MECHANISM FOR APPLICATION MOBILITY IN A CELL SITE-BASED CONTENT DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

• US 20100306304A1
• Filed: 05/28/2009
• Published: 12/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: TURNER, William M., HACK, Talbot, CAO, Yang, NICOLAZZO, Michael, SUBERRI, Moshe
• Granted Patent: US 9,137,708 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0011 for data sessions of end-to-end connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0033 with transfer of context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/12 Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol]

Abstract

A method in an electronic device provides a mechanism for maintaining application mobility in a communication network, such as a content distribution network. In one exemplary embodiment, a user device transitions from a source content server in a first access network of the communication network to a destination content server in a second access network of the communication network. The source content server hands off responsibility for serving the content to the destination content server. In some embodiments, a tunnel is created between the source content server and the destination content server.

Claims

1. A method in an electronic device for providing content to a user device in a communication network, the communication network comprising an access network and a core network, the method comprising:

serving content from a source content server in the access network to the user device;

identifying that the user device is transitioning from a connection to the source content server to a connection to a destination content server; and

handing over responsibility for serving the content from the source content server to the destination content server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source local content server is located in a first access network of the communication network, and the destination content server is located in a second access network of the communication network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises streaming content associated with a data stream on the source content server.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising creating a tunnel between the source content server and the destination content server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the tunnel is an IP tunnel.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising creating a duplicate data stream over the tunnel.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising synchronizing the duplicate data stream with the data stream on the source local content server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the source content server serves content using a proxy, the proxy having a context, and the context of the proxy is moved from the source content server to the destination content server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the proxy is one of the group of a Real Time Streaming Protocol proxy and a Real Time Transport Protocol proxy.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising invoking an application related to the content on the destination local content server.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data related to the content on the destination content server prior to handing over responsibility for serving the content to the destination content server; and

discarding the data.

12. An electronic device readable storage medium storing executable instructions for providing content to a user device in a communication network, the communication network comprising an access network and a core network, the instructions causing a processor to:

serve content from a source content server in the access network to the user device;

identify that the user device is transitioning from a connection to the source content server to a connection to a destination content server; and

hand over responsibility for serving the content from the source content server to the destination content server.

13. The medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions causing the processor to create a tunnel between the source content server and the destination content server.

14. The medium of claim 12, wherein the source content server serves content using a proxy, the proxy having a context, and instructions further comprise instructions causing the processor to move the context of the proxy from the source content server to the destination content server.

15. An electronic device for providing content to a user device in a communication network, the communication network comprising an access network and a core network, the electronic device comprising:

a storage for storing content; and

a processor for executing instructions, the instructions causing the processor to;

serve content from a source content server in the access network to the user device;

identify that the user device is transitioning from a connection to the source content server to a connection to a destination content server; and

hand over responsibility for serving the content from the source content server to the destination content server.

16. The electronic device of claim 15, further comprising instructions causing the processor to create a tunnel between the source content server and the destination content server.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the content comprises streaming content associated with a data stream on the source content server, and the instructions further comprise instructions causing the processor to:

create a duplicate data stream over the tunnel, and

synchronize the duplicate data stream with the data stream on the source local content server.

18. The electronic device of claim 15, wherein the source content server serves content using a proxy, the proxy having a context, and instructions further comprise instructions causing the processor to move the context of the proxy from the source content server to the destination content server.