Distribution method, preferably applied in a streaming system

• US 7,865,811 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Issued: 01/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Codemate A/S
• Inventors: Alstrup, Stephen, Rauhe, Theis
• Primary Examiner(s): Ton; David
• Application Number:
  US12/503,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20090276536A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 725/46, 713/154, 709/203, 709/231, 714/701, 714/761, 714/784
• US Class Current: 714/784
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0057 Block codes H04L1/0061, H04L1/0064 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1091 Interfacing with client-server systems or between P2P systems

Abstract

The invention relates to a data live streaming system comprising at least one data live streaming broadcaster LSB and at least two live streaming recipients LSR, said at least two live streaming recipients LSR forming at least a part of a peer-to-peer streaming network and said at least two live streaming recipients LSR each comprising means for generation of peer-to peer streaming to other live streaming recipients LSR of said peer-to peer streaming network and wherein said peer-to peer streaming to other streaming recipients LSR comprises loss resilient code representations of data from said at least one live streaming broadcaster LSB.

Claims

1. A data distribution method for distributing input data from a broadcaster to one or more recipient peers, the data distribution method comprising the steps of:

generating two or more code segments from the input data;

generating two or more seed packets from each of at least two of the code segments;

generating two or more feed packets from each of at least two of the seed packets;

distributing two or more of the feed packets to the recipient peers; and

reproducing the input data from the distributed feed packets in one or more of the recipient peers.

2. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating code segments is carried out by the broadcaster.

3. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating seed packets is carried out by one or more seed packet generating peers.

4. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating feed packets is carried out by one or more feed packet generating peers.

5. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating seed packets is carried out by one or more seed packet generating peers, the step of generating feed packets is carried out by one or more feed packet generating peers, and at least one network peer of a peer-to-peer network comprises one of each of the seed packet generating peers and the feed packet generating peers.

6. The data distribution method according to claim 5 wherein at least one of the network peers further comprises one of the recipient peers.

7. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating code segments involves loss resilient encoding.

8. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating code segments comprises dividing the input data into at least two input data parts, creating from each input data part at least two code segment parts, and forming two or more code segments by combining associated code segment parts originating from different input data parts.

9. The data distribution method according to claim 8 wherein the association of code segment parts is established by using corresponding code segment keys for the creation of code segment parts from different input data parts.

10. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating seed packets involves loss resilient encoding.

11. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating seed packets comprises gathering two or more associated code segments, forming from each of two or more of the gathered code segments a seed packet by establishing at least two seed packet parts and combining these into a seed packet.

12. The data distribution method according to claim 11 wherein the association of code segments is established by using corresponding code segment keys for the creation of code segment parts from different input data parts.

13. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating feed packets involves inverse loss resilient transformation.

14. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of generating feed packets comprises gathering two or more seed packets, dividing the seed packets into seed packet parts, combining associated seed packet parts into coded feed packets, and generating a feed packet from each of one or more of the coded feed packets.

15. The data distribution method according to claim 14 wherein the association of seed packet parts is established by using corresponding seed packet keys for the establishment of seed packet parts from different code segments.

16. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of reproducing the input data involves inverse loss resilient transformation.

17. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein the step of reproducing the input data comprises gathering two or more feed packets and generating the input data from the gathered feed packets.

18. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein loss resilient encoding is involved in one or more of the steps of generating code segments and generating seed packets;

and wherein the loss resilient encoding is based on a coding technique from a group of coding techniques comprising Reed-Solomon coding and LT coding.

19. The data distribution method according to claim 1 wherein inverse loss resilient transformation is involved in one or more of the steps of generating feed packets and reproducing the input data;

and wherein the inverse loss resilient transformation is based on a coding technique from a group of coding techniques comprising Reed-Solomon coding and LT coding.

20. A peer of a peer-to-peer network comprising a seed packet generating peer and a feed packet generating peer,

wherein the seed packet generating peer is arranged to establish two or more seed packets from two or more code segments by means of a process involving loss resilient coding, said code segments being derived from an input data by means of a process involving loss resilient coding;

and

wherein the feed packet generating peer is arranged to establish two or more feed packets from two or more seed packets by means of a process involving inverse loss resilient transformation.

21. The peer of a peer-to-peer network according to claim 20 wherein said peer further comprises a recipient peer arranged to reproduce the input data from a plurality of feed packets by means of a process involving inverse loss resilient transformation.