Content delivery framework having fill services

• US 10,652,087 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2014
• Issued: 05/12/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Varney, Lewis Robert, Lipstone, Laurence R., Crowder, William, Swart, Andrew, Newton, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Celani, Nicholas P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Garcia-Ching, Karina J
• Application Number:
  US14/307,411
• Publication Number:
  US 20140344425A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,156 Days
• Field of Search: 709217, 709221
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• 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

Abstract

A framework supporting content delivery and comprising a plurality of devices, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein the plurality of CD services comprise: collector services, reducer services, fill services, and control services; and wherein at least some of the plurality of devices run fill services, and wherein the fill services running on the at least some of the plurality of devices comprise at least one fill services network. At least one the fill service is configured to obtain resources on behalf of other CD services in the CDN.

Claims

1. A framework supporting content delivery in a content delivery network (CDN) comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein each of said CD services has a corresponding operation, and wherein

(A) said plurality of CD services in said CDN comprise:

collector services, fill services, and control services; and

wherein

(B) at least some of said CD services in said CDN produce, as event output, one or more event streams relating to their respective operation; and

(C) at least some of said event output is provided to at least some of said collector services; and

wherein at least some of said plurality of devices in said CDN run fill services, and wherein said fill services running on said at least some of said plurality of devices comprise at least one fill services network, wherein at least one said fill service is configured to obtain resources on behalf of other CD services in the CDN, and

wherein each given fill service in said CDN is dynamically controlled and configured based on control information received at said given fill service from said control services, wherein at least some of the control information used to control and configure said given fill service was based on specific event information produced by at least one of said fill services in said fill services network,

wherein each fill service in said CDN is configured to;

(i) generate information relating to operation of said fill service; and

(ii) to provide at least some of said information as event information to at least one other CD service in said CDN, and

wherein, for a particular fill service of said fill services, both of;

(a) at least some event output to be generated by the particular fill service is dynamically controlled and configured at said particular fill service based on;

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services; and

(b) a choice of at least one other CD service to which a particular fill service is to provide event output, is dynamically controlled and configured at said particular fill service based on;

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services.

2. The framework of claim 1 wherein at least one said fill service is configured to provide resources to other CD services in the CDN.

3. The framework of claim 2 wherein at least one said fill service is configured to provide one or more resources to other CD services in the CDN in response to one or more fill requests from said other CD services.

4. The framework of claim 3 wherein at least one said fill service is configured to keep a copy of a resource it provides to another CD service in the CDN.

5. The framework of claim 1 wherein at least one said fill service is configured to not keep a copy of a resource it provides to another CD service in the CDN.

6. The framework of claim 1 wherein said at least one fill services network is implemented with web protocols.

7. The framework of claim 6 wherein the web protocols comprise one or more of:

HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP.

8. The framework of claim 1 wherein at least one said fill service is used for internal CDN fill operations.

9. The framework of claim 1, wherein said plurality of CD services also comprise:

reducer services, and

wherein the at least one other CD service to which the particular fill service is to provide event information comprise at least one CD service selected from;

(a) one or more collector services; and

(b) one or more reducer services.

10. The framework of claim 1, wherein for each particular fill service of said fill services, at least one other CD service to which a particular fill service is to provide event output is dynamically controlled and configured based on at least one of:

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services.

11. The framework of claim 1, wherein the at least one other CD service to which the particular fill service is to provide event information includes one or more collector services, and wherein,

for each particular collector service of the one or more collector services, at least some fill services to which the particular collector service is to provide state output is dynamically controlled and configured based on at least one of:

(1) control information received at said particular collector service from said control services; and

(2) state information received at said particular collector service from said collector services.

12. The framework of claim 1, wherein the at least one other CD service to which the particular fill service is to provide event information includes one or more collector services, and wherein, for each particular collector service of the collector services, at least some fill services from which the particular collector service is to accept input is dynamically controlled and configured based on at least one of:

(1) control information received at said particular collector service from said control services; and

(2) state information received at said particular collector service from said collector services.

13. The framework of claim 1, wherein the at least one other CD service to which the particular fill service is to provide event information includes one or more reducer services, and wherein, for each particular reducer service of the one or more reducer services, at least some fill services from which the particular reducer service is to accept input is dynamically controlled and configured based on at least one of:

(1) control information received at said particular reducer service from said control services; and

(2) state information received at said particular reducer service from said collector services.

14. The framework of claim 1 wherein each fill service is further configured to obtain control information from said control services.

15. The framework of claim 14 wherein each fill service is further configured to modify its operation or configuration based on control information from said control services.

16. The framework of claim 1 wherein each fill service is further configured to obtain state information from said collector services.

17. The framework of claim 16 wherein each fill service is further configured to modify its operation or configuration based on state information from said collector services.

18. The framework of claim 1 wherein at least some of said collector services:

provide at least some of said state information to CD services.

