TECHNIQUES FOR DISTRIBUTING CONTENT TO MULTIPLE DEVICES IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK
First Claim
1. A method for scheduling distribution of content to a plurality of devices in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
- receiving content requests associated with the plurality of devices;
scheduling distribution of a first set of content to a first set of the devices via a first distribution technique in response to the content requests; and
scheduling distribution of a second set of content to a second set of the devices via a second distribution technique in response to the content requests.
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Abstract
This disclosure describes techniques for scheduling distribution of content to a plurality of devices in a communication network, such as a cellular-based wireless network. According to this disclosure, two or more distribution techniques may be used, and scheduling techniques are performed to determine which distribution technique to use for different content. For example, content can be broadcast to all devices on the network (broadcast), multicast within several cells of the network (multi-cell multicast), multicast in a specific cell of the network (single cell multicast), or unicast to one or more specific devices within specific cells of the network (unicast). The scheduling techniques described in this disclosure may improve content distribution by substantially maximizing the number of content requests that are satisfied, particularly when bandwidth is limited.
101 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method for scheduling distribution of content to a plurality of devices in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
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receiving content requests associated with the plurality of devices; scheduling distribution of a first set of content to a first set of the devices via a first distribution technique in response to the content requests; and scheduling distribution of a second set of content to a second set of the devices via a second distribution technique in response to the content requests. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. An apparatus that schedules distribution of content to a plurality of devices in a wireless communication network, the apparatus comprising:
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a receiver that receives content requests associated with the plurality of devices; and a scheduler that schedules distribution of a first set of content to a first set of the devices via a first distribution technique in response to the content requests, and schedules distribution of a second set of content to a second set of the devices via a second distribution technique in response to the content requests. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An apparatus that schedules distribution of content to a plurality of devices in a wireless communication network, the apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving content requests associated with the plurality of devices; and means for scheduling distribution of a first set of content to a first set of the devices via a first distribution technique in response to the content requests and a second set of content to a second set of the devices via a second distribution technique in response to the content requests. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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20. The apparatus of 19, wherein the means for scheduling:
schedules distribution of the first set of content to the first set of the devices and schedules distribution of the second set of content to the second set of the devices based on the content requests to substantially maximize a number of the content requests that are satisfied.
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28. A computer program product including a computer readable medium comprising codes executable by at least on computer that receives content requests associated with the plurality of devices, wherein the codes cause the at least one computer to:
schedule distribution of a first set of content to a first set of the devices via a first distribution technique in response to the content requests; and schedule distribution of a second set of content to a second set of the devices via a second distribution technique in response to the content requests.
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29. A content distribution node comprising:
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communication interfaces that interface with base stations of a wireless communication network; a receiver that receives content requests associated with a plurality of devices in the wireless communication network from the base stations via the communication interfaces; and a scheduler that schedules distribution of a first set of content to a first set of the devices via a first distribution technique in response to the content requests, and schedules distribution of a second set of content to a second set of the devices via a second distribution technique in response to the content requests.
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Specification