System and Method for Delivery of Video-on-Demand

• US 20100100911A1
• Filed: 10/20/2008
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/20/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramakrishnan, Kadangode, Gopalakrishnan, Vijay
• Granted Patent: US 8,949,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/92
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• 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 21/632 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 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method of providing video-on-demand content includes receiving a request from a set-top box, and determining the video-on-demand content is not stored locally. The request includes a content identifier for the video-on-demand content. The method further includes identifying a peer likely to have the video-on-demand content, receiving at least a first portion of the video-on-demand content from the peer, and providing the video-on-demand content to the set-top box.

Claims

1. A method of providing video-on-demand content, comprising:

receiving a request from a set-top box, the request including a content identifier for the video-on-demand content;

determining the video-on-demand content is not stored locally;

identifying a peer likely to have the video-on-demand content;

receiving at least a first portion of the video-on-demand content from the peer; and

streaming the video-on-demand content to the set-top box.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein locally is at a video hub office, a video-on-demand server, a mass storage system, or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a second portion of the video-on-demand content from a second peer.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the peer includes requesting a peer identifier from a directory server, the peer identifier indicating the peer likely to have the video-on-demand content.

5. The method of claim 4 further comprising:

storing the video-on-demand content locally; and

notifying the directory server that the video-on-demand content is stored locally.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying the peer includes:

determining a master peer for the video-on-demand content based on a hash of the content identifier; and

requesting a peer identifier from the master peer, the peer identifier indicating the peer likely to have the video-on-demand content.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

storing the video-on-demand content locally; and

notifying the master peer that the video-on-demand content is stored locally.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying the peer includes checking a plurality of bloom filters, the plurality of bloom filters indicating a set of video-on-demand content stored at each of a plurality of peers.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising receiving a plurality of bloom filters from a root server.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

storing the video-on-demand content; and

updating a local bloom filter indicating a set of video-on-demand content stored locally.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising providing the updated local bloom filter to the root server.

12. A server comprising:

a storage configured to store video-on-demand content; and

a processor configured to;

receive a request from a set-top box, the request including a content identifier for the video-on-demand content;

determine that the video-on-demand content is not in the storage;

identify a peer likely to have the video-on-demand content;

receive at least a first portion of the video-on-demand content from the peer; and

provide the video-on-demand content to the set-top box.

13. The server of claim 12 wherein the processor is further configured to receive a second portion of the video-on-demand content from a second peer.

14. The server of claim 12 wherein to identify the peer, the processor is further configured to request a peer identifier from a directory server, the peer identifier indicating the peer likely to have the video-on-demand content.

15. The server of claim 12 wherein to identify the peer, the processor is further configured to:

determine a master peer for the video-on-demand content based on a hash of the content identifier; and

request a peer identifier from the master peer, the peer identifier indicating the peer likely to have the video-on-demand content.

16. The server of claim 12 wherein to identify the peer, the processor is further configured to check a plurality of bloom filters, the plurality of bloom filters indicating a set of video-on-demand content stored at each of a plurality of peers.

17. A system for providing video-on-demand, comprising:

a plurality of video-on-demand servers, each of the plurality of video-on-demand servers is configured to;

receive a request from a set-top box, the request including a content identifier for the video-on-demand content;

determine that the video-on-demand content is not stored locally;

identify a peer server having at least a first portion of the video-on-demand content, the peer server being one of the plurality of video-on-demand servers;

receive the at least a first portion of the video-on-demand content from the peer server;

store the at least a first portion of the video-on-demand content; and

stream the video-on-demand content to the set-top box.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein each of the plurality of video-on-demand servers is further configured to:

identify a second peer server having a second portion of the video-on-demand content, the second peer server being one of the plurality of video-on-demand servers; and

receive the second portion of the video-on-demand content from a second peer server.

19. The server of claim 17 wherein to identify the peer server, the video-on-demand server is further configured to request a peer identifier from a directory server, the peer identifier indicating the peer server.

20. The server of claim 17 wherein to identify the peer, the video-on-demand server is further configured to:

determine a master peer for the video-on-demand content based on a hash of the content identifier; and

request a peer identifier from the master peer, the peer identifier indicating the peer server.

21. The server of claim 17 wherein to identify the peer, the video-on-demand server is further configured to check a plurality of bloom filters, the plurality of bloom filters indicating a set of video-on-demand content stored at each of the plurality of video-on-demand servers.