MULTI-CLIENT STREAMER WITH LATE BINDING OF AD CONTENT

• US 20080306818A1
• Filed: 06/08/2007
• Published: 12/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Evans, Gregory Morgan, Issa, Alfredo C.
• Application Number:
  US11/760,013
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306818A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A late-binding multi-client streamer utilizing Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) transfers to obtain video and advertisement content is provided. For each client device, the streamer receives a video content selection. In response, the streamer initiates an RDMA transfer of the video content or a segment of the video content from a storage device of a video content server to an associated video buffer and begins streaming the video content from the video buffer to the client device. When an upcoming advertisement slot in the video content is detected, the streamer initiates an RDMA transfer of an advertisement for the ad slot from a storage device associated with an advertisement content server to an associated ad buffer. The streamer then inserts the advertisement from the ad buffer into the ad slot in the video content as the video content is streamed to the client device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a first network node, receiving a request for select video content;

obtaining a range of addresses in a storage device associated with a video content server allocated for the select video content;

initiating a direct memory-to-memory transfer of at least a portion of the select video content from the range of addresses in the storage device to a video content buffer associated with the first network node via a network connection; and

streaming the select video content from the video content buffer to a client device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the direct memory-to-memory transfer is a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) transfer.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting an upcoming advertisement slot in the select video content;

obtaining an advertisement for the advertisement slot from an advertisement content server; and

inserting the advertisement into the advertisement slot as the select video content is streamed to the client device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein obtaining the advertisement for the advertisement slot comprises initiating a direct memory-to-memory transfer of the advertisement from a storage device associated with the advertisement content server to an advertisement buffer associated with the first network node via a network connection.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the direct memory-to-memory transfer of the advertisement is an RDMA transfer.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein obtaining the advertisement for the advertisement slot comprises:

selecting one of a plurality of advertisement categories for the advertisement slot;

obtaining information identifying a range of addresses in a storage device associated with the advertisement content server allocated for the one of the plurality of advertisement categories; and

initiating an RDMA transfer of the advertisement for the advertisement slot from the range of addresses in the storage device associated with the advertisement content server to an advertisement buffer associated with the first network node;

wherein inserting the advertisement into the advertisement slot comprises inserting the advertisement from the advertisement buffer into the advertisement slot as the select video content is streamed to the client device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting the one of the plurality of advertisement categories for the advertisement slot comprises selecting the one of the plurality of advertisement categories based on a comparison of information describing the plurality of advertisement categories and at least one of a group consisting of:

information describing the select video content and a viewer profile of a viewer associated with the client device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the viewer profile comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

demographic information describing the viewer, biographical information describing the viewer, information identifying or describing video content previously viewed by the viewer, information identifying or describing at least one advertisement previously skipped by the viewer, information identifying or describing at least one advertisement previously viewed by the viewer, and information identifying at least one preference of the viewer.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein streaming the select video content from the video content buffer to the client device comprises streaming the select video content to an edge device, wherein the edge device provides the streaming content to the client device via a Switched Digital Video (SDV) channel.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the select video content is one of a group consisting of:

a movie, a television program, and video content from a broadcast television channel.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the first network node, a request to provide second video content to a second client device;

obtaining information identifying a second range of addresses in the storage device associated with the video content server allocated for the second video content;

initiating a direct memory-to-memory transfer of at least a portion of the second video content from the second range of addresses in the storage device to a second video content buffer associated with the first network node; and

streaming the second video content from the second video content buffer to the second client device.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the first network node is interconnected to the video content server via a Wide Area Network (WAN).

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first network node is interconnected to the video content server via a Local Area Network (LAN).

14. A system comprising:

a) a video buffer; and

b) a playback streamer associated with the video buffer and adapted to;

i) obtain information identifying a range of addresses in a storage device associated with a video content server allocated for select video content in response to a request to stream the select video content to a client device;

ii) initiate a direct memory-to-memory transfer of at least a portion of the select video content from the range of addresses in the storage device to the video content buffer via a network connection; and

iii) stream the select video content from the video content buffer to the client device.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the direct memory-to-memory transfer is a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) transfer.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the playback streamer is further adapted to:

detect an upcoming advertisement slot in the select video content;

obtain an advertisement for the advertisement slot from an advertisement content server; and

insert the advertisement into the advertisement slot as the select video content is streamed to the client device.

17. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

an advertisement buffer associated with the playback streamer; and

a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) enabled interface;

wherein in order to obtain the advertisement, the playback streamer is further adapted to initiate an RDMA transfer of the advertisement from a storage device associated with the advertisement content server to the advertisement buffer via the RDMA enabled interface.

18. The system of claim 16 further comprising:

an advertisement buffer associated with the playback streamer; and

a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) enabled interface;

wherein in order to obtain the advertisement, the playback streamer is further adapted to;

select one of a plurality of advertisement categories for the advertisement slot;

obtain information identifying a range of addresses in a storage device associated with the advertisement content server allocated for the one of the plurality of advertisement categories; and

initiate an RDMA transfer of the advertisement for the advertisement slot from the range of addresses in the storage device associated with the advertisement content server to the advertisement buffer via the RDMA enabled interface.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the playback streamer is further adapted to insert the advertisement from the advertisement buffer into the advertisement slot as the select video content is streamed to the client device.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the playback streamer is further adapted to select the one of the plurality of advertisement categories for the advertisement slot based on a comparison of information describing the plurality of advertisement categories and at least one of a group consisting of:

information describing the select video content and a viewer profile of a viewer associated with the client device.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the viewer profile comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

demographic information describing the viewer, biographical information describing the viewer, information identifying or describing video content previously viewed by the viewer, information identifying or describing at least one advertisement previously skipped by the viewer, and information identifying or describing at least one advertisement previously viewed by the viewer.

22. The system of claim 14 further comprising an edge device adapted to:

receive the select video content streamed from the playback streamer; and

provide the select video content streamed from the playback streamer to the client device via a Switched Digital Video (SDV) channel.

23. The system of claim 14 wherein the select video content is one of a group consisting of:

a movie, a television program, and video content from a broadcast television channel.

24. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a second video buffer; and

a second playback streamer associated with the second video buffer and adapted to;

obtain information identifying a second range of addresses in the storage device associated with the video content server allocated for second video content in response to a request to stream the second video content to a second client device;

initiate an RDMA transfer of at least a portion of the second video content from the second range of addresses in the storage device to the second video buffer; and

stream the second video content from the second video buffer to the second client device.

25. The system of claim 14 wherein the playback streamer is interconnected to the video content server via a Wide Area Network (WAN).

26. The system of claim 14 wherein the playback streamer is interconnected to the video content server via a Local Area Network (LAN).

27. A system comprising:

a plurality of video buffers; and

a plurality of playback streamers, each of the plurality of playback streamers associated with one of the plurality of video buffers and adapted to;

obtain information identifying a range of addresses in a storage device associated with a video content server allocated for select video content in response to a request to stream the select video content to an associated client device;

initiate a direct memory-to-memory transfer of at least a portion of the select video content from the range of addresses in the storage device to a corresponding one of the plurality of video buffers via a network; and

stream the select video content from the corresponding one of the plurality of video buffers to the associated client device.