Systems and methods for distributing video on demand

• US 20090063681A1
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Published: 03/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Srivastava, Divesh, Jana, Rittwik, Ramakrishnan, Kadangode, Bhattacharjee, Samrat, Gopalakrishnan, Vijay, Cho, Tae Won
• Granted Patent: US 8,554,941 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/108 characterised by resources being split in blocks or fragments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1091 Interfacing with client-server systems or between P2P systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26616 for merging a unicast channel into a multicast channel, e.g. in a VOD application, when a client served by unicast channel catches up a multicast channel to save bandwidth data multicast over packet-switching network H04L12/18
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method of providing content comprises making the content available on a central server, and surveying a plurality of peers for a portion of the content. The portion of the content from one of the peers is obtained when the portion of the content is available from the one of the peers, and obtained from the central server when the portion of the content is not available from the plurality of peers.

Claims

1. A method of providing content, comprising:

making the content available on a central server;

surveying a plurality of peers for a portion of the content;

obtaining the portion of the content from one of the peers when the portion of the content is available from the one of the peers; and

obtaining the portion of the content from the central server when the portion of the content is not available from the plurality of peers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein obtaining the portion of the content from the central server occurs through a multicast session.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein surveying the plurality of peers includes providing a list of peers with the portion of the content.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the list of peers is provided from a server.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the list of peers is provided from the central server.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein surveying the plurality of peers includes broadcasting a query to the plurality of the peers.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a list of content available from the plurality of the peers.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein surveying the plurality of peers includes searching the list of content available from the plurality of the peers.

9. A method of providing content, comprising:

receiving multiple requests for the content, wherein the requests include deadlines;

grouping the requests based on the content requested;

providing a plurality of multicast streams with the content; and

prioritizing the multicast streams based on the earliest deadline.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising prioritizing the multicast streams based on the number of requests.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein providing the plurality of multicast streams further includes providing the content to a random set of non-requesting clients.

12. A method of providing content, comprising:

receiving multiple requests for the content, wherein the requests include deadlines;

grouping the requests based on the content requested;

providing a plurality of multicast streams with the content; and

prioritizing the multicast streams based on the number of requests.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising prioritizing the multicast streams based on the earliest deadline.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein providing the plurality of multicast streams further includes providing the content to a random set of non-requesting clients.

15. A method of providing content, comprising:

receiving a first request for the content, wherein the first request includes a first deadline;

receiving a second request for the content, wherein the second request includes a second deadline;

aggregating the requests; and

providing the content through a multicast session, wherein the multicast session provides the content prior to the earlier of the first and second deadlines.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the multicast stream is delayed to aggregate additional requests for the content.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein providing the content further includes providing the content to a random set of non-requesting clients.