POLICY MANAGEMENT FOR CONTENT STORAGE IN CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORKS

• US 20120198042A1
• Filed: 01/05/2012
• Published: 08/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Limelight Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Limelight Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Dunbar, Neil, Black, Bryan, Roersma, Jacob S., Knol, Luke, Boelens, Jared, Swanson, Wylie, Lange, Sig
• Granted Patent: US 8,478,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

A method for processing content objects with a content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed points of presence is disclosed. Selection of a policy is received from a plurality of policies, where the plurality of policies define processes to perform on content objects stored at the CDN. Each policy includes an applicability criteria and a storage disposition. Metadata is received at the CDN, the metadata characterizing a content object, a requester of the content object and/or a provider of the content object. The content object is received for storage at the CDN. A policy and other policies are determined to be applicable to the content object through analysis of the metadata and/or the applicability criteria. Overlap is resolved between the policy and the other policies found applicable to the content object. The processing of the policy is performed on the content object.

Claims

1. A content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed points of presence (POPs) for processing content objects, the CDN comprising:

a metadata directory comprising metadata characterizing the content objects, requesters of the content objects and/or providers of the content objects; and

a policy reconciliation service (PRS) coupled to the metadata directory, the PRS comprising;

a policy store comprising a plurality of policies, each policy defining a process to perform on a content object, and each policy including an applicability criteria and a storage disposition;

a policy manager coupled to the policy store, wherein the policy manager identifies a first policy and a second policy from the plurality of policies applicable to a first content object based on metadata in the metadata directory associated with the content object;

a policy mapping store comprising a hierarchy, the hierarchy identifying a priority of one of the first policy and the second policy over the other policy of the first policy and the second policy; and

a policy compiler coupled to the policy mapping store, wherein the policy compiler identifies a resolution of a conflict of the first policy and the second policy based on the hierarchy.

2. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of policies include one or more of:

ingest, replication, hosting, transcoding, encryption, compression, thumbnailing, aging content into a system, and aging content out of the system.

3. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 1, further comprising one or more resources coupled to the policy compiler, wherein the one or more resources are configured to:

receive the resolution of the policy conflict from the policy compiler, and

store or process the content object in accordance with the resolution.

4. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 1, wherein the resolution comprises an identification of one of the first and second policies to be performed on the content object.

5. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 1, wherein the hierarchy includes levels of policy priorities, wherein one or more of the plurality of policies may be assigned to each level.

6. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 1, wherein the metadata directory further comprises infrastructure tags or tagsets, each tag or tagset associated with one or more resource configured to store or process a content object in accordance with a policy.

7. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 6, wherein the PRS is further configured to select a resource of the one or more resources for processing or storing the content object in accordance with the resolution, the selection of the resource being based on the tags or tagsets in the metadata directory.

8. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 6, wherein the infrastructure tags or tagsets in the metadata directory include one or more of carbon use;

energy use;

storage type;

equipment manufacturer;

reliability;

write properties;

interface speed;

retrieval latency;

storage cost;

physical security surrounding equipment;

geographical location of content;

a performance discriminator;

equipment location;

POP, IPV4 or IPV6 compatibility;

hosting entity and level of quality of service.

9. A method for processing content objects with a content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed points of presence (POPs), the method comprising:

receiving selection of a policy from a plurality of policies, wherein the plurality of policies define processes to perform on content objects stored at the CDN, wherein each policy includes an applicability criteria and a storage disposition;

receiving, at the CDN, metadata characterizing a content object, a requester of the content object and/or a provider of the content object;

receiving the content object for storage at the CDN;

determining a policy and other policies are applicable to the content object through analysis of the metadata and/or the applicability criteria;

resolving overlap between the policy and the other policies found applicable to the content object; and

performing processing of the policy on the content object.

10. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, wherein the processing of the policy stores the content object in a new location according to the disposition of the policy.

11. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

categorizing a storage brick with a tag chosen from a plurality of tags;

choosing the storage brick from a plurality of storage bricks with the tag; and

storing the content object on the storage brick according to the storage disposition of the policy.

12. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, wherein the performing processing of the policy is only done when the applicability criteria does not exclude the content object.

13. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, wherein the provider of the content object performs the selection of the policy.

14. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, wherein the processing is performed with a storage medium, an application program interface (API) to a software processor, a transcoder, a compression engine, an ad insertion function, a syndication engine, an cryptoengine, a thumbnail generator, an ad insertion engine, or a content syndication service.

15. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, wherein the resolving overlap between the policy and other policies is performed according to a predetermined hierarchy where policies are prioritized according to which one takes precedence where a conflict is found.

16. The method for processing content objects with the CDN having the plurality of geographically distributed POPs as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

detecting a change to the metadata; and

resolving overlap again to find policies that still apply to the content object.

17. A content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of geographically distributed points of presence (POPs) for processing content objects, the CDN comprising two or more servers programmed for:

receiving selection of a policy from a plurality of policies, wherein the plurality of policies define processes to perform on content objects stored at the CDN, wherein each policy includes an applicability criteria and a storage disposition;

receiving, at the CDN, metadata characterizing a content object, a requester of the content object and/or a provider of the content object;

receiving the content object for storage at the CDN;

determining a policy and other policies are applicable to the content object through analysis of the metadata and/or the applicability criteria;

resolving overlap between the policy and the other policies found applicable to the content object; and

performing processing of the policy on the content object.

18. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 17, wherein the metadata comprises data indicating one or more of:

MIME type, encoding, container format, copyright terms, cost terms, copyright year, actors, director, studio, program summary, content rating, critical review ranking, title, transcript, ad insertion locations, encryption, and request popularity.

19. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 17, wherein the processing of the policy stores the content object in a new location according to the disposition of the policy.

20. The CDN having a plurality of geographically distributed POPs for processing content objects as recited in claim 17, wherein the resolving overlap between the policy and other policies is performed according to a predetermined hierarchy, the hierarchy including a ranking of policies indicating specific policy precedence to be enforced where a conflict is found between two or more policies.