Methods and Devices for Content Distribution

• US 20120309425A1
• Filed: 10/12/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Perkuhn, Heiko, El Khayat, Ibtissam
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1063 Discovery through centralising entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1072 Discovery involving ranked list compilation of candidate peers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

To control content distribution to plural mobile entities (20, 25-27), a device (10) for managing the distribution of the content may determine mobile entities (20, 25-27) which participate in sharing the same content and which are located in the same region. The mobile entities (20, 25-27) respectively have a first interface for communication with a mobile communication network (2, 4, 5) and a second interface for forming an ad-hoc network with another mobile entity (25-27). A message indicating at least one peer address of a peer mobile entity (25-27) may be selectively transmitted to a mobile entity (20). The peer address allows the mobile entity (20) to retrieve at least a piece of the content over the second interface from another mobile entity (25-27).

Claims

1-23. -23. (canceled)

24. A method of managing distribution of content to a mobile entity, the mobile entity having a first interface for communicating with a mobile communication network and a second interface for forming an ad-hoc network with another mobile entity, the method comprising:

receiving, over the mobile communication network, a request from the mobile entity, the request including a content identifier identifying the content;

determining, based on the received request, a region in which the mobile entity is located;

retrieving, based on the content identifier, information on other mobile entities which participate in sharing the content;

identifying a subset of the other mobile entities based on the determined region;

transmitting, via the mobile communication network, a message to the mobile entity, the message including at least one of a peer address of a peer mobile entity included in the identified subset or a source address, the peer address allowing the mobile entity to retrieve at least a piece of the content over the second interface from the peer mobile entity.

25. The method of claim 24:

retrieving location information for the other mobile entities;

wherein the identifying comprises identifying the subset based on the retrieved location information and the determined region.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising:

verifying, based on the retrieved location information, whether a stability criterion for forming the ad-hoc network is fulfilled;

selectively including, based on the verifying, the peer address in the message to switch to a distribution of the content over the ad-hoc network.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the verifying comprises determining a density of mobile entities which participate in sharing the content in the determined region.

28. The method of claim 24 further comprising maintaining mapping information defining a mapping between first addresses used in the mobile communication network and second addresses used in the ad-hoc network.

29. The method of claim 28:

wherein the retrieved information on the other mobile entities includes second addresses of at least some of the other mobile entities;

wherein the second addresses included in the retrieved information are mapped to first addresses.

30. The method of claim 24 wherein the ad-hoc network is a vehicular ad-hoc network.

31. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

establishing a density of mobile entities in the determined region;

wherein the retrieving and the identifying are selectively performed based on a threshold comparison of the density.

32. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

monitoring, for a plurality of regions, a number of mobile entities located in the respective region to predict a congestion in a radio network;

wherein the retrieving and the identifying are selectively performed based on a predicted congestion.

33. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

the mobile entity receiving the message;

the mobile entity fetching, in response to the message including the peer address, at least a piece of the content from the peer mobile entity via the ad-hoc network.

34. A device for managing distribution of content to a mobile entity, the device comprising:

an interface to receive, via a mobile communication network, a request from the mobile entity, the request including a content identifier identifying the content;

a processing unit coupled to the interface and configured to;

determine, based on the received request, a region in which the mobile entity is located;

retrieve, based on the content identifier, information on other mobile entities which participate in sharing the content;

identify a subset of the other mobile entities based on the determined region;

transmit, over the mobile communication network, a message to the mobile entity, the message including at least one of a peer address of a peer mobile entity included in the identified subset or a source address, the peer address allowing the mobile entity to retrieve the content over an ad-hoc network from the peer mobile entity.

35. The device of claim 34 wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

retrieve location information for the other mobile entities;

identify the subset based on the retrieved location information and the determined region.

36. The device of claim 35 wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

verify, based on the retrieved location information, whether a stability criterion for forming the ad-hoc network is fulfilled;

selectively include, based on the verifying indicating that the stability criterion is fulfilled, at least one peer address in the message.

37. The device of claim 36 wherein the processing unit is further configured to verify whether the stability criterion is fulfilled by determining a density of mobile entities which participate in sharing the content in the determined region.

38. The device of claim 36 wherein the processing unit is further configured to include both the peer address and the source address when the stability criterion is fulfilled.

39. The device of claim 35 further comprising as second interface over which the location information for the other mobile entities is retrieved.

40. The device of claim 34 further comprising a storage unit configured to store mapping information defining a mapping between first addresses used in the mobile communication network and second addresses used in the ad-hoc network.

41. The device of claim 40:

wherein the retrieved information on the other mobile entities includes second addresses of at least some of the other mobile entities;

wherein the processing unit is further configured to map the second addresses included in the retrieved information to first addresses.

42. A method of retrieving content by a mobile entity which has a first interface for communicating with a mobile communication network and a second interface for forming an ad-hoc network with another mobile entity, the method comprising:

transmitting, over the first interface, a request including a content identifier identifying the content;

processing a message received over the first interface in response to the request, the message including at least one of a source address or a peer address;

selectively, in response to the message including the peer address, retrieving at least a piece of the content over the second interface from another mobile entity using the peer address.

43. A mobile entity, comprising:

a first interface for communicating with a mobile communication network;

a second interface for forming an ad-hoc network with another mobile entity;

a controller configured to;

transmit, over the first interface, a request including a content identifier identifying content;

process a message received over the first interface in response to the request, the message including at least one of a source address or a peer address;

selectively, in response to the message including the peer address, retrieve at least a piece of the content over the second interface from another mobile entity based on the peer address.

44. The mobile entity of claim 43 wherein the controller is further configured to transmit the request such that it includes an address associated with the second interface.

45. The mobile entity of claim 43 wherein the controller is further configured to selectively, in response to the message not including the peer address, retrieve content over the first interface using the source address.

46. The mobile entity of claim 43 wherein the controller is further configured to re-transmit the content over the second interface.