Video distribution system using dynamic segmenting of video data files
First Claim
1. A method for dynamically segmenting a digital data file resident within at least one digital data storage device of multiple digital data storage devices associated with a first computing system to facilitate transfer of the segmented digital data file from said first computing system to at least one of a plurality of second computing systems, whereby said method comprises the steps ofa) requesting an identifier for said digital data file;
- b) requesting a range of locations within the multiple data storage devices where said digital data file is resident;
c) calculating a new segment size list for said digital data file describing a fragmentation of said digital data file as a function of demand for all digital data files resident on said digital data storage devices, size of each digital data file of all digital data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of digital data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the plurality of second computing systems;
d) if said digital data file has been previously segmented, comparing the new segment size list to an existing segment size list;
e) if the existing segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital data file, transferring said digital data file to the second computing system according to said existing segment size list;
f) if the new segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital file,creating a new file identifier for each new segment ascertained by the creating of the new segment size list,creating a new range of locations for each new segment of the digital data file to identify the location for each new segment, andstoring the digital data file at said locations for each new segment;
g) transferring each new segment of said digital data file to at least one of the second computing systems; and
repeating steps a) through g) at each request for each digital data file.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus to dynamically segment video data files or portions of video data files within a video distribution system to facilitate the transfer of the video data files from a file server computing system to client computing system within a video distribution system. The video data files or portions of the video data files are dynamically fragmented as a function of demand for the video data files, size of each video data file of the plurality of video data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the client computing systems.
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Citations
112 Claims
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1. A method for dynamically segmenting a digital data file resident within at least one digital data storage device of multiple digital data storage devices associated with a first computing system to facilitate transfer of the segmented digital data file from said first computing system to at least one of a plurality of second computing systems, whereby said method comprises the steps of
a) requesting an identifier for said digital data file; -
b) requesting a range of locations within the multiple data storage devices where said digital data file is resident; c) calculating a new segment size list for said digital data file describing a fragmentation of said digital data file as a function of demand for all digital data files resident on said digital data storage devices, size of each digital data file of all digital data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of digital data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the plurality of second computing systems; d) if said digital data file has been previously segmented, comparing the new segment size list to an existing segment size list; e) if the existing segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital data file, transferring said digital data file to the second computing system according to said existing segment size list; f) if the new segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital file, creating a new file identifier for each new segment ascertained by the creating of the new segment size list, creating a new range of locations for each new segment of the digital data file to identify the location for each new segment, and storing the digital data file at said locations for each new segment; g) transferring each new segment of said digital data file to at least one of the second computing systems; and repeating steps a) through g) at each request for each digital data file. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A digital data service system in communication with a plurality of computing systems to provide at least one digital data file of a plurality of digital data files to at least one of the plurality of computing systems, comprising:
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a plurality of digital data file storage devices in communication with each other and with any of the plurality of computing systems for storing a plurality of dynamically generated segments of said provided data file, said segments stored within said plurality of digital data file storage devices to facilitate transfer of said provided data file to at least one of the plurality of computing systems; and a segmentation apparatus in communication with the plurality of digital data file storage devices, which, at a request of any of the digital data files, dynamically fragments any requested digital data file into a plurality of segments to facilitate transfer to and processing by at least one of the computing systems of said segments, wherein the segmentation apparatus performs the steps of; a) requesting an identifier for said digital data file; b) requesting a range of locations within the multiple data storage devices where said digital data file is resident; c) calculating the new segment size list for said digital data file describing a fragmentation of said digital data file as a function of demand for all digital data files resident on said digital data storage devices, size of each digital data file of all digital data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of digital data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the plurality of computing systems; d) if said digital data file has been previously segmented, comparing the new segment size list to an existing segment size list; e) if the existing segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital data file, transferring said digital data file to the computing system according to said existing segment size list; f) if the new segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital file, creating a new file identifier for each new segment ascertained by the creating of the new segment size list, creating a new range of locations for each new segment of the digital data file to identify the location for each new segment, and storing the digital data file at said locations for each new segment; g) transferring each new segment of said digital data file to at least one of the computing systems; and h) repeating steps a) through g) at each request for each digital data file. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. An apparatus for dynamically segmenting a digital data file resident within at least one digital data storage device of multiple digital data storage devices associated with a first computing system to facilitate transfer of the segmented digital data file from said first computing system to at least one of a plurality of second computing systems, whereby said apparatus comprises the steps of
a) means for requesting an identifier for said digital data file; -
b) means for requesting a range of locations within the multiple data storage devices where said digital data file is resident; c) means for calculating a new segment size list for said digital data file describing a fragmentation of said digital data file as a function of demand for all digital data files resident on said digital data storage devices, size of each digital data file of all digital data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of digital data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the plurality of second computing systems; e) means comparing the new segment size list to an existing segment size list, if said digital data file has been previously segmented; f) means for transferring said digital data file to the second computing system according to said existing segment size list, if the existing segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital data file; g) means for; creating a new file identifier for each new segment ascertained by the creating of the new segment size list, creating a new range of locations for each new segment of the digital data file to identify the location for each new segment, and storing the digital data file at said locations for each new segment, if the new segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital file; h) means for transferring each new segment of said digital data file to at least one of the second computing systems; and means for executing the means of steps of a) through h) at each request for each digital data file. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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68. A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program to dynamically segment a digital data file resident within at least one digital data storage device of multiple data storage devices associated with a first computing system to facilitate transfer of the segmented digital data file from said first computing system to at least one of a plurality of second computing systems, whereby said computer program performs a method comprising the steps of:
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a) requesting an identifier for said digital data file; b) requesting a range of locations within the multiple data storage devices where said digital data file is resident; c) calculating a new segment size list for said digital data file describing a fragmentation of said digital data file as a function of demand for all digital data files resident on said digital data storage devices, size of each digital data file of all digital data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of digital data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the plurality of second computing systems; d) if said digital data file has been previously segmented, comparing the new segment size list to an existing segment size list; e) if the existing segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital data file, transferring said digital data file to the second computing system according to said existing segment size list; f) if the new segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital file, creating a new file identifier for each new segment ascertained by the creating of the new segment size list, creating a new range of locations for each new segment of the digital data file to identify the location for each new segment, and storing the digital data file at said locations for each new segment; g) transferring each new segment of said digital data file to at least one of the second computing systems; and repeating steps a) through g) at each request for each digital data file. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89)
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90. A digital video data service system in communication with a plurality of computing systems to provide at least one digital video data file of a plurality of digital video data files to at least one of the plurality of computing systems, comprising:
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a plurality of digital video data file storage devices in communication with each other and with any of the plurality of computing systems for storing a plurality of dynamically generated segments of said provided digital video data file, said segments stored within said plurality of digital video data file storage devices to facilitate transfer of said provided digital video data file to at least one of the plurality of computing systems; and a segmentation apparatus in communication with the plurality of digital video data file storage devices, which, at a request of any of the digital video data files, dynamically fragments any requested digital video data file into a plurality of segments to facilitate transfer to and processing by at least one of the second computing systems of said segments, wherein the segmentation apparatus performs the steps of; a) requesting an identifier for said digital video data file; b) requesting a range of locations within the multiple data storage devices where said digital video data file is resident; c) calculating the new segment size list for said digital video data file describing a fragmentation of said digital video data file as a function of demand for all digital video data files resident on said digital video data storage devices, size of each digital video data file of all digital video data files, amount of retention space available on each of the plurality of digital video data storage devices, and available bandwidth for communication with the plurality of computing systems; d) if said digital data file has been previously segmented, comparing the new segment size list to an existing segment size list; e) if the existing segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital data file, transferring said digital data file to the computing system according to said existing segment size list; f) if the new segment size list provides a more facilitated transfer of said digital file, creating a new file identifier for each new segment ascertained by the creating of the new segment size list, creating a new range of locations for each new segment of the digital data file to identify the location for each new segment, and storing the digital data file at said locations for each new segment; g) transferring each new segment of said digital data file to at least one of the computing systems; and h) repeating steps a) through g) at each request for each digital data file. - View Dependent Claims (91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112)
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Specification