HANDLING LONG-TAIL CONTENT IN A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

• US 20160094471A1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Published: 03/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Newton, Christopher, Johns, Kevin, Power, William
• Granted Patent: US 10,348,848 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1004 Server selection for load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A content delivery network has at least a first tier of servers. A content delivery method includes, at a first server in the first tier of servers, obtaining a request from a client for a resource. If the resource is available at the first server or at a peer of the first server, then the resource is served to the client from the first server. Otherwise, it is determined whether the resource is popular, and if the resource is determined to be popular, then the first server obtains the resource and the first server serves the resource to the client. If the resource is determined not to be popular, the server contacts a second server to obtain the resource, not in the first tier of servers, and the second server provides the resource to the first server. The first server is instructed not to cache the unpopular content.

Claims

1. A method of content delivery in a content delivery network comprising:

receiving, at a first server of a first tier of servers of the content delivery network, a request from a requesting device for a resource available from the content delivery network;

accessing a popularity service associated with the content delivery network to determine a popularity designation associated with the requested resource;

requesting the resource from a second server of the content delivery network;

processing, at the first server of the first tier of servers, a redirect instruction from the second server of the content delivery network to obtain the resource from a content server of the content delivery network; and

providing the obtained resource to the requesting device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the popularity designation associated with the requested resource indicates that the requested resource is not popular, the method further comprising:

receiving an instruction to not cache the resource at the first server of the first tier of servers when the resource is obtained from the content server of the content delivery network.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the popularity designation associated with the requested resource indicates that the requested resource is popular, the method further comprising:

receiving an instruction to cache the resource at the first server of the first tier of servers when the resource is obtained from the content server of the content delivery network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second server is a metro mid-tier server of the content delivery network.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second server is a peer server of the first tier of servers of the content delivery network.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the popularity designation associated with the requested resource comprises an indication whether a current popularity value for the resource exceeds a first predetermined popularity threshold.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the popularity service is associated with the second server of the content delivery network.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the popularity service is associated with the first server of the first tier of servers of the content delivery network.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the content delivery network further comprises a second tier of servers distinct from the first tier of servers, and wherein the second server is in the second tier of servers.

10. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

receiving, at the first server of the first tier of servers of the content delivery network, an additional request for the resource available from the content delivery network;

determining that the resource is cached at the first server of the first tier of servers; and

providing the cached resource from the first server of the first tier of servers in response to the additional request for the resource.

11. A content delivery network comprising:

a first tier of servers comprising a first plurality of servers, an edge server of the first tier of servers receiving a request from a requesting device in communication with the first server for a resource available from the content delivery network;

a second tier of servers comprising a second plurality of servers, a first server of the second plurality of servers receiving a request from the edge server for the content and, in response, transmitting a redirect instruction intended for the requesting device to the edge server to obtain the resource from a content server; and

a popularity service tracking a popularity designation associated with the requested resource;

wherein the edge server processes the redirect instruction to obtain the content from the content server and provides the obtained content to the requesting device.

12. The content delivery network of claim 11 wherein the popularity designation associated with the requested resource indicates that the requested resource is not popular and the first server of the second plurality of servers transmits an instruction to not cache the resource at the content server of the first tier of servers when the resource is obtained from the content server.

13. The content delivery network of claim 11 wherein the popularity designation associated with the requested resource indicates that the requested resource is popular and the first server of the second plurality of servers transmits an instruction to cache the resource at the content server of the first tier of servers when the resource is obtained from the content server.

14. The content delivery network of claim 11 wherein the first server of the second plurality of servers is a metro mid-tier server of the content delivery network.

15. The content delivery network of claim 11 wherein the first server of the second plurality of servers is a peer server of the first tier of servers of the content delivery network.

16. The content delivery network of claim 11 wherein the popularity designation associated with the requested resource comprises an indication whether a current popularity value for the resource exceeds a first predetermined popularity threshold.

17. The content delivery network of claim 16 wherein the popularity service is associated with the first server of the second plurality of servers of the content delivery network.

18. The content delivery network of claim 16 wherein the popularity service is associated with the content server of the first tier of servers of the content delivery network.

19. A method of content delivery in a content delivery network comprising:

receiving, at a first server of a first tier of servers of the content delivery network, a request from a requesting device for a resource available from the content delivery network;

accessing a popularity service associated with the first server of the first tier of the content delivery network to determine a popularity designation associated with the requested resource;

receiving an instruction to not cache the resource at the first server of the first tier of servers;

requesting the resource from a second server of the content delivery network based at least on the popularity designation associated with the requested resource; and

providing the obtained resource to the requesting device.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the second server of the content delivery network is a content server storing the requested content.