BI-DIRECTIONAL TRANSFER OF MEDIA CONTENT ASSETS IN A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

• US 20100251313A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Mao, Weidong
• Application Number:
  US12/751,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20100251313A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/98
• 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 for sharing media content assets between video-on-demand systems of a service provider network, the method comprising:

receiving first media content and associated first metadata at a first video-on-demand system, the first video-on-demand system being configured to stream media content assets to a first plurality of client devices;

generating a first media content asset representing the first media content;

sending the first metadata to a database,

retrieving the first metadata from the database by a second video-on-demand system configured to stream media content assets to a second plurality of client devices to which the first video-on-demand system is not configured to stream media content assets;

sending, by the second video-on-demand system, a request for the first media content asset, the request being based on the first metadata; and

responsive to the request from the second video-on-demand system, replicating at least a portion of the first media content asset to the second video-on-demand system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first media content asset is a live media content asset.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising streaming, by the second video-on-demand system, the replicated copy of the at least the portion of the first media content asset to at least one of the second plurality of client devices.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending, by the second video-on-demand system, data to the second plurality of client devices, the data being based on the retrieved first metadata.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the second video-on-demand system, a client request from one of the second plurality of client devices, wherein sending the request for the first media content asset is performed responsive to the client request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second video-on-demand systems are geographically separate from each other.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second media content asset and associated second metadata at the second video-on-demand system;

generating a second media content asset representing the second media content

sending the second metadata to the database;

retrieving the second metadata from the database by the first video-on-demand system;

sending, by the first video-on-demand system, a request for the second media content asset, the request being based on the second metadata; and

responsive to the request from the first video-on-demand system, replicating at least a portion of the second media content asset to the first video-on-demand system.

8. A video-on-demand network for sharing media content assets between video-on-demand systems, the video-on-demand network comprising:

a first computer-readable medium;

a database; and

a first video-on-demand system configured to stream media content assets to a first plurality of client devices, wherein the first video-on-demand system is further configured to;

receive first media content and associated first metadata,

generate a first media content asset representing the first media content, and

send the first metadata to the database,

wherein the network is configured to replicate at least a portion of the first media content asset to a second video-on-demand system having access to the database and configured to stream media content assets to a second plurality of client devices to which the first video-on-demand system is not configured to stream media content assets, the replication being responsive to a request from the second video-on-demand system for the first media content asset.

9. The video-on-demand network of claim 8, wherein the second video-on-demand system is further configured to stream the replicated copy of the at least portion of the first media content asset to at least one of the second plurality of client devices.

10. The video-on-demand network of claim 8, wherein the second video-on-demand system is further configured to send data to the second plurality of client devices, the data being based on the first metadata stored in the database.

11. The video-on-demand network of claim 8, wherein the second video-on-demand system is further configured to send the request for the first media content asset responsive to receiving a client request from one of the second plurality of client devices.

12. The video-on-demand network of claim 8, wherein the first and second video-on-demand systems are geographically separate from each other.

13. The video-on-demand network of claim 8, wherein the second video-on-demand system is further configured to:

receive second media content and associated second metadata;

generate a second media content asset representing the second media content; and

send the second metadata to the database.

14. The video-on-demand network of claim 13, wherein the first video-on-demand system is further configured to:

retrieve the second metadata from the database; and

request the second media content asset, the request being based on the retrieved second metadata.

15. The video-on-demand network of claim 14, wherein the first video-on-demand system is further configured to:

receive a replicated copy of at least a portion of the second media content asset; and

stream the replicated copy of the at least the portion of the second media content asset to at least one of the first plurality of client devices.

16. A system for sharing media content assets between first and second video-on-demand systems each serving a different plurality of client devices, the system comprising:

a computer; and

a computer-readable medium,

wherein the computer is configured to;

receive a first media content asset from the first video-on-demand system, and store the received first media content asset in the computer-readable medium, wherein the first video-on-demand system is configured to stream media content assets to a first plurality of client devices,

receive a request from the second video-on-demand system for the first media content asset, and

responsive to the request from the second video-on-demand system, replicate at least a portion of the first media content asset to the second video-on-demand system, wherein the second video-on-demand system is configured to stream media content assets to a second plurality of client devices to which the first video-on-demand system is not configured to stream media content assets.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the first plurality of client devices are located in a different city from the second plurality of client devices.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first and second video-on-demand systems are located at least five hundred miles from each other.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the computer is further configured to:

receive a second media content asset from the second video-on-demand system, and store the received second media content asset in the computer-readable medium,

receive a request from the first video-on-demand system for the second media content asset, and

responsive to the request from the first video-on-demand system, replicate at least a portion of the second media content asset to the first video-on-demand system.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first media content asset is a live media content asset.