DISTRIBUTED CONTENT POPULARITY DETERMINATION IN A STREAMING ENVIRONMENT WITH INTERCONNECTED SET-TOP BOXES

• US 20170272792A1
• Filed: 03/16/2016
• Published: 09/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2016
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Bachmutsky, Alexander, Kadaba, Srinivas
• Application Number:
  US15/071,707
• Publication Number:
  US 20170272792A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4104 Peripherals receiving signals from specially adapted client devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

A content popularity determination system and method operative with interconnected set-top boxes (STBs) configured to facilitate media streaming in a network environment. In one embodiment, download patterns may be monitored relative to accessing a particular content via one or more STBs (STBs) associated with a subscriber. Also monitored is if the same particular content is shared by other STBs for downloading to other subscribers. Popularity-related metrics with respect to the particular content may be determined based on accessing of the particular content by the subscriber and sharing of the particular content by other STBs for downloading to the other subscribers.

Claims

1. A content popularity determination system operative with interconnected set-top boxes (STBs) configured to facilitate media streaming in a network environment, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a persistent memory module coupled to the one or more processors, the persistent memory module including program instructions for performing, when executed by the one or more processors;

monitoring download patterns relative to accessing a particular content via one or more STBs associated with a subscriber;

monitoring if the same particular content is shared by other STBs for downloading to other subscribers; and

determining popularity-related metrics with respect to the particular content based on accessing of the particular content by the subscriber and sharing of the particular content by other STBs for downloading to the other subscribers.

2. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a first portion of the STBs comprise one or more thin client STBs that correspond to one or more virtual STBs instantiated in a data center of the network environment hosted by one or more servers and at least a second portion of the STBs comprise one or more thick client physical STBs (pSTBs).

3. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 1, wherein the STBs are organized as at least one of (i) one or more virtual local area networks (VLANs), (ii) one or more Ethernet local area networks (E-LANs), (iii) one or more Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) networks, (iv) one or more Ethernet Virtual Private Networks (EVPNs), (v) one or more Layer-2 VPNs (L2VPNs), and (vi) one or more Layer-3 VPNs (L3VPNs).

4. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 1, wherein the STBs are organized in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network architecture having at least one STB operating as an uploader node and at least one STB operating as a downloader node.

5. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 4, wherein the P2P network architecture is operative with at least one protocol comprising BitTorrent protocol, BitCoin protocol, DirectConnect protocol, Ares protocol, FastTrack protocol, Gnutella protocol, OpenNap protocol, eDonkey protocol, and Rshare protocol.

6. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 1, wherein the STBs are organized in a Software-Defined Network (SDN)-compliant architecture.

7. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 6, wherein the SDN-compliant architecture is operative with at least one of the OpenFlow protocol, Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES) protocol, and OpenDaylight protocol.

8. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 1, wherein the STBs are logically organized into one or more local STB banks, each local STB bank comprising a subset of STBs that are managed by a common control plane manager and a local shared content database operative for storing at least one of media content and metadata associated with the media content for all the STBs of a particular local STB bank.

9. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 8, wherein two or more local STB banks are organized into an extended STB bank, and further wherein two or more extended STB banks are organized into an expanded STB bank, each extended STB bank having a corresponding shared content database that is sharable by each of the local STB banks of the extended STB bank, the corresponding shared content database operative to interface with other shared content databases corresponding to the other extended STB banks.

10. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 8, wherein the STBs of particular local STB bank are organized based on at least one of a geographical location area of subscribers being served by the STBs, a minimum network latency criterion for sharing content between the STBs, demographic data of the subscribers being served by the STBs, and historical content download patterns associated with various STBs of the network environment.

11. The content popularity determination system as recited in claim 1, wherein the particular content comprises at least one of a live media program, a stored media on demand program, an Over-The-Top (OTT) program, and a time-shifted TV (TSTV) program.

19. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

logically organizing the STBs into one or more local STB banks, each local STB bank comprising a subset of STBs that are managed by a common control plane manager; and

providing a local shared content database for each of the local STB banks, the local shared content database operative for storing at least one of media content and metadata associated with the media content for all the STBs of a particular local STB bank.

20. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 19, further comprising:

organizing two or more local STB banks into an extended STB bank having a shared content database that is sharable by each of the local STB banks of the extended STB bank.

21. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 20, further comprising:

organizing two or more extended STB banks into an expanded STB bank, each extended STB bank having a corresponding shared content database that can be interfaced to other shared content databases corresponding to the other extended STB banks.

22. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 19, wherein the STBs of particular local STB bank are organized based on at least one of a geographical location area of subscribers being served by the STBs, a minimum network latency criterion for sharing content between the STBs, demographic data of the subscribers being served by the STBs, and historical content download patterns associated with various STBs of the network environment.

12. A content popularity determination method operative with interconnected set-top boxes (STBs) configured to facilitate media streaming in a network environment, the method comprising:

monitoring download patterns relative to accessing a particular content via one or more STBs associated with a subscriber;

monitoring if the same particular content is shared by other STBs for downloading to other subscribers; and

determining popularity-related metrics with respect to the particular content based on accessing of the particular content by the subscriber and sharing of the particular content by other STBs for downloading to the other subscribers.

13. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 12, wherein at least a first portion of the STBs comprise one or more thin client STBs that correspond to one or more virtual STBs instantiated in a data center of the network environment hosted by one or more servers and at least a second portion of the STBs comprise one or more thick client physical STBs (pSTBs).

14. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 12, further comprising organizing the STBs as at least one of (i) one or more virtual local area networks (VLANs), (ii) one or more Ethernet local area networks (E-LANs), (iii) one or more Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS) networks, (iv) one or more Ethernet Virtual Private Networks (EVPNs), (v) one or more Layer-2 VPNs (L2VPNs), and (vi) one or more Layer-3 VPNs (L3VPNs).

15. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 12, further comprising organizing the STBs into a peer-to-peer (P2P) network architecture having at least one STB operating as an uploader node and at least one STB operating as a downloader node.

16. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 15, wherein the P2P network architecture is operative with at least one protocol comprising BitTorrent protocol, BitCoin protocol, DirectConnect protocol, Ares protocol, FastTrack protocol, Gnutella protocol, OpenNap protocol, eDonkey protocol, and Rshare protocol.

17. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 12, further comprising organizing the STBs in a Software-Defined Network (SDN)-compliant architecture.

18. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 17, wherein the SDN-compliant architecture is operative with at least one of the OpenFlow protocol, Forwarding and Control Element Separation (ForCES) protocol, and OpenDaylight protocol.

23. The content popularity determination method as recited in claim 12, wherein the particular content comprises at least one of a live media program, a stored media on demand program, an Over-The-Top (OTT) program, and a time-shifted TV (TSTV) program.