SELECTING A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

• US 20160065662A1
• Filed: 08/09/2015
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tensera Networks Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Tensera Networks Ltd.
• Inventors: Yellin, Daniel, Ben Eli, David, Peled, Roee
• Granted Patent: US 10,506,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are described, including a method for use with a first content delivery network (CDN) and a second CDN that are used by a content source. A processor is used to identify that a device is requesting an exchange of content with the content source, identify a property of the requested exchange of content, and based on the property, select one of the first CDN and the second CDN. Subsequently, content is exchanged between the device and the selected CDN. Other embodiments are also described.

Claims

1. A method for use with a first content delivery network (CDN) and a second CDN that are used by a content source, the method comprising:

using a processor to;

identify that a device is requesting an exchange of content with the content source,

identify a property of the requested exchange of content, and

based on the property, select one of the first CDN and the second CDN; and

subsequently, exchanging the content between the device and the selected CDN.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the property of the requested exchange of content comprises identifying that the requested exchange of content is a requested prefetching of the content from the content source.

3. The method according to claim 2,

wherein a speed of the first CDN is less than a speed of the second CDN, and

wherein selecting one of the first CDN and the second CDN comprises selecting the first CDN, based on the requested exchange of content being a requested prefetching of the content from the content source.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising, prior to selecting the first CDN, using the processor to identify that the speed of the first CDN is less than the speed of the second CDN.

5. The method according to claim 2,

wherein a cost-per-volume-of-content of the first CDN is less than a cost-per-volume-of-content of the second CDN, and

wherein selecting one of the first CDN and the second CDN comprises selecting the first CDN, based on the requested exchange of content being a requested prefetching of the content from the content source.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processor is a processor of the device, the method comprising using the processor of the device.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising using the processor to initiate the exchange of content between the device and the selected CDN by specifying a uniform resource identifier that (i) is associated with the selected CDN, and (ii) is not associated with the other CDN.

8. The method according to claim 1,

wherein a speed of the first CDN is less than a speed of the second CDN,

wherein identifying the property of the requested exchange of content comprises identifying that the device is requesting to download (i) a first portion of the content, for immediate consumption, and (ii) a second portion of the content, not for immediate consumption,

wherein selecting one of the first CDN and the second CDN comprises (i) selecting the first CDN for download of the second portion of the content, and (ii) selecting the second CDN for download of the first portion of the content, and

wherein exchanging the content between the device and the selected CDN comprises (i) downloading the second portion of the content from the first CDN, and (ii) downloading the first portion of the content from the second CDN.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising using the processor to estimate a likelihood that a user will consume the second portion of the content, wherein downloading the second portion of the content comprises downloading the second portion of the content in response to the likelihood being greater than a threshold.

10. The method according to claim 1,

wherein a cost-per-volume-of-content of the first CDN is less than a cost-per-volume-of-content of the second CDN,

wherein identifying the property of the requested exchange of content comprises identifying that the device is requesting to download (i) a first portion of the content, for immediate consumption, and (ii) a second portion of the content, not for immediate consumption,

wherein selecting one of the first CDN and the second CDN comprises (i) selecting the first CDN for download of the second portion of the content, and (ii) selecting the second CDN for download of the first portion of the content, and

wherein exchanging the content between the device and the selected CDN comprises (i) downloading the second portion of the content from the first CDN, and (ii) downloading the first portion of the content from the second CDN.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying that the device is requesting the exchange of content with the content source comprises identifying that the device is requesting to upload the content to the content source.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying that the device is requesting the exchange the content with the content source comprises identifying that the device is requesting to download the content from the content source.

13. A method for use with a content delivery network (CDN), the CDN having a first content-delivery route and a second content-delivery route, the method comprising:

using a processor to;

identify that a device is requesting an exchange of content with the CDN,

identify a property of the requested exchange of content, and

based on the property, select one of the first content-delivery route and the second content-delivery route; and

subsequently, exchanging the content between the device and the CDN, via the selected content-delivery route.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the processor is a processor of a server belonging to the CDN, the method comprising using the processor of the server belonging to the CDN.

15. Apparatus for use with a first content delivery network (CDN) and a second CDN that are used by a content source, the apparatus comprising a processor configured to:

identify that a device is requesting an exchange of content with the content source,

identify a property of the requested exchange of content, and

based on the property, select one of the first CDN and the second CDN for the exchange of content.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to identify the property of the requested exchange of content by identifying that the requested exchange of content is a requested prefetching of the content from the content source.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein a speed of the first CDN is less than a speed of the second CDN, and

wherein the processor is configured to:

select the first CDN, based on the requested exchange of content being a requested prefetching of the content from the content source, and

select the second CDN, based on the requested exchange of content not being a requested prefetching of the content from the content source.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to, prior to selecting the first CDN, identify that the speed of the first CDN is less than the speed of the second CDN.

19. The apparatus according to claim 16,

wherein a cost-per-volume-of-content of the first CDN is less than a cost-per-volume-of-content of the second CDN, and

wherein the processor is configured to:

select the first CDN, based on the requested exchange of content being a requested prefetching of the content from the content source, and

select the second CDN, based on the requested exchange of content not being a requested prefetching of the content from the content source.

20. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the processor is a processor of the device.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the processor is further configured to initiate the exchange of content between the device and the selected CDN by specifying a uniform resource identifier that (i) is associated with the selected CDN, and (ii) is not associated with the other CDN.

22. The apparatus according to claim 15,

wherein a speed of the first CDN is less than a speed of the second CDN,

wherein the processor is configured to identify the property of the requested exchange of content by identifying that the device is requesting to download (i) a first portion of the content, for immediate consumption, and (ii) a second portion of the content, not for immediate consumption, and

wherein the processor is configured to select one of the first CDN and the second CDN by (i) selecting the first CDN for download of the second portion of the content, and (ii) selecting the second CDN for download of the first portion of the content.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22,

wherein the processor is further configured to estimate a likelihood that a user will consume the second portion of the content, and

wherein the processor is configured to select the first CDN for download of the second portion of the content in response to the likelihood being greater than a threshold.

24. The apparatus according to claim 15,

wherein a cost-per-volume-of-content of the first CDN is less than a cost-per-volume-of-content of the second CDN,

wherein the processor is configured to identify the property of the requested exchange of content by identifying that the device is requesting to download (i) a first portion of the content, for immediate consumption, and (ii) a second portion of the content, not for immediate consumption, and

wherein the processor is configured to select one of the first CDN and the second CDN by (i) selecting the first CDN for download of the second portion of the content, and (ii) selecting the second CDN for download of the first portion of the content.

25. Apparatus for use with a content delivery network (CDN), the CDN having a first content-delivery route and a second content-delivery route, the apparatus comprising a processor configured to:

identify that a device is requesting an exchange of content with the CDN,

identify a property of the requested exchange of content, and

based on the property, select one of the first content-delivery route and the second content-delivery route for the exchange of content.

26. A computer software product for use with a first content delivery network (CDN) and a second CDN that are used by a content source, the product comprising a tangible non-transitory computer-readable medium in which program instructions are stored, which instructions, when read by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

identify that a device is requesting an exchange of content with the content source,

identify a property of the requested exchange of content, and

based on the property, select one of the first CDN and the second CDN for the exchange of content.