DYNAMICALLY SELECTING BETWEEN ACCELERATION TECHNIQUES BASED ON CONTENT REQUEST ATTRIBUTES

• US 20150026239A1
• Filed: 07/19/2013
• Published: 01/22/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Limelight Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Limelight Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Hofmann, Jason, Cohen-Shraga, Hemdat, Yaffe, Erez
• Granted Patent: US 9,015,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/00 Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• 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 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

A system for dynamically selecting from among a plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) using attributes associated with content requests may include a network interface that receives a content request from a client system for content, where the request is associated with one or more attributes. The system may also include an intermediate server that accelerates access to the content stored in the CDN edge servers. The intermediate server may include a processor configured to access the one or more attributes associated with the content request, select one or more acceleration techniques from the plurality of acceleration techniques where the one or more acceleration techniques are selected based on the one or more attributes, and use the one or more acceleration techniques to provide the content to the client system.

Claims

1. A system for dynamically selecting from among a plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) using attributes associated with content requests, comprising:

a network interface that receives the content requests from a plurality of client systems for content stored in a plurality of edge servers distributed geographically throughout the CDN, wherein;

the content requests comprise a first content request for first content;

the first content request originates from a first client system in the plurality of client systems; and

the first content request is associated with one or more attributes; and

an intermediate server that accelerates access to the content stored in the plurality of edge servers, the intermediate server comprising;

a first interface coupled to the network interface;

a second interface configured to communicate with at least one of the plurality of edge servers of the CDN;

one or more memory devices having stored thereon;

instructions for executing each of the plurality of acceleration techniques; and

a plurality of acceleration profiles, wherein each of the plurality of acceleration profiles specifies at least one of the plurality of acceleration techniques; and

a processor configured to;

access the one or more attributes associated with the first content request;

select one or more acceleration techniques from the plurality of acceleration techniques, wherein;

the one or more acceleration techniques are selected based on the one or more attributes;

use the one or more acceleration techniques to provide the content to the first client system;

receive metrics from the first client system, wherein the metrics are associated with a performance in providing the first content to a user of the first client system;

dynamically update a process by which the one or more acceleration techniques are selected based on the metrics; and

use the updated process to select acceleration techniques for subsequent requests associated with similar attributes.

4. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a geographic location of the first client system.

8. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the intermediate server is physically combined with one of the plurality of edge servers of the CDN.

21. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes are received by the intermediate server separately from the first content request.

22. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes are received by the intermediate server together with the first content request.

23. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein a first acceleration technique in the plurality of acceleration techniques is dependent on a second acceleration techniques in the plurality of acceleration techniques such that the first acceleration technique and the second acceleration technique are executed in a predetermined order.

24. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of acceleration profiles comprises a multidimensional data structure, wherein each dimension of the multidimensional data structure is associated with a corresponding one of the one or more attributes.

25. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the plurality of acceleration techniques comprises preemptively compressing media files to be transmitted to the client device.

26. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the plurality of acceleration techniques comprises optimizing code associated with the first content.

27. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the plurality of acceleration techniques comprises identifying portions of the content that are dynamic and caching portions of the content that are static.

28. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to dynamically select one or more acceleration techniques from the plurality of acceleration techniques based attributes for each request received by the intermediate server.

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

5. (canceled)

6. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

9. (canceled)

10. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 9, wherein the one or more acceleration techniques selected by the intermediate server are selected as one of the plurality of acceleration profiles.

11. (canceled)

12. The system for dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 11, wherein the first client system comprises a testbed simulator that is configured to simulate a plurality of client system configurations and network connections.

13. A method of dynamically selecting from among a plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in a Content Delivery Network (CDN) using attributes associated with content requests, the method comprising:

receiving a first content request for first content through a network interface, wherein;

the network interface is configured to receive the content requests from a plurality of client systems for content stored in a plurality of edge servers distributed geographically throughout the CDN;

the first content request originates from a first client system in the plurality of client systems;

the first content request is associated with one or more attributes;

accessing, by an intermediate server, the one or more attributes associated with the first content request, wherein;

the intermediate server is configured to accelerate access to the content stored in the plurality of edge servers;

selecting, by the intermediate server, one or more acceleration techniques from the plurality of acceleration techniques, wherein;

the one or more acceleration techniques are selected based on the one or more attributes; and

the one or more acceleration techniques form a first acceleration profile in a plurality of acceleration profiles;

using, by the intermediate server, the one or more acceleration techniques to provide the content to the first client system

receiving, by the intermediate server, metrics from the first client system, wherein the metrics are associated with a performance in providing the first content to a user of the first client system;

dynamically updating, by the intermediate server, a process by which the one or more acceleration techniques are selected based on the metrics; and

using, by the intermediate server, the updated process to select acceleration techniques for subsequent requests associated with similar attributes.

14. The method of dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 13, wherein the one or more attributes affect a performance of the one or more acceleration techniques in providing the first content to a user of the first client system.

15. The method of dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 13, wherein the one or more attributes are descriptive of the first client system or a network through which the first content request is received.

16. The method of dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 13, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a measurement of latency associated with transmitting content from the CDN to the first client system.

17. The method of dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 13, wherein the one or more attributes comprises a device type of the first client system.

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

20. The method of dynamically selecting from among the plurality of acceleration techniques implemented in the CDN using the attributes associated with the content requests of claim 19, wherein the first client system comprises a testbed simulator that is configured to simulate a plurality of client system configurations and network connections.