DYNAMIC DISTRIBUTION OF MEDIA CONTENT ASSETS FOR A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

• US 20100250772A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Mao, Weidong
• Granted Patent: US 9,769,504 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21815 comprising local storage units
• 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 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2312 Data placement on disk arrays data placement in general G06F3/0604
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23614 Multiplexing of additional data and video streams arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information H04H20/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, methods, and software for using a network to efficiently distributing media content assets from a virtually unlimited content library and/or other storage to a plurality of client devices, as well as bi-directional local content sharing between head ends, and dynamic distribution and generation of media content assets within the network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving from a first client device a first request for a media content asset;

responsive to the first request, determining whether the media content asset is stored at a first location in a network;

responsive to determining that the media content asset is not stored at the first location, replicating at least a portion of the media content asset from a second location in the network to a computer-readable medium at the first location;

streaming to the first client device the at least the portion of the media content asset stored at the first location; and

responsive to a second request from a second client device, streaming to the second client device the at least the portion of the media content asset stored at the first location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the media content asset has been requested a sufficient number of times over a period of time; and

responsive to determining that the media content asset has not been requested a sufficient number of times over the period of time, deleting the at least the portion of the media content asset from the first location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the media content asset has been requested a sufficient number of times over a period of time; and

responsive to determining that the media content asset has not been requested a sufficient number of times over the period of time, moving the at least the portion of the media content asset from the first location to a third location in the network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising replicating a first trick file associated with the media content asset to the first location.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising replicating a second trick file associated with the media content asset to a third location in the network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location comprises a streaming server configured to stream media content to the first and second client devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein streaming to the first client device comprises streaming to the first client device from a first streaming server that is not configured to stream to the second client device, and wherein streaming to the second client device comprises streaming to the second client device from a second streaming server that is not configured to stream to the first client device.

8. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for performing a method, the method comprising:

receiving from a first client device a first request for a media content asset;

responsive to the first request, determining whether the media content asset is stored at a first location in a network;

responsive to determining that the media content asset is not stored at the first location, replicating at least a portion of the media content asset from a second location in the network to the first location;

streaming to the first client device the at least the portion of the media content asset stored at the first location; and

responsive to a second request from a second client device, streaming to the second client device the at least the portion of the media content asset stored at the first location.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the media content asset has been requested a sufficient number of times over a period of time; and

responsive to determining that the media content asset has not been requested a sufficient number of times over the period of time, deleting the at least the portion of the media content asset from the first location.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

determining whether the media content asset has been requested a sufficient number of times over a period of time; and

responsive to determining that the media content asset has not been requested a sufficient number of times over the period of time, moving the at least the portion of the media content asset from the first location to a third location in the network.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises replicating a first trick file associated with the media content asset to the first location.

12. A method utilizing a network storing a plurality of media content assets, the method comprising:

determining a priority of each of the media content assets; and

for each of the media content assets, replicating at least a portion of the stored media content asset to a particular computer-readable medium in the network that depends upon the determined priority for that media content asset.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the priority comprises, for each of the media content assets, determining a frequency of client requests for the media content asset, wherein the determined priority is based upon the determined frequency.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the priority comprises, for each of the media content assets, predicting a future client demand for the media content asset, wherein the determined priority is based upon the predicted future client demand.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising, for each of the media content assets, storing each of a plurality of trick files associated with the media content asset at a location in the network that depends upon a location of the particular computer-readable medium storing that media content asset.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein storing the trick files comprises, for each of the media content assets, storing the associated trick files at different locations in the network from each other.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

after replicating the at least the portions of the media content assets, re-determining the priority of a first one of the media content assets; and

moving the at least the portion of the first media content asset from the computer-readable medium to a different computer-readable medium in the network that depends upon the re-determined priority.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

after replicating the at least the portions of the media content assets, re-determining the priority of a first one of the media content assets; and

responsive to re-determining that the priority of the first media content asset is insufficient, deleting the replicated copy of the portion of the first media content asset from the computer-readable medium.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein replicating comprises, for each of the media content assets, replicating the at least the portion of the stored media content asset to a plurality of different computer-readable media in different locations of the network that depend upon the determined priority for the respective media content asset.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein at least some of the media content assets comprise live content.