Distributed storage to support user interactivity in peer-to-peer video streaming

• US 7,925,781 B1
• Filed: 05/29/2007
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Original Assignee: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
• Inventors: Yiu, Wai Pun, Chan, Shueng Han Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US11/754,831
• Time in Patent Office: 1,414 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/231, 709/232, 709/238
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/166 IP fragmentation; TCP segmentation

Abstract

A method of video distribution within a peer-to-peer network. Once the video has initially been downloaded from a server, various fragments of it reside on various peers of the network. At the location of each fragment, the peer which stores it preferably also carries pointers to preceding-fragment, following-fragment, and same-fragment locations. This provides a list-driven capability so that, once a user has attached to any fragment of the program, the user can then transition according to the previous-fragment and following-fragment pointers to play, fast-forward, or rewind the program.

Claims

1. A peer-to-peer network architecture for media transmission, comprising:

a plurality of peers configured in a scalable non-hierarchical topology, each of the plurality of peers individually storing at least one respective fragment of at least one media program, and storing at least one pointer to a fragment that at least one of precedes or follows the at least one respective fragment of the at least one media program; and

at least one user station adapted to search said plurality of peers to find a peer storing a desired fragment of the at least one media program, and thereafter uses said at least one pointer to transition between fragments of the at least one media program from among the plurality of peers, whereby the at least one media program is played in sequence by the user station and wherein the at least one user station is configured to initiate correction of the at least one pointer based at least in part on a fraction of incorrect pointers received from the plurality of peers.

2. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 1, the at least one user station is further configured to search using a distributed hash table.

3. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 1, the at least one user station is further configured to search using a table comprising implicit localization information.

4. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 1, the plurality of peers includes the at least one user station.

5. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 1, at least one of the at least one respective fragment, the fragment that at least one of precedes or follows the at least one respective fragment, or the desired fragment comprise a multi-frame time segment of a video program.

6. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 1, the at least one user station searches initially, when joining the plurality of peers in the peer-to-peer network architecture, by accessing a defined rendezvous server.

7. A peer-to-peer network architecture for media transmission, comprising:

a plurality of peers configured in a scalable non-hierarchical topology, at least one peer of the plurality of peers individually storing at least one fragment of a media program, and storing at least one pointer to a fragment that at least one of precedes or follows the at least one fragment of the media program; and

at least one user station adapted to, after finding a parent peer of the plurality of peers that stores a desired fragment of the media program, thereafter uses the at least one other pointer from said parent peer to transition between fragments of said media program, and which initiates correction based at least in part on a fraction of incorrect pointers received from said parent peer.

8. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 7, the at least one user station further configured to send a communication to initiate correction.

9. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 7, the at least one user station further configured to use a distributed hash table to find said parent peer.

10. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 7, the at least one user station further configured to use a table containing implicit localization information to find said parent peer.

11. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 7, the plurality peers includes the at least one user station.

12. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 7, at least one of the at least one fragment of the media program, the fragment that at least one of precedes or follows the at least one fragment of the media program, or the desired fragment comprises multi-frame time segments of a video program.

13. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 7, the at least one user station searches initially, when joining the plurality of peers in the peer-to-peer network architecture, by accessing a rendezvous server.

14. A peer-to-peer network architecture for media transmission, comprising:

a plurality of peers configured in a scalable non-hierarchical topology, each of the plurality of peers and individually storing at least one respective fragment of a media program;

at least a first of said plurality of peers storing a pointer to at least one fragment of said media program, the at least one fragment at least one of precedes or follows the at least one respective fragment;

at least a second of said plurality of peers storing a pointer to at least one alternative location of the at least one fragment; and

at least one user station adapted to search said plurality of peers using a distributed hash table to find a peer of the plurality of peers, the peer having a fragment of a desired media program, and which at least one user station uses the pointers of the first and second peers to find a desired fragment of the desired media program corresponding to the at least one respective fragment by moving, in accordance with the pointers, to the at least one fragment that at least one of precedes or follows the at least one respective fragment and the at least one user station is configured to initiate correction of the pointers of the first and second peers based at least in part on a fraction of incorrect pointers received from the first and second peers; and

the at least one user station uses the pointer to the at least one alternative location to access alternative locations in accordance with a load balancing requirement.

15. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 14, the at least one user station further configured to search using a table including implicit localization information.

16. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 14, the plurality of peers includes the at least one user station.

17. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 14, at least one of the at least one respective fragment, the at least one fragment of said media program, the fragment of a desired media program, or the desired fragment of the desired media program comprises multi-frame time segments of a video program.

18. The peer-to-peer network architecture of claim 14, the at least one user station searches initially, when joining the plurality of peers in the peer-to-peer network architecture, by accessing a defined rendezvous server.