28. The framework of claim 1, wherein at least one fill service in said CDN is dynamically controlled and configured in real time based on control information received at said fill service from said control services.

19. A content delivery network (CDN) comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein said CD services are selected from the services comprising:

collector services, fill service, and control services; and

wherein

(A) at least some of said CD services in said CDN produce event output relating to their respective operation; and

wherein

(B) at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services in said CDN is provided to at least some of said collector services; and

wherein at least some of said plurality of devices in said CDN run fill services, and wherein said fill services running on said at least some of said plurality of devices comprise at least one fill services network, wherein at least one said fill service is configured to obtain resources on behalf of other CD services in the CDN, and

wherein each given fill service in said CDN is dynamically controlled and configured based on control information received at said given fill service from said control services, wherein at least some of the control information used to control and configure said given fill service was based on specific event information produced by at least one of said fill services in said fill services network,

wherein, for a particular fill service of said fill services both of;

(a) at least some event output to be generated by the particular fill service is dynamically controlled and configured at said particular fill service based on;

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services; and

(b) a choice of at least one other CD service to which a particular fill service is to provide event output, is dynamically controlled and configured at said particular fill service based on;

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services.

20. The CDN of claim 19 wherein at least some of said fill services provide event output to one or more collector services, and wherein, for each particular fill service of said fill services, at least some collector services to which the particular fill service is to provide event output is dynamically controlled and configured based on one or more of (i) control information received by the particular fill service from said control services, and (ii) state information received by the particular CD service from said collector services.

21. The CDN of claim 19 wherein said plurality of CD services also comprise:

reducer services, at least some devices running reducer services comprise a reducer services network, and

wherein at least some of said fill services provide event output to one or more reducer services in said reducer services network, and wherein, for each particular fill service of said fill services, at least some reducer services to which the particular fill service is to provide event output is dynamically controlled and configured based on one or more of (i) control information received by the particular fill service from said control services, and (ii) state information received by the particular CD service from said collector services.

22. The content delivery network of claim 19 wherein at least some of said collector services:

provide at least some of said state information to CD services to control operation or configuration of said CD services.

29. The content delivery network of claim 19, wherein at least one fill service in said CDN is dynamically controlled and configured in real time based on control information received at said fill service from said control services.

23. A system, in a content delivery network (CDN), the system comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein said CD services are selected from the services comprising:

fill services, collector services, control services, and delivery services; and

wherein

(A) at least some of said devices in said CDN run collector services, and at least some of said devices run control services, and wherein

(B) said at least some of said devices in said CDN running collector services comprise a collector services network; and

(C) at least some of said CD services in said CDN produce event output relating to their respective operation; and

wherein

(D) said collector services network provides state information to said control services, said state information being based on said input from said collector services network; and

wherein

(E) at least some of said control services provide control information to said CD services in said CDN, at least some of said control information being based on state information from the collector services network; and

wherein

at least some of said plurality of devices in said CDN run fill services, and wherein said fill services running on said at least some of said plurality of devices in said CDN comprise at least one fill services network, wherein at least one said fill service is configured to obtain resources on behalf of other CD services in the CDN, and

wherein each given fill service is dynamically controlled and configured based on control information received at said given fill service from said control services, wherein at least some of the control information used to control and configure said given fill service was based on specific event information produced by at least one of said fill services in said fill services network,

wherein, for a particular fill service of said fill services, both of;

(a) at least some event output to be generated by the particular fill service is dynamically controlled and configured at said particular fill service based on;

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services; and

(b) at least one other CD service to which a particular fill service is to provide event output, is dynamically controlled and configured at said particular fill service based on;

(1) control information received at said particular fill service from said control services, and (2) state information received at said particular fill service from said collector services.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein, at least some of event output from a particular fill service is provided to one or more locations in said collector services network;

and wherein said one or more locations in said collector services network to which event output from said particular fill service is to be provided is dynamically controlled and configured, based on one or more of;

(i) control information received by the particular fill service from said control services, and (ii) state information received by the particular fill service from said collector services network.

25. The system of claim 23 wherein each collector in said collector service network accepts event output from one or more fill services, and wherein the one or more fill services from which a particular collector accepts event output is dynamically controlled and configured, based on one or more of:

(i) control information received by the particular collector service from said control services, and (ii) state information received by the particular collector service from said collector services network.

26. The system of claim 23 wherein said plurality of CD services also comprise one or more reducer services, and wherein at least some of said fill services provide event output to said one or more reducer services, and wherein, for each particular fill service of said fill services, at least some reducer services to which the particular fill service is to provide event output is dynamically controlled and configured based on one or more of (i) control information received by the particular fill service from said control services, and (ii) state information received by the particular CD service from said collector services.

27. The system of claim 23 wherein said collector services network also provides state information to other CD services of said plurality of CD services.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein at least one fill service in said CDN is dynamically controlled and configured in real time based on control information received at said fill service from said control services.