Content distribution system for operation over an internetwork including content peering arrangements

• US 6,785,704 B1
• Filed: 07/03/2000
• Issued: 08/31/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Fastforward Networks
• Inventors: McCanne, Steve
• Primary Examiner(s): Harvey, Jack B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Hieu C.
• Application Number:
  US09/609,442
• Time in Patent Office: 1,520 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201-203, 709/105, 709/224-225, 709/238-239, 709/244-246
• US Class Current: 718/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1859 adapted to provide push services, e.g. data channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1877 Measures taken prior to transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• 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 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/288 Distributed intermediate devices, i.e. intermediate devices for interaction with other intermediate devices on the same level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In a network interconnecting a plurality of content providers and a plurality of clients, for providing content to a client, each of the plurality of content providers is coupled to at least one content distribution network of a plurality of content distribution networks, wherein the client is coupled to at least one of the plurality of content distribution networks and a request for the content is sent from the client to a redirector node that receives requests, wherein a redirector at the redirector node provides an address for a server available to serve the requested content. When the client'"'"'s content distribution network is a primary content distribution network for the content provider providing the requested content, redirecting the client to a server within the client'"'"'s content distribution network. When the client'"'"'s content distribution network is not a primary content distribution network for the content provider but the client'"'"'s content distribution network has a content peering relationship with a primary content distribution network for the content provider, redirecting the client to a server within the client'"'"'s content distribution network. When the client'"'"'s content distribution network is not a primary content distribution network for the content provider and the client'"'"'s content distribution network does not have a content peering relationship with a primary content distribution network for the content provider, redirecting the client to a server outside the client'"'"'s content distribution network. The redirecting can be done using a domain name service (DNS) server that responds to requests for domain name resolution that include metadata encoding for the content being requested and/or attributes of the resolution request other than a domain name or explicit client/redirector communication to perform the redirection.

Claims

1. A method, in a network interconnecting a plurality of content providers and a plurality of clients, for providing content to a client, comprising the steps of:

coupling each of the plurality of content providers to at least one content distribution network of a plurality of content distribution networks, wherein the client is coupled to at least one of the plurality of content distribution networks;

sending a request for the content from the client to a redirector node that receives requests, wherein a redirector at the redirector node provides the client directions to a server available to serve the requested content;

when the client'"'"'s content distribution network is a primary content distribution network for the content provider providing the request content, redirecting the client to a server within the client'"'"'s content distribution network;

redirecting the client to a server within the client'"'"'s content distribution network when the client'"'"'s content distribution network is not a primary content distribution network for the content provider but the client'"'"'s content distribution network has a content peering relationship with a primary content distribution network for the content provider; and

redirecting the client to a server outside the client'"'"'s content distribution network when the client'"'"'s content distribution network is not a primary content distribution network for the content provider and the client'"'"'s content distribution network does not have a content peering relationship with a primary content distribution network for the content provider.

2. A method, in a network interconnecting a plurality of content providers and a plurality of clients, for providing content to a client, comprising:

coupling each of the plurality of content providers to at least one content distribution network of a plurality of content distribution networks, wherein the client is coupled to at least one of the plurality of content distribution networks;

sending a request for the content, including a reference to a resolver server and a content reference, from the client to a redirector node that receives requests, wherein a redirector at the redirector node provides the client directions to a server available to serve the request content;

when the client'"'"'s content distribution network is a primary content distribution network for the content provider providing the requested content, redirecting the client to a server within the client'"'"'s content distribution network; and

sending a resolution request from the redirector node to the resolver server including the content reference and using a response from the resolver server to resolve a process for obtaining the content.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising a step of providing client connection information to a content provider when content is served from outside the content provider'"'"'s primary distribution network.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the response from the resolver server includes instructions for joining an application-level multicast channel to receive the content.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the response from the resolver server includes instructions for pulling a cascaded feed from a streaming-media server.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of disseminating content routing policies to the redirectors using application-level multicast routing.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of disseminating server load information to the redirectors using application-level multicast routing.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of disseminating resource availability between content distribution networks.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of disseminating replication information to the redirectors using application-level multicast routing.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of sending the request for the content comprises a step of sending an explicit service request to an anycast address to imply topological locality via anycast routing.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein redirection is performed based on the topological locality context.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising a step of using redirection in remote autonomous systems to load balance server farms in nearby autonomous systems.