Techniques for distributing network provider digital content to customer premises nodes

• US 20070121612A1
• Filed: 11/25/2005
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Townsley, William, Nadeau, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 7,986,686 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/386
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Techniques for distributing digital content include receiving provider content over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer. The provider content is offered by a network service provider different from the first customer. Provider data based on the provider content is stored in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer. It is determined whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content to a second customer different from the first customer. If it is determined that such conditions are satisfied, then the provider data is retrieved from the non-volatile storage, and data based on the provider data is sent over the network connection for receipt by the second customer. Thereby a customer premises node serves as a cache of provider content for other customer premises nodes on the same last mile segment or access network.

Claims

1. A method for distributing digital content, comprising the steps of:

receiving, over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer, provider digital content data offered by a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for the first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network connection;

storing provider data based on the provider digital content data in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to a second customer different from the first customer; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data, then

retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage, and

sending data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprising the step of determining whether a request is received from the second customer for the provider digital content data.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content further comprising the step of determining whether a request is received for the provider digital content data from a process of the network service provider.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprising the step of determining whether a current date and time is not before a particular date and time.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the network connection communicates with a network segment tapped by multiple customer premises nodes of multiple different customers; and

said step of sending the data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprising sending the data based on provider data as one or a broadcast over the network segment and a multicast over the network segment.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of sending the data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprising sending the provider digital content as a unicast to only a second customer premises node on premises of the second customer.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of receiving provider digital content data further comprising the steps of:

sending a request for the provider digital content data over the network connection; and

receiving the provider digital content in response to sending the request.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of receiving provider digital content data further comprising the step of receiving provider digital content data from a premises node on premises of a third customer different from the first customer and different from the network service provider and different from the second customer.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data, then deleting the provider digital content from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein:

said step of receiving provider digital content further comprising the step of receiving an archival field that holds data that indicates whether the provider digital content is to be archived at the customer premises node of the first customer; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises;

determining whether the archival field holds data that indicates that the provider digital content is to be archived; and

if it is determined that the archival field holds data that indicates that the provider digital content is to be archived, then determining that conditions are not satisfied for deleting the provider data.

11. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving additional provider digital content data offered by the network service provider; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises the steps of

determining whether non-volatile storage on the customer premises node for the first customer is insufficient for both the provider data and additional data based on the additional provider digital content data; and

if it is determined that non-volatile storage is insufficient, then determining whether the additional provider digital content data is preferred to the provider digital content data; and

if it determined that the additional provider digital content data is preferred, then determining that conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates how to determine provider digital content data; and

said step of receiving provider digital content data further comprising receiving provider digital content data based on the policy data.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to another customer; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to the second customer is based on the policy data.

14. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage is based on the policy data.

15. A method as recited in claim 9, said step of sending data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprising, sending the data based on the provider content using a particular channel for communication among customer premises nodes, wherein the particular channel is not used for receiving provider content from the network services provider.

16. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of sending data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprising decrypting provider data.

17. A method as recited in claim 1, said step of storing the provider data based on the provider digital content data further comprising storing compressed provider digital content data.

18. A method for distributing digital content, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a provider node on a network of a network service provider, customer data that indicates a customer set of one or mores customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set; and

receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider;

causing a content server on a first customer premises node of the host set to perform the steps of;

caching provider content data offered by the network service; and

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data, then sending the provider content data to the particular customer.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, said step of causing the content server on the first customer premises node to perform the step of caching provider content data further comprising the step of installing the content server on the first customer premises node.

20. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving policy data that indicates conditions for caching provider content data on customer premises node for the customer subset; and

said step of causing the content server on the first customer premises node to perform the step of caching provider content data further comprising sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

21. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein:

the method further comprises receiving policy data that indicates conditions for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

said step of causing the content server on the first customer premises node to perform the step of determining conditions for sending the provider content data to a particular customer further comprising sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

22. A method as recited in claim 18, said caching provider content data on customer premises node further comprising at least one of:

storing the provider content data for archival under control of the provider node;

storing the provider content data seeded from the provider node under control of the content server; and

storing the provider content received from second customer premises node on premises of a different second customer of the customer subset.

23. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for archiving provider content on the first customer premises node; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for archiving provider content on the first customer premises node, then causing the provider content and an associated archival flag data to be sent to the content server, wherein the archival flag data indicates that the associated provider content is to be stored for archival under control of the provider node.

24. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for seeding provider content on the first customer premises node; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for seeding provider content on the first customer premises node, then causing the provider content and associated release conditions data to be sent to the content server, wherein the release conditions data indicates how the associated provider content is to be distributed to the particular customer.

25. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for responding, at the content server, to a request for the provider content from the particular customer; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for responding, at the content server, to a request for the provider content from the particular customer, then causing the request to be sent to the content server.

26. A method as recited in claim 18, said step of receiving host data further comprising:

causing an incentive to be offered to the customer set to make customer premises node available for distributing provider content data; and

receiving the host data in response to causing the incentive to be offered.

27. An apparatus for distributing digital content, comprising:

means for receiving, over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer, provider digital content data offered by a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for the first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network connection;

means for storing provider data based on the provider digital content data in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer;

means for determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to a second customer different from the first customer; and

means for retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage and sending data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer, if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data.

28. An apparatus for distributing digital content, comprising:

means for receiving, at a provider node on a network of a network service provider, customer data that indicates a customer set of one or mores customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set;

means for receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider; and

means for causing a content server on a first customer premises node of the host set to perform the steps of;

caching provider content data offered by the network service; and

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data, then sending the provider content data to the particular customer.

29. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for distributing digital content, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer, provider digital content data offered by a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for the first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network connection;

storing provider data based on the provider digital content data in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to a second customer different from the first customer; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data, then

retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage, and

sending data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer.

30. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for distributing digital content, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

receiving, at a provider node on a network of a network service provider, customer data that indicates a customer set of one or mores customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set;

receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider; and

causing a content server on a first customer premises node of the host set to perform the steps of;

caching provider content data offered by the network service; and

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data, then sending the provider content data to the particular customer.

31. An apparatus for distributing digital content at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer comprising:

a network interface that is coupled to a packet switched network for communicating therewith a data packet;

one or more processors;

a computer-readable medium; and

one or more sequences of instructions stored in the computer-readable medium, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to carry out the step of;

receiving over the network interface provider digital content data offered by a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for the first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network interface;

storing provider data based on the provider digital content data in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider-digital content data to a second customer different from the first customer; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data, then

retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage, and

sending data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer.

32. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprising the step of determining whether a request is received from the second customer for the provider digital content data.

33. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content further comprising the step of determining whether a request is received for the provider digital content data from a process of the network service provider.

34. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprising the step of determining whether a current date and time is not before a particular date and time.

35. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein:

the network interface communicates with a network segment tapped by multiple customer premises nodes of multiple different customers; and

said step of sending the data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprising sending the data based on provider data as one or a broadcast over the network segment and a multicast over the network segment.

36. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of sending the data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprising sending the provider digital content as a unicast to only a second customer premises node on premises of the second customer.

37. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of receiving provider digital content data further comprising the steps of:

sending a request for the provider digital content data over the network interface; and

receiving the provider digital content in response to sending the request.

38. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of receiving provider digital content data further comprising the step of receiving provider digital content data from a premises node on premises of a third customer different from the first customer and different from the network service provider and different from the second customer.

39. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data, then deleting the provider digital content from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer.

40. An apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein:

said step of receiving provider digital content further comprising the step of receiving an archival field that holds data that indicates whether the provider digital content is to be archived at the customer premises node of the first customer; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises;

determining whether the archival field holds data that indicates that the provider digital content is to be archived; and

if it is determined that the archival field holds data that indicates that the provider digital content is to be archived, then determining that conditions are not satisfied for deleting the provider data.

41. An apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving additional provider digital content data offered by the network service provider; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises the steps of

determining whether non-volatile storage on the customer premises node for the first customer is insufficient for both the provider data and additional data based on the additional provider digital content data; and

if it is determined that non-volatile storage is insufficient, then

determining whether the additional provider digital content data is preferred to the provider digital content data; and

if it determined that the additional provider digital content data is preferred, then determining that conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage.

42. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates how to determine provider digital content data; and

said step of receiving provider digital content data further comprising receiving provider digital content data based on the policy data.

43. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to another customer; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to the second customer is based on the policy data.

44. An apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage; and

said step of determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage is based on the policy data.

45. An apparatus as recited in claim 39, said step of sending data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprising, sending the data based on the provider content using a particular channel for communication among customer premises nodes, wherein the particular channel is not used for receiving provider content from the network services provider.

46. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of sending data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprising decrypting provider data.

47. An apparatus as recited in claim 31, said step of storing the provider data based on the provider digital content data further comprising storing compressed provider digital content data.

48. An apparatus serving as a provider node on a network of a network service provider for distributing digital content at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer comprising:

a network interface that is coupled to a packet switched network for communicating therewith a data packet;

one or more processors;

a computer-readable medium; and

one or more sequences of instructions stored in the computer-readable medium, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to carry out the step of;

receiving customer data that indicates a customer set of one or more customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set; and

receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider;

causing a content server on a first customer premises node of the host set to perform the steps of;

caching provider content data offered by the network service;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data, then sending the provider content data to the particular customer.

49. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, said step of causing the content server on the first customer premises node to perform the step of caching provider content data further comprising the step of installing the content server on the first customer premises node.

50. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving policy data that indicates conditions for caching provider content data on customer premises node for the customer subset; and

said step of causing the content server on the first customer premises node to perform the step of caching provider content data further comprising sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

51. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein:

execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the step of receiving policy data that indicates conditions for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

said step of causing the content server on the first customer premises node to perform the step of determining conditions for sending the provider content data to a particular customer further comprising sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

52. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, said caching provider content data on customer premises node further comprising at least one of:

storing the provider content data for archival under control of the provider node;

storing the provider content data seeded from the provider node under control of the content server; and

storing the provider content received from second customer premises node on premises of a different second customer of the customer subset.

53. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for archiving provider content on the first customer premises node; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for archiving provider content on the first customer premises node, then causing the provider content and an associated archival flag data to be sent to the content server, wherein the archival flag data indicates that the associated provider content is to be stored for archival under control of the provider node.

54. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for seeding provider content on the first customer premises node; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for seeding provider content on the first customer premises node, then causing the provider content and associated release conditions data to be sent to the content server, wherein the release conditions data indicates how the associated provider content is to be distributed to the particular customer.

55. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for responding, at the content server, to a request for the provider content from the particular customer; and

if it is determined that conditions are satisfied for responding, at the content server, to a request for the provider content from the particular customer, then causing the request to be sent to the content server.

56. An apparatus as recited in claim 48, said step of receiving host data further comprising:

causing an incentive to be offered to the customer set to make customer premises node available for distributing provider content data; and

receiving the host data in response to causing the incentive to be offered.