Techniques for distributing network provider digital content to customer premises nodes

• US 7,986,686 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2005
• Issued: 07/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Townsley, William Mark, Nadeau, Thomas David
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson; Robert W
• Assistant Examiner(s): KAMARA, MOHAMED A
• Application Number:
  US11/286,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20070121612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,069 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 709/227, 709/219, 725/348, 380/239, 380/279, 380/381, 726/26, 455/411, 365/53.2
• US Class Current: 370/386
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/18 for broadcast or conference , e.g. multicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2801 Broadband local area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Techniques for distributing digital content include receiving provider content over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer. The provider content is offered by a network service provider different from the first customer. Provider data based on the provider content is stored in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer. It is determined whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content to a second customer different from the first customer. If it is determined that such conditions are satisfied, then the provider data is retrieved from the non-volatile storage, and data based on the provider data is sent over the network connection for receipt by the second customer. Thereby a customer premises node serves as a cache of provider content for other customer premises nodes on the same last mile segment or access network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer, provider digital content data from a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for a first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network connection, wherein the provider digital content data includes release data, the release data indicating that the provider digital content data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast at a particular time;

storing provider data based on the provider digital content data in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer, wherein the customer premises node did not solicit the network service provider to send the provider data, and wherein the customer premises node is not authorized to delete the provider data unless it receives a message from the network service provider;

determining whether conditions are satisfied to release the provider digital content data for sending the provider digital content data to a second customer different from the first customer; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data;

retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer, wherein the provider data is encrypted to protect against unauthorized distribution to a plurality of customers before a particular time;

sending the provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer; and

distributing a decryption key to the second customer at the particular time.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprises determining whether a request is received from the second customer for the provider digital content data.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprises determining whether a request is received for the provider digital content data from a process of the network service provider.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprises determining whether a current time is before the particular time.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the network connection communicates with a network segment taped by multiple customer premises nodes of multiple different customers.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said sending the provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprises sending the provider digital content data as a unicast to only a second customer premises node on premises of the second customer.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises:

sending a request for the provider digital content data over the network connection; and

receiving the provider digital content data in response to sending the request.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises receiving the provider digital content data from a premises node on premises of a third customer different from the first customer and different from the network service provider and different from the second customer.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data, deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises receiving an archival field that holds data for indicating whether the provider digital content data is to be archived at the customer premises node of the first customer, and wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises:

determining whether the archival field holds the data that indicates that the provider digital content data is to be archived; and

in response to determining that the archival field holds the data that indicates that the provider digital content data is to be archived, determining that the conditions are not satisfied for deleting the provider data.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising receiving additional provider digital content data offered by the network service provider, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises:

determining whether the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node for the first customer is insufficient for both the provider data and additional data based on the additional provider digital content data;

in response to determining that the non-volatile storage is insufficient, determining whether the additional provider digital content data is preferred to the provider digital content data; and

in response to determining that the additional provider digital content data is preferred, determining that the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage.

12. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates how to determine the provider digital content data, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises receiving the provider digital content data based on the policy data.

13. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to another customer, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to the another customer is based on the policy data.

14. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage is based on the policy data.

15. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said sending the provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprises sending the provider digital content data based on the provider content using a particular channel for communication among customer premises nodes, wherein the particular channel is not used for receiving the provider content from the network service provider.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said sending the provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer further comprises decrypting the provider data.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said storing the provider data based on the provider digital content data further comprises storing compressed provider digital content data.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a provider node on a network of a network service provider, customer data that indicates a customer set of one or more customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set;

receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more other customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider;

monitoring requests from the other customer premises nodes in the host set, wherein the monitoring of requests is performed by a content server;

identifying the provider content data highly demanded from the network service provider by the other customer premises nodes;

caching the provider content data highly demanded from the network service provider by the other customer premises nodes, wherein the provider content data was not requested by a first customer premises node and wherein the provider content data includes release data, the release data indicating that the provider content data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast at a particular time;

comparing demand for other cached provider content data with the provider content data that is identified as highly demanded by the other customer premises nodes;

deleting the other cached provider content data that is less highly demanded;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for releasing the provider content data for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data according to the release data, then sending the provider content data to the particular customer, wherein the provider content data is encrypted to protect against unauthorized distribution before the particular time, and wherein a decryption key is distributed to the particular customer at the particular time.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein said caching the provider content data further comprises installing the content server on the first customer premises node.

20. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising receiving policy data that indicates conditions for caching the provider content data on the customer premises node for the customer subset, wherein said caching the provider content data further comprises sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

21. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising receiving policy data that indicates conditions for sending the provider content data to the particular customer of the customer set, wherein said determining the conditions for sending the provider content data to the particular customer further comprises sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

22. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein said caching the provider content data on the customer premises node further comprises:

storing the provider content data for archival under control of a provider node;

storing the provider content data seeded from the provider node under control of the content server;

or

storing the provider content data received from a second customer premises node on premises of a different second customer of the customer subset.

23. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for archiving provider content on the first customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for archiving the provider content on the first customer premises node, then causing the provider content and an associated archival flag data to be sent to the content server, wherein the archival flag data indicates that an associated provider content is to be stored for archival under control of the provider node.

24. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for seeding provider content on the first customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for seeding the provider content data on the first customer premises node, then causing the provider content and the release conditions data to be sent to the content server, wherein the release conditions data indicates how the provider content is to be distributed to the particular customer.

25. The method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for responding, at the content server, to a request for the provider content data from the particular customer; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for responding, at the content server, to the request for the provider content data from the particular customer, then causing the request to be sent to the content server.

26. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein said receiving the host data further comprises:

causing an incentive to be offered to the customer set to make the first customer premises node available for distributing the provider content data; and

receiving the host data in response to causing the incentive to be offered.

27. An apparatus for distributing digital content, comprising:

means for receiving, over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer, provider digital content data offered by a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for a first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network connection;

means for storing provider data based on the provider digital content data on the customer premises node of the first customer, wherein the provider data includes release data indicating if the provider data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast, or combinations thereof at a particular time and is encrypted by the network service provider to protect against unauthorized distribution to a plurality of customers before a particular time that the provider digital content data is to be broadcast;

means for determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to a second customer, based on the release data, wherein the conditions further comprise the first customer receiving a decryption key from the network service provider configured to decrypt the provider data; and

means for retrieving the provider data from the means for storing; and

means for sending provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer responsive to receiving the decryption key from the network service provider, wherein the decryption key is distributed at the particular time.

28. An apparatus for distributing digital content, comprising:

means for receiving, at a provider node on a network of a network service provider, customer data that indicates a customer set of one or more customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set;

means for receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider; and

means for performing the following;

caching the provider content data offered by the network service provider, wherein the provider content data is encrypted by the network service provider to protect against unauthorized distribution to the customer set before a particular time that the provider content data is to be viewed, wherein a first customer premises node did not solicit the network service provider to transmit the provider content data and the first customer premises node is not authorized to delete or send the provider content data without authorization from the network service provider, wherein the provider content data includes release data indicating if the provider content data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast, or combinations thereof at a particular time;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set based on the release data; and

if it is determined that the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data, then sending the provider content data to the particular customer, wherein a decryption key is distributed to the particular customer at the particular time.

29. A memory device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for distributing digital content, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, over a network connection at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer, provider digital content data offered by a network service provider different from the first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for a first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network connection;

snooping for requests for provider digital content data from other customer premises nodes;

identifying provider digital content data in highest demand from the network service provider by the other customer premises nodes;

storing provider data based on the provider digital content data identified as in highest demand in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer, wherein the provider data includes release data indicating if the provider data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast, or combination thereof at a particular time;

determining whether release data conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to a second customer different from the first customer; and

in response to determining that the release conditions are satisfied;

retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage; and

sending the provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network connection for receipt by the second customer, wherein the provider data is encrypted to protect against unauthorized distribution before the particular time, and wherein a decryption key is distributed to the first customer at the particular time.

30. A memory device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions for distributing digital content, wherein execution of the computer-executable instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a provider node on a network of a network service provider, customer data that indicates a customer set of one or more customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set;

receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider;

caching the provider content data by a content server, wherein the provider content data is encrypted by the network service provider to protect against unauthorized distribution before a particular time that the provider content data is to be played, wherein the provider content data includes release data indicating if the provider content data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast, or combinations thereof at a particular time;

determining whether release conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data to another customer of the customer set;

receiving a decryption key at a provider node from the network service provider configured to decrypt the provider content data encrypted by the network service provider; and

sending the provider content data to the another customer responsive to receiving the decryption key from the network service provider, wherein the decryption key is distributed at the particular time.

54. The memory device as recited in claim 30, wherein the provider content data is sent to the another customer at the particular time.

31. An apparatus for distributing digital content at a customer premises node located on premises of a first customer comprising:

a network interface that is coupled to a packet switched network for communicating therewith a data packet;

one or more processors; and

a memory device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving provider digital content data over the network interface offered by a network service provider different from a first customer, wherein the network service provider provides for a first customer access to a network of the network service provider through the network interface;

storing provider data based on the provider digital content data in non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer;

wherein the provider data includes release data indicating if the provider data should be broadcast, multicast or unicast, or combination thereof at a particular time;

wherein the provider data is encrypted to protect against unauthorized distribution before a particular time that the provider digital content data is to be distributed, wherein the first customer receives the provider data unsolicited from the network service provider, and wherein the first customer requires authorization from the network service provider to delete or send the provider data;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for releasing the provider digital content data to a second customer according to the release data; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data;

retrieving the provider data from the non-volatile storage; and

sending the provider digital content data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer, wherein a decryption key is distributed to the first customer at the particular time.

32. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprises determining whether a request is received from the second customer for the provider digital content data.

33. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprises determining whether a request is received for the provider digital content data from a process of the network service provider.

34. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data further comprises determining whether a current time is before the particular time.

35. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the network interface communicates with a network segment taped by multiple customer premises nodes of multiple different customers.

36. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said sending the data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprises sending the provider digital content data as a unicast to only a second customer premises node on premises of the second customer.

37. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data comprises:

sending a request for the provider digital content data over the network interface; and

receiving the provider digital content data in response to sending the request.

38. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises receiving the provider digital content data from a premises node on premises of a third customer different from the first customer and different from the network service provider and different from the second customer.

39. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data, deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node of the first customer.

40. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises receiving an archival field that holds data that indicates whether the provider digital content data is to be archived at the customer premises node of the first customer, and wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises:

determining whether the archival field holds data that indicates that the provider digital content data is to be archived; and

in response to determining that the archival field holds the data that indicates that the provider digital content data is to be archived, determining that the conditions are not satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data.

41. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein the operations further comprise receiving additional provider digital content data offered by the network service provider, and wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node further comprises:

determining whether the non-volatile storage on the customer premises node for the first customer is insufficient for both the provider digital content data and additional data based on the additional provider digital content data; and

in response to determining that the non-volatile storage is insufficient;

determining whether the additional provider digital content data is preferred to the provider digital content data; and

in response to determining that the additional provider digital content data is preferred, then determining that the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider data from the non-volatile storage.

42. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein the operations further comprise receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates how to determine the provider digital content data, and wherein said receiving the provider digital content data further comprises receiving the provider digital content data based on the policy data.

43. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said operations further comprise receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates conditions to be satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to another customer, and wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider digital content data to the second customer is based on the policy data.

44. The apparatus as recited in claim 39, wherein said operations further comprise receiving, from a content managing server of the network service provider, policy data that indicates the conditions to be satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage, and wherein said determining whether the conditions are satisfied for deleting the provider digital content data from the non-volatile storage is based on the policy data.

45. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said sending the data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprises sending the data based on the provider content using a particular channel for communication among customer premises nodes, wherein the particular channel is not used for receiving provider content from the network services provider.

46. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said sending the data based on the provider data over the network interface for receipt by the second customer further comprises decrypting the provider data.

47. The apparatus as recited in claim 31, wherein said storing the provider data based on the provider digital content data further comprises storing compressed provider digital content data.

48. An apparatus serving as a provider node on a network of a network service provider for distributing digital content at a first customer premises node located on a premises of a first customer comprising:

a network interface that is coupled to a packet switched network for communicating therewith a data packet;

one or more processors; and

a memory device having stored thereon computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving customer data that indicates a customer set of one or more customers, each customer different from the network service provider, wherein the network service provider provides access to the network for the customer set;

receiving host data that indicates a host set of one or more customer premises nodes on premises of a customer subset of the customer set, wherein the host set is available for redistributing provider content data offered by the network service provider;

monitoring requests from multiple different customer premises nodes in the host set to the network service provider for providing the provider content data;

identifying the provider content data highly demanded from the network service provider by the different customer premises nodes;

caching the provider content data identified as being highly demanded from the network service provider by the different customer premises nodes;

comparing demand of other cached provider content data with the provider content data that was identified as highly demanded;

deleting the provider content data that is less demanded by the different customer premises nodes;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data remaining cached on the first customer premises node to an other particular customer premises node of the customer set, wherein the conditions comprise a particular time that the provider content data is to be broadcast to a plurality of customer premise nodes including the other particular customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for sending the provider content data, sending the provider content data to the other particular customer premises node at the particular time, wherein the provider content data is encrypted to protect against unauthorized distribution before the particular time, and wherein a decryption key is distributed to the first customer premises node at the particular time;

determining whether conditions are satisfied for seeding the provider content data on the first customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for seeding the provider content data on the first customer premises node, sending the provider content data and associated release conditions data to a content server, wherein the release conditions data indicates how an associated provider content data is to be distributed to the other particular customer node.

49. The apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein said caching the provider content data further comprises installing a content server on the first customer premises node.

50. The apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein said operations further comprise receiving policy data that indicates conditions for caching the provider content data on the first customer premises node for the customer subset, and wherein caching the provider content data further comprises sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

51. The apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein said operations further comprise receiving policy data that indicates conditions for sending the provider content data to a particular customer of the customer set, and wherein said determining the conditions for sending the provider content data to the particular customer further comprises sending the policy data to the first customer premises node.

52. The apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein said caching the provider content data on the first customer premises node further comprises:

storing the provider content data for archival under control of the first customer premises node;

storing the provider content data seeded from the first customer premises node under control of a content server;

or

storing the provider content data received from a second customer premises node on premises of a different second customer of the customer subset.

53. The apparatus as recited in claim 48, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether conditions are satisfied for archiving the provider content on the first customer premises node; and

in response to determining that the conditions are satisfied for archiving the provider content on the first customer premises node, causing the provider content data and an associated archival flag data to be sent to a content server, wherein the archival flag data indicates that the associated provider content data is to be stored for archival under control of the first customer premises node.