Distributing On-Demand Multimedia Content

• US 20100058403A1
• Filed: 08/29/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jana, Rittwik, Ramaswami, Vaidyanathan
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,993 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/93
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A disclosed method of distributing multimedia content to end users in a multimedia content distribution network includes segmenting time in a series of intervals referred to herein as limited-chain relay (LCR) intervals. The LCR intervals may have a duration of time T although an LCR interval may be terminated before the duration expires. During any interval, the LCR distribution method includes responding to a first request for a program of multimedia content (PMC) from a first requestor by delivering the PMC from a video server to the customer premises equipment (CPE) of the requestor and storing the PMC on the CPE of the first requestor. The method further includes responding to subsequent requests for the PMC that occur before the time T and before the interval terminates otherwise from subsequent requestors by delivering at least some portion of the PMC to the subsequent requestors from the CPE of at least one previous requestor.

Claims

1. Customer method of distributing multimedia content to end users, comprising:

during any interval in a sequence of intervals of duration T;

responding to a first request for a program of multimedia content (PMC) from a first requestor by delivering the PMC from a video server to customer premise equipment (CPE) of the first requestor and storing the PMC thereon; and

responding to subsequent requests for the PMC from subsequent requestors by delivering at least some portion of the PMC from the CPE of a previous requestor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising terminating a current interval if a number of the subsequent requests exceeds a predetermined threshold N.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising altering at least one of T and N in response to a frequency of terminating the current interval exceeding a specified threshold.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising selecting at least one of T and N based on at least one of historical demand for the PMC and projected demand for the PMC.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering at least some portion of the PMC from the CPE of a previous requestor includes routing the PMC from the previous requestor through a network node to a current requestor.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the network node comprises a node selected from a group consisting of a central office node and a digital subscriber line access multiplexer node.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein a connection between the CPE of the requester and a network node includes a downlink and an uplink and wherein the method further comprises:

whenever a bandwidth capacity of the uplink is less than a predetermined threshold;

determining a number of helper CPEs needed to deliver content;

selecting the helper CPEs from a pool of available CPEs;

delivering at least a portion of the PMC from the multimedia server to the helper CPEs; and

wherein responding to the subsequent requests further comprises delivering at least a portion of the PMC from at least some of the helper CPEs of a previous requester to a current requestor.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein responding to the subsequent requests further comprises selecting a number of subsequent helper CPEs and delivering at least some of the PMC to the subsequent helper CPEs.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising maintaining a pool of potential helper CPEs and selecting at least one helper CPE from the pool.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein selecting at least one helper CPE includes selecting at least one CPE based, at least in part, on an expected utilization of an uplink of the helper CPE.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein a maximum uplink capacity of the CPEs is M and an uplink capacity required to deliver multimedia content is K and wherein the number of helper CPEs is determined, at least in part, based on M and K.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the minimum number of helper CPEs is greater than or equal to K/M−

1.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising selecting a number of helper CPEs exceeding the minimum and wherein at least some of the selected helper CPEs are used to provide redundancy in the event of a failure of another helper CPE.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein delivering the PMC to a requestor and to helper CPEs comprises multicasting the PMC to the requestor and the helper CPEs.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the selected helper CPEs is used as a helper CPE for multiple subsequent requests.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein viewers and/or helper CPEs store only a portion of the PMC.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein responding to the subsequent requests further comprises delivering a first portion of the PMC from at least some of the helper CPEs of a previous requester to a current requester and delivering a remaining portion of the PMC as part of a multicast from the video server.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein delivering the remaining portion of the PMC from the video server comprises multicasting the remaining portion of the PMC.

19. The method of claim 5, wherein a connection between the CPE of the requester and a network node includes a downlink and an uplink and wherein the method further comprises:

when a bandwidth capacity of the uplink is greater than a predetermined threshold, responding to a plurality of subsequent requests for the PMC from subsequent requesters by delivering at least a portion of the PMC from a CPE of a single previous requestor.

20. Customer premise equipment (CPE) suitable for use in a multimedia content distribution network, the CPE comprising:

a processor and computer readable storage media accessible to the processor;

a network interface for receiving multimedia content; and

a decoder for processing multimedia content received via the network interface;

wherein the storage media includes embedded instructions comprising a limited chain relay (LCR) application, the LCR application enabling the CPE to;

generate a first request for multimedia content and send the first request to a video server via a network node that is downstream of the video server;

receive multimedia content from the video server via the network node and store the multimedia content;

receive a message indicating a transmission of a subsequent request for the multimedia content by a subsequent requestor; and

in response to receiving the message, transmitting at least a portion of the PMC to the CPE of the subsequent requester via the network node.

21. The CPE of claim 20, wherein an uplink capacity of a connection between the CPE and the network node is less than a predetermined capacity necessary to sustain video content delivery and further wherein the CPE is further configured to respond to the subsequent request by selecting a set of helpers from a pool of available helpers and delivering at least a portion of the PMC to the CPE associated with the subsequent requester and at least one subsequent helper.

22. The CPE of claim 21, wherein selecting the helpers includes selecting wireless helpers.

23. A network node comprising processor and processor accessible storage, wherein, embedded in the storage is at least a portion of a limited chain relay distribution application, the application comprising instructions to:

determine a beginning and ending of successive limited-chain relay (LCR) time intervals;

responsive to detecting a first request of a current LCR time interval, wherein the first request is for a program of multimedia content (PMC), delivering at least a portion of the PMC to a customer premise equipment (CPE) of the requestor; and

responsive to detecting a subsequent request of the current LCR time interval, wherein the subsequent is also for the PMC, signaling the end user associated with the previous request to send at least a portion of the PMC from the previous CPE to a subsequent CPE associated with the subsequent request.