Video file server cache management using movie ratings for reservation of memory and bandwidth resources
First Claim
1. A video file server for providing clients with video-on-demand access to movies, the video file server comprising:
- a cached disk storage system including a primary cache and disk storage for storing the movies; and
a multiplicity of data mover computers coupled to the cached disk storage system for streaming video data from the cached disk storage system to clients in a data network, each of the data mover computers having a local cache;
wherein the movies are ranked with respect to popularity, and a respective set of the data movers are pre-assigned for servicing video streams for each movie ranking.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Access to movies ranging from very popular movies to unpopular movies is managed by configuring sets of data movers for associated movie rankings, reserving data mover local cache resources for the most popular movies, reserving a certain number of streams for popular movies, negotiating with a client for selection of available movie titles during peak demand when resources are not available to start any freely-selected movie in disk storage, and managing disk bandwidth and primary and local cache memory and bandwidth resources for popular and unpopular movies. The assignment of resources to movie rankings may remain the same while the rankings of the movies are adjusted, for example, during off-peak hours. A movie locked in primary cache and providing a source for servicing a number of video streams may be demoted from primary cache to disk in favor of servicing one or more streams of a higher-ranking movie.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A video file server for providing clients with video-on-demand access to movies, the video file server comprising:
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a cached disk storage system including a primary cache and disk storage for storing the movies; and
a multiplicity of data mover computers coupled to the cached disk storage system for streaming video data from the cached disk storage system to clients in a data network, each of the data mover computers having a local cache;
wherein the movies are ranked with respect to popularity, and a respective set of the data movers are pre-assigned for servicing video streams for each movie ranking. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A video file server for providing clients with video-on-demand access to movies, the video file server comprising:
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a cached disk storage system including a cache and disk storage for storing the movies; and
a multiplicity of data mover computers coupled to the cached disk storage system for streaming video data from the cached disk storage system to clients in a data network;
wherein the video file server is programmed for locking in the cache a plurality of entire movies, and when there is a need for servicing a more popular movie from the cache and there is insufficient free cache memory for servicing the more popular movie from the cache, transferring the servicing of a less popular movie from the cache to disk storage in order to free cache memory for servicing the more popular movie from the cache. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26)
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15. A method of operating a video file server for providing clients with video-on-demand access to movies, the video file server having a cached disk storage system including a primary cache and disk storage containing the movies, and a multiplicity of data mover computers coupled to the cached disk storage system for streaming video data from the cached disk storage system to clients in a data network, each of the data mover computers having a local cache, wherein the method includes:
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ranking the movies with respect to popularity, and assigning a respective set of the data movers to each movie ranking, and servicing video streams for each movie ranking with the respective set of data movers assigned for servicing said video streams for said each movie ranking.
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24. A method of operating a video file server for providing clients with video-on-demand access to movies, the video file server having a cached disk storage system including a cache and disk storage containing the movies, and a multiplicity of data mover computers coupled to the cached disk storage system for streaming video data from the cached disk storage system to clients in a client data network, the method comprising:
locking in the cache a plurality of entire movies, and when there is a need for servicing a more popular movie from the cache and there is insufficient free cache memory for servicing the more popular movie from the cache, transferring the servicing of a less popular movie from the cache to the disk storage in order to free cache memory for servicing the more popular movie from the cache.
Specification