Content set based pre-positioning
First Claim
1. A method for pre-positioning content over a communications system having a communications path between a server side of the communications system and a plurality of clients, the communications path comprising a shared forward link over which bandwidth resources are shared during a multicast communication, the method comprising:
- intercepting a data block at the server side of the communications system, the data block comprising a header portion and a content portion and being communicated as part of a content set over the communications path, the content set comprising a plurality of content objects and being identified by a content set identifier, the content set identifier being associated with a set-level profile characterizing the content set;
associating the data block with the content set identifier;
generating a fingerprint using byte-level information comprised by the content portion of the data block;
generating an anticipatory content value (ACV) metric at least partially according to the set-level profile associated with the content set identifier by estimating a future compression gain achieved by pre-positioning the content set in anticipation