FRACTIONAL PRE-DELIVERY OF CONTENT TO USER DEVICES

• US 20150142910A1
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Published: 05/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opanga Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Opanga Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: HARRANG, Jeffrey Paul, WESTERFIELD, Giles, BURNETTE, John, GIBBONS, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,742,861 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods for delivering fractions of content to user devices before the content is selected or requested (e.g., a pre-delivery of content) are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods receive an indication that content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network, determine a fraction (e.g., size) of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions, and causes the determined fraction of the content available for pre-delivery to be delivered to the user device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication that content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network;

determining a fraction of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions; and

causing the determined fraction of the content available for pre-delivery to be delivered to the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a fraction of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions includes:

determining a fractional size of the content associated with an uninterrupted playback probability for the content that is determined by a delivery buffer cumulative credit function (CCF) on a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve,

the CDF curve representing a relationship between predicted uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously delivered to the user device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content of a certain file size to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content of the certain file size previously consumed by the user device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device over a certain network type and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously delivered to the user device over the certain network type.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content encoded with a certain bit rate to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content encoded with the certain bit rate that was previously consumed by the user device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device at a certain location and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously delivered to the user device at the certain location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a fraction of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions includes:

determining minimum consumption credit function values for a consumption credit function that is based on a rate of consumption of content by the user device from a remote content source;

generating a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve that plots the determined minimum consumption credit function values versus uninterrupted playback probabilities associated with the user device; and

selecting a fractional size of the content that is associated with a desired uninterrupted playback probability using the CDF curve.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

predicting a delivery network via which the content is to be delivered to the user device during a playback event of the content; and

determining the fraction of the content available for pre-delivery based on the predicted delivery network used during the playback event.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

predicting one or more delivery network conditions via which the content is to be delivered to the user device during a playback event of the content; and

determining the fraction of the content available for pre-delivery based on the predicted one or more delivery network conditions associated with a delivery network used during the playback event.

10. A system supported by a mobile device, the system comprising:

a content module that receives an indication that content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network;

a content fraction module that determines a fraction of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions; and

a pre-delivery module that causes the determined fraction of the content available for pre-delivery to be delivered to the user device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the content fraction module determines a fractional size of the content associated with an uninterrupted playback probability for the content that is determined by a delivery buffer cumulative credit function (CCF) on a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve, the CDF curve representing a relationship between predicted uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously delivered to the user device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content of a certain file size to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content of the certain file size previously consumed by the user device.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device over a certain network type and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously delivered to the user device over the certain network type.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content encoded with a certain bit rate to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content encoded with the certain bit rate that was previously consumed by the user device.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the cumulative-distribution (CDF) curve represents a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device at a certain location and outputs of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously delivered to the user device at the certain location.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the content fraction module:

determines minimum consumption credit function values for a consumption credit function that is based on a rate of consumption of content by the user device from a remote content source;

generates a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve that plots the determined minimum consumption credit function values versus uninterrupted playback probabilities associated with the user device; and

selects a fractional size of the content that is associated with a desired playback probability using the CDF curve.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the content fraction module determines the minimum consumption credit function values for the consumption credit function when the user device is actively requesting content from a remote content source.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the content fraction module:

predicts a delivery network via which the content is to be delivered to the user device during a playback event of the content; and

determines the fraction of the content available for pre-delivery based on the predicted delivery network used during the playback event.

19. A computer-readable storage medium whose contents, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving an indication that content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network;

determining a fraction of the content to be pre-delivered to the user device that is based on a probability that the content to be pre-delivered to the user device will be consumed by the user device during an uninterrupted playback event and based on a prediction of a delivery network via which the content is to be delivered to the user device during the playback event;

causing the determined fraction of the content available for pre-delivery to be delivered to the user device.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein determining a fraction of the content to be pre-delivered to the user device includes:

identifying a minimum delivery buffer cumulative credit function (CCF) value that is paired on a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve with the probability that the content to be pre-delivered to the user device will be consumed by the user device during the uninterrupted playback event, the CDF curve representing a relationship between uninterrupted playback probabilities for new content to be pre-delivered to the user device and outputs of minimum values of the delivery buffer cumulative credit function for content previously consumed by the user device; and

determining a fractional size of the content associated with the identified minimum delivery buffer CCF value.