises reprovisioning the identified content to the network edge server for a set number of days.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying content comprises identifying content based on available storage at the network edge server and based on popularity of content, and wherein the available storage and the usage of content are adaptively monitored for management and optimization of content provided to the network edge server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifying content based on the popularity of content comprises identifying content popular at a predetermined time of day.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying content comprises identifying content to provide to the network edge server based on marketing information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying content comprises identifying content to provide to the network edge server based on popularity of content, box office statistics, regional specific information, information from critics, and management data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the identified content directly to the users comprises providing content associated with an identified title and an identified format of a title.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the providing the identified content directly to the users comprises adjusting titles maintained at the network edge server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying content comprises identifying content to provide content to the network edge server based on statistical modeling of the usage of content comprising the area profile.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the processing the collected business rules and the collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server further comprises identifying a supplementary content to provide in conjunction with the reprovisioned identified content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the supplementary content comprises video-on-demand services.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the area profile further comprises information identifying the plurality of users requesting content and a frequency of the requests.

13. A system for improving a user device in communication with a content distribution system by delivering video on demand content to a network edge server based on rules, comprising:

a central storage located in a central location and disposed at a head end of the content distribution system, configured to;

store content to be distributed to users, wherein the content originates from the central storage of content to be distributed to the users via the network edge server;

an application server, configured to;

originate content from the central storage of content to be distributed to users other than via the network edge server;

a decision server coupled to the central storage of content, configured to;

collect business rules and usage of content by users, wherein collecting the usage of content by users comprises identifying users who are requesting specific content;

generate an area profile that identifies a plurality of users who are within an area of service of the network edge server, wherein the generated area profile is operable to identify different habits of consuming the content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server;

process the collected business rules and the collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server;

identify content to be reprovisioned from the central storage of content to the network edge server based on the generated area profile and based on the processed collected business rules and the processed collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server, wherein an access to the identified content from the central storage of content to be reprovisioned is controlled by the network edge server; and

reprovision the identified content from the central storage of content to the network edge server to be distributed directly to the users from the network edge server situated at the area of service; and

the network edge server coupled to the decision server, configured to;

receive and store the identified content to be reprovisioned from the central storage of content; and

distribute the identified content directly to the users who are within the area of service of the network edge server.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the decision server is further configured to:

determine a set number of days for reprovisioning content at the network edge server.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the decision server is further configured to:

identify content to be reprovisioned based on available storage at the network edge server and based on popularity of content; and

adaptively monitor available storage and content usage for management and optimization of content provided to the network edge server.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the decision server is further configured to:

identify content based on popularity by identifying content popular at a predetermined time of day.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the decision server is further configured to:

identify content to provide to the network edge server based on marketing information.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the decision server is further configured to:

identify content to reprovision at the network edge server by identifying content to provide the network edge server based on collected information including popularity of the content, box office statistics, regional specific information, information from critics, management data, and statistical modeling of collected information.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the decision server is further configured to:

adjust titles maintained at the network edge server.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium including executable instructions which, when executed by a processor, improves a user device in communication with a content delivery network by delivering video on demand content to a network edge server based on rules, by:

originating, by an application server, content from a central location having a central storage of content to be distributed to users via the network edge server;

collecting, by a decision server coupled to the central storage, business rules;

collecting, by the decision server, usage of content by the users, wherein collecting the usage of content by the users comprises identifying users who are requesting specific content;

generating, by the decision server, an area profile that identifies a plurality of users who are within an area of service of the network edge server, wherein the generated area profile is operable to identify different habits of consuming the content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server;

processing, by the decision server, the collected business rules and the collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server;

identifying, by the decision server, content to be reprovisioned from the central storage of content to the network edge server based on the generated area profile and based on the processed collected business rules and the processed collected usage of content by the plurality of users who are within the area of service of the network edge server, wherein an access to the identified content from the central storage of content to be reprovisioned is controlled by the network edge server;

reprovisioning, by the decision server, the identified content from the central storage of content to the network edge server to be distributed directly to the users from the network edge server situated at the area of service;

storing the identified content from the central storage of content onto the network edge server; and

distributing, by the network edge server coupled to the decision server, the identified content directly to the users who are within the area of service of the network edge server.