System and method for edge resource management

• US 7,823,179 B2
• Filed: 04/18/2005
• Issued: 10/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bhaskar, Ashok, Thompson, Bruce, Liu, Xiaomei, Ramakrishnan, Sangeeta
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller; John W
• Assistant Examiner(s): PARRA, OMAR S
• Application Number:
  US11/109,200
• Publication Number:
  US 20060236358A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,017 Days
• Field of Search: 725 87-104
• US Class Current: 725/97
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to a system for managing bandwidth usage in a content delivery system such as a Video on Demand (VOD) network. Specifically, an Edge Resource Manager (ERM) makes use of a number of policies to optimally select a transmission device such as a Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) device. The policies aid in providing efficient use of the transmission devices particularly when a number of different transmission rates for different media are employed.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a hub operatively connected to a plurality of transmission devices that deliver content to one or more end users; and

a processor configured to;

determine a requested bandwidth associated with a content request received from a headend, wherein the content request is transmitted by the headend in response to a request for the content from the one or more end users;

identify an available bandwidth associated with each of the plurality of transmission devices;

calculate an available bandwidth score for each of the plurality of transmission devices, wherein the available bandwidth score comprises a ratio of the requested bandwidth and the available bandwidth;

determine a service type associated with the content request;

identify an available service associated with each of the plurality of transmission devices;

calculate a service type score for each of the plurality of transmission devices, wherein the service type score comprises a comparison of the service type and the available service;

determine a total score based, at least in part, on a summation of the available bandwidth score and the service type score, for each of the plurality of transmission devices; and

select a transmission device having a highest total score from the plurality of transmission devices to handle a transmission of the content to the one or more end users.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the service type indicates whether or not the content is encrypted, and wherein the available service indicates that a transmission device is capable of transmitting encrypted content.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the content comprises video on demand.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of transmission devices comprise Quadrature Amplitude Modulation devices.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the available service indicates that a transmission device is shared among two or more service groups comprising different subsets of transmission devices.

5. An apparatus, comprising:

means for determining a requested bandwidth associated with a content request;

means for identifying an available bandwidth associated with each transmission device of a set of transmission devices configured to deliver the content;

means for calculating an available bandwidth score for each transmission device based on a comparison of the requested bandwidth and the available bandwidth;

means for calculating a transmission rate score for each transmission device based on an average bandwidth required for high definition transmission, wherein the transmission rate score indicates an ability to handle the high definition transmission;

means for determining a total score based, at least in part, on a summation of the available bandwidth score and the transmission rate score, for each transmission device; and

means for selecting a transmission device from the set of transmission devices having a highest total.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 further comprising means for calculating a shared access group score for each transmission device, wherein the shared access group score indicates whether or not each transmission device is shared by two or more service groups comprising different subsets of transmission devices, and wherein the total score is based on the summation further comprising the shared access group score.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

means for determining a service type associated with the content request;

means for identifying an available service associated with each transmission device; and

means for calculating a conditional access score for each transmission device based on a comparison of the service type and the available service, wherein the conditional access score indicates whether or not each transmission device is capable of transmitting encrypted transmissions, and wherein the total score is based on the summation further comprising the conditional access score.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising means for independently weighting the available bandwidth score and the transmission rate score prior to determining the highest total score.

9. A method, comprising:

determining a requested bandwidth associated with a content request received from one or more end users of a content delivery service;

identifying an available bandwidth associated with each of a plurality of transmission devices;

calculating, with one or more processors, an available bandwidth score for each of the plurality of transmission devices, wherein the available bandwidth score comprises a ratio of the requested bandwidth and the available bandwidth;

determining a service type associated with the content request;

identifying an available service associated with each of the plurality of transmission devices;

calculating a service type score for each of the plurality of transmission devices, wherein the service type score comprises a comparison of the service type and the available service;

calculating a total score for each of the plurality of transmission devices based, at least in part, on a summation of the available bandwidth score and the service type score, for each of the plurality of transmission devices; and

selecting a single transmission device having a highest total score from the plurality of transmission devices to handle a transmission of the content to the one or more end users.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

calculating a first transmission rate score for each of the plurality of transmission devices based on the available bandwidth and an average bandwidth required for high definition transmission; and

calculating a second transmission rate score for each of the plurality of transmission devices based on the available bandwidth and an average bandwidth required for standard definition transmission, wherein the total score for each of said plurality of transmission devices is calculated based, at least in part, on the summation of the available bandwidth score and the service type score in addition to a summation of the first transmission rate score and the second transmission rate score, for each of the plurality of transmission devices.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the service type indicates whether or not the content is encrypted, and wherein the available service indicates that a transmission device is capable of transmitting encrypted content.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the available service indicates that a transmission device is shared among two or more service groups comprising different subsets of transmission devices.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the available bandwidth score and the service type score are independently calculated for each of the plurality of transmission devices.

10. A computer readable memory device having stored thereon computer readable instructions that, in response to execution by a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

determining a requested bandwidth associated with a content request;

means for identifying an available bandwidth associated with each transmission device of a plurality of transmission devices configured to deliver the content;

calculating an available bandwidth score for each transmission device based on a comparison of the requested bandwidth and the available bandwidth;

calculating a first transmission rate score for each of the plurality of transmission devices based on the available bandwidth and an average bandwidth required for high definition transmission;

calculating a second transmission rate score for each of the plurality of transmission devices based on the available bandwidth and an average bandwidth required for standard definition transmission;

determining a total score based, at least in part, on a summation of the available bandwidth score, the first transmission rate score, and the second transmission rate score, for each of the plurality of transmission devices; and

selecting a transmission device from the plurality of transmission devices with a highest total score.

11. The computer readable memory device of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining a service type associated with the content request;

identifying an available service associated with each of the plurality of transmission devices; and

calculating a service type score for each of the plurality of transmission devices, wherein the service type score comprises a comparison of the service type and the available service, and wherein the total score is calculated based on the summation of the available bandwidth score, the first transmission rate score, and the second transmission rate score, in addition to the service type score for each of the plurality of transmission devices.

12. The computer readable memory device of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise delivering the content in a real time content delivery system.

18. The computer readable memory device of claim 11, wherein the service type indicates whether or not the content is encrypted, and wherein the available service indicates that a transmission device is capable of transmitting encrypted content.

19. The computer readable memory device of claim 11, wherein the available service indicates that a transmission device is shared among two or more service groups comprising different subsets of transmission devices.

20. The computer readable memory device of claim 10, wherein the total score is determined by weighting the available bandwidth score, the first transmission rate score, and the second transmission rate score.