Centrally-controlled distributed marking of content

• US 20050198274A1
• Filed: 03/08/2004
• Published: 09/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Day, Mark Stuart
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,568 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0823 Errors, e.g. transmission errors
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Presently disclosed is a method and apparatus for monitoring and diagnosing a content delivery network (CDN) by examining received content elements that have been marked with one or more identifiers. Diagnosing is accomplished by using all or part of one or more of the identifiers associated with errored or corrupted content elements to determine which network elements or connection paths are faulty. The identifiers may contain content-, server-, or receiver-specific data that denotes, respectively, the source of the content, the links associated with one or more of the servers utilized in the network, and/or data associated with the receiving computer system. Both marking and diagnosing may be performed at any location within the CDN or at any host computer connected to the CDN or receiver. The marking may also be dynamically reconfigured in order to facilitate diagnosis.

Claims

1. A method of content delivery network diagnosing, comprising:

connecting to a content delivery network having a plurality of marked content elements thereon, wherein each marked content element comprises one or more identifiers;

diagnosing said content delivery network using at least one of said one or more identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said diagnosing further comprises using content-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said diagnosing further comprises using server-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said diagnosing further comprises using receiver-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said diagnosing further comprises determining a cause of an error in said content delivery network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said diagnosing further comprises authenticating said content element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said diagnosing further comprises verifying data integrity in said content delivery network.

8. A method of content delivery networking, comprising:

acquiring a content element from a network;

marking said content element with one or more identifiers to form a marked content element;

delivering said marked content element over said network to one or more servers on said network;

serving said marked content from at least one said server to at least one receiver to form received content; and

diagnosing said network using at least one of said one or more identifiers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said marking further comprises associating content-specific data with said content element.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said marking further comprises associating server-specific data with said content element.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein said marking further comprises associating receiver-specific data with said content element.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein:

said network comprises a plurality of network elements; and

said diagnosing further comprises;

acquiring said received content element from said receiver;

extracting one or more identifiers from said received content to form an extracted identifier;

correlating at least part of said extracted identifier with one or more of said network elements.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising reconfiguring said marking in response to said correlating.

14. An apparatus for content delivery network diagnosing, comprising:

means for connecting to a content delivery network having a plurality of marked content elements thereon, wherein each marked content element comprises one or more identifiers;

means for diagnosing said content delivery network using at least one of said one or more identifiers.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said means for diagnosing further comprises means for using content-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said means for diagnosing further comprises means for using server-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said means for diagnosing further comprises means for using receiver-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said means for diagnosing further comprises means for determining a cause of an error in said content delivery network.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said means for diagnosing further comprises means for authenticating said content element.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein said means for diagnosing further comprises means for verifying data integrity in said content delivery network.

21. A computer system for use in content delivery network diagnosing, comprising computer instructions for:

connecting to a content delivery network having a plurality of marked content elements thereon, wherein each marked content element comprises one or more identifiers;

diagnosing said content delivery network using at least one of said one or more identifiers.

22. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using content-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

23. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using server-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

24. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using receiver-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

25. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for determining a cause of an error in said content delivery network.

26. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for authenticating said content element.

27. The computer system of claim 21, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for verifying data integrity in said content delivery network.

28. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program executable by a plurality of server computers, the computer program comprising computer instructions for:

connecting to a content delivery network having a plurality of marked content elements thereon, wherein each marked content element comprises one or more identifiers;

diagnosing said content delivery network using at least one of said one or more identifiers.

29. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using content-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

30. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using server-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

31. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using receiver-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

32. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for determining a cause of an error in said content delivery network.

33. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for authenticating said content element.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for verifying data integrity in said content delivery network.

35. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, comprising computer instructions for:

connecting to a content delivery network having a plurality of marked content elements thereon, wherein each marked content element comprises one or more identifiers;

diagnosing said content delivery network using at least one of said one or more identifiers.

36. The computer data signal of claim 35, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using content-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

37. The computer data signal of claim 35, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using server-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

38. The computer data signal of claim 35, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for using receiver-specific data from said one or more identifiers.

39. The computer data signal of claim 35, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for determining a cause of an error in said content delivery network.

40. The computer data signal of claim 35, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for authenticating said content element.

41. The computer data signal of claim 35, wherein said computer instructions for diagnosing further comprise computer instructions for verifying data integrity in said content delivery network.

42. In a data communications device configured to perform data communications operations within a network, a method for conveying information between an upstream device of the network and a downstream device of the network, the method comprising:

receiving, from the upstream device, an initial content element having routing information and content information;

generating a marked content element from the initial content element; and

sending, to the downstream device, the marked content element in place of the initial content element based on the routing information, the marked content element having the routing information and the content information of the initial content element, the marked content element further having mark information which;

(i) preserves the routing information of the marked content element to enable delivery of the marked element to the downstream device;

(ii) preserves the content information of the marked content element to enable correct content processing of the content information by the downstream device; and

(iii) defines a characteristic of the network to enable diagnosis of network behavior.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein sending the marked content element includes providing, as the mark information of the marked content element, an identifier which uniquely identifies the data communications device among multiple data communications devices.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein generating the marked content element includes overlaying the mark information on at least a portion of the content information in an embedded watermarking manner to maintain integrity of the content information while including the mark information in-band with the routing information and the content information.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein generating the marked content element includes overlaying the mark information on the content information in an embedded watermarking manner, the content information being integrated with previously overlaid mark information to provide the marked content element with mark information from multiple sources.

46. A method for diagnosing network behavior, the method comprising:

receiving a marked content element from a network, the marked content element having routing information, content information, and mark information, the routing information and the content information originating from an initial content element, the mark information being subsequently added to the routing and content information in a manner that;

(i) preserves the routing information to enable downstream delivery of the marked element;

(ii) preserves the content information of the marked content element to enable correct content processing of the content information; and

(iii) defines a characteristic of the network;

extracting the mark information from the marked content element; and

providing an analysis of the network based on the extracted mark information.