System and method for determining optimal server in a distributed network for serving content streams
First Claim
1. A distributed network for delivering data to a plurality of users, comprising:
- a multi-tier server network comprising a plurality of data servers and a connection network connecting said data servers, said data servers being grouped into at least one first group and at least one second group, such that a said first group comprises at least one first data server adapted to deliver first data to a first group of said users and a said second group comprises at least one second data server adapted to deliver second data to a second group of said users which is a subset of said first group of said users; and
a content distributor which, based on information pertaining to requests for said content by said first and second groups of users, is adapted to deliver said first data to said at least one first data server and said second data to said at least one second data server while bypassing said connection network.
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Abstract
A network and method for efficiently and effectively acquiring broadcast content, such as multimedia data, from content providers and delivering the acquired content to end users via a tiered network to minimize congestion during content delivery to thus provide high quality of service. The network and method employs a tiered Internet-based network that is served by a hybrid satellite/optical fiber data distribution network. The network includes a data center to which data, such as streaming video, audio or multimedia data, is provided over a content acquisition network by content providers. The data center uplinks the data to at least one satellite, such as a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, and over an Internet or asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, which distributes the data to the servers in the tiered network. The tiered network in this example comprises three tiers, although any number of tiers is acceptable. The three tiers are referred to respectively as master data centers (master data center tier), regional data centers (regional data center tier), and media serving centers (media serving center tier) that are interconnected by a private asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network. A data director in the data center in cooperation with the ATM network determines which tier of servers can best fulfill a data request by an end user while minimizing the amount of hops required to provide such data.
114 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A distributed network for delivering data to a plurality of users, comprising:
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a multi-tier server network comprising a plurality of data servers and a connection network connecting said data servers, said data servers being grouped into at least one first group and at least one second group, such that a said first group comprises at least one first data server adapted to deliver first data to a first group of said users and a said second group comprises at least one second data server adapted to deliver second data to a second group of said users which is a subset of said first group of said users; and
a content distributor which, based on information pertaining to requests for said content by said first and second groups of users, is adapted to deliver said first data to said at least one first data server and said second data to said at least one second data server while bypassing said connection network. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19)
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16. A data server, adapted for use as one of a plurality of data servers in a distributed data delivery network, to serve data to respective users, said distributed data delivery network including a connection network connecting said plurality of data servers in said distributed data delivery network, and a content distributor adapted to deliver data to said data servers, said data server comprising:
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a receiver, adapted to receive data substantially directly from said content distributor while bypassing said connection network;
a data storage, adapted to store at least a portion of said data received by said receiver; and
a user information analyzer, adapted to analyze information from said respective users pertaining to data to be provided to said users, and to provide user information to said content distributor to affect distribution of said data by said content distributor to said data servers.
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20. A method for delivering data via a distributed network to a plurality of users, the distributed network including a multi-tier server network comprising a plurality of data servers and a connection network connecting said data servers, the method comprising:
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grouping said data servers into at least one first group and at least one second group, such that a said first group comprises at least one first data server adapted to deliver first data to a first group of said users and a said second group comprises at least one second data server adapted to deliver second data to a second group of said users which is a subset of said first group of said users; and
based on information pertaining to requests for said content by said first and second groups of users, delivering said first data to said at least one first data server and said second data to said at least one second data server while bypassing said connection network. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37, 38)
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35. A method for using a data server as one of a plurality of data servers in a distributed data delivery network, to serve data to respective users, said distributed data delivery network including a connection network connecting said plurality of data servers in said distributed data delivery network, and a content distributor adapted to deliver data to said data servers, the method comprising:
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receiving data at said data server substantially directly from said content distributor while bypassing said connection network;
storing at said data server at least a portion of said data received by said receiving step; and
analyzing information from said respective users pertaining to data to be provided to said users, and based on said analysis providing user information to said content distributor to affect distribution of said data by said content distributor to said data servers.
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Specification