Parallel CDN-based content delivery

• US 20040117455A1
• Filed: 12/16/2002
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kaminsky, David L., Ogle, David M., Telford, Richard D.
• Granted Patent: US 6,874,015 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/214
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/14 Multichannel or multilink protocols

Abstract

CDNs and inexpensive and available local (client) storage are combined to increase the efficiency of content delivery and improve the user experience. A large-content element, such as a video file, is stored in segments on one or more servers, allowing clients to make simultaneous requests for segments of the content in parallel. A CDN responds to these requests, optimizing the use of the resources on the CDN nodes. The responses from the CDN are cached during an intermediate process and then delivered, in proper order, to the requesting client. By requesting segments of the content element from multiple locations in parallel rather than requesting a single file containing the entire content element, the burden on the CDN nodes is reduced. Further, since the segments are requested in parallel, cost-of-delivery issues can be factored into the delivery schedule more easily (e.g., bandwidth, time of delivery, whether data is cached), thereby making the delivery process smoother and more economical.

Claims

1. A method for delivering a content element to a requester, comprising the steps of:

dividing said content element into two or more content segments;

storing said content segments in two or more diverse storage locations; and

delivering, in parallel, at least two of said two or more content segments upon request for said content element by said requester.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said delivering step includes at least the steps of:

determining an optimal delivery schedule for said content segments making up said content element based on a predetermined criteria; and

delivering said requested content segments to said requestor in parallel based on said optimal delivery schedule.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on a QoS value of each content segment.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said content element has a predetermined delivery sequence, and wherein said delivering step includes at least the steps of:

storing said requested content segments in a system cache; and

delivering said requested content segments to said requester from said system cache in accordance with the predetermined delivery sequence.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein each of said diverse storage locations includes a server cache, and wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on delivery speed, wherein said determining step further includes at least the steps of:

identifying which of said content segments are stored in server cache; and

scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element, giving priority to delivering content segments stored in a server cache over content segment not stored in a server cache.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein each of said diverse storage locations includes a server cache, and wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on sequence-of-use by the requestor and delivery speed, wherein said determining step further includes at least the steps of:

identifying which of said content segments are stored in a server cache;

identifying the order of delivery of said content segments to satisfy the sequence-of-use criteria; and

scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element, giving priority first to content segments at the beginning of the sequence-of-use and then to delivering, in the identified order, content segments stored in a server cache over content segment not stored in a server cache.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on the QoS value of each content segment and the sequence-of-use by the requester, wherein said determining step includes at least the steps of:

identifying the QoS value of each requested content segments;

identifying the order of delivery of said content segments to satisfy the sequence-of-use criteria; and

scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element based on said QoS values and said sequence-of-use criteria.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

performing a registration process for each of said diverse storage locations to identify the content segments stored thereon and their storage address within said diverse storage locations.

9. A system for delivering a content element to a requester, comprising:

means for dividing said content element into two or more content segments;

means for storing said content segments in two or more diverse storage locations; and

means for delivering, in parallel, at least two of said two or more content segments upon request for said content element by said requester.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said means for delivering includes:

means for determining an optimal delivery schedule for said content segments making up said content element based on a predetermined criteria; and

means for delivering said requested content segments to said requester in parallel based on said optimal delivery schedule.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on a QoS value of each content segment.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said content element has a predetermined delivery sequence, and wherein said means for delivering includes:

means for storing said requested content segments in a system cache; and

means for delivering said requested content segments to said requester from said system cache in accordance with the predetermined delivery sequence.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein each of said diverse storage locations includes a server cache, and wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on delivery speed, wherein said means for determining further includes:

means for identifying which of said content segments are stored in server cache; and

means for scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element, giving priority to delivering content segments stored in a server cache over content segment not stored in a server cache.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein each of said diverse storage locations includes a server cache, and wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on sequence-of-use by the requestor and delivery speed, wherein said means for determining further includes:

means for identifying which of said content segments are stored in a server cache;

means for identifying the order of delivery of said content segments to satisfy the sequence-of-use criteria; and

means for scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element, giving priority first to content segments at the beginning of the sequence-of-use and then to delivering, in the identified order, content segments stored in a server cache over content segment not stored in a server cache.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on the QoS value of each content segment and the sequence-of-use by the requester, wherein said means for determining includes:

means for identifying the QoS value of each requested content segments;

means for identifying the order of delivery of said content segments to satisfy the sequence-of-use criteria; and

means for scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element based on said QoS values and said sequence-of-use criteria.

16. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

means for performing a registration process for each of said diverse storage locations to identify the content segments stored thereon and their storage address within said diverse storage locations.

17. A computer program product recorded on computer readable medium for delivering a content element to a requester, comprising:

computer readable means for dividing said content element into two or more content segments;

computer readable means for storing said content segments in two or more diverse storage locations; and

computer readable means for delivering, in parallel, at least two of said two or more content segments upon request for said content element by said requester.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein said computer readable means for delivering includes:

computer readable means for determining an optimal delivery schedule for said content segments making up said content element based on a predetermined criteria; and

computer readable means for delivering said requested content segments to said requestor in parallel based on said optimal delivery schedule.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on a QoS value of each content segment.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein said content element has a predetermined delivery sequence, and wherein said computer readable means for delivering includes:

computer readable means for storing said requested content segments in a system cache; and

computer readable means for delivering said requested content segments to said requester from said system cache in accordance with the predetermined delivery sequence.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein each of said diverse storage locations includes a server cache, and wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on delivery speed, wherein said computer readable means for determining further includes:

computer readable means for identifying which of said content segments are stored in server cache; and

computer readable means for scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element, giving priority to delivering content segments stored in a server cache over content segment not stored in a server cache.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein each of said diverse storage locations includes a server cache, and wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on sequence-of-use by the requestor and delivery speed, wherein said computer readable means for determining further includes:

computer readable means for identifying which of said content segments are stored in a server cache;

computer readable means for identifying the order of delivery of said content segments to satisfy the sequence-of-use criteria; and

computer readable means for scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element, giving priority first to content segments at the beginning of the sequence-of-use and then to delivering, in the identified order, content segments stored in a server cache over content segment not stored in a server cache.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said predetermined criteria gives preference to delivery of content segments based on the QoS value of each content segment and the sequence-of-use by the requester, wherein said computer readable means for determining includes:

computer readable means for identifying the QoS value of each requested content segments;

computer readable means for identifying the order of delivery of said content segments to satisfy the sequence-of-use criteria; and

computer readable means for scheduling the delivery of said content segments making up said content element based on said QoS values and said sequence-of-use criteria.

24. The computer program product of claim 18, further comprising:

computer readable means for performing a registration process for each of said diverse storage locations to identify the content segments stored thereon and their storage address within said diverse storage locations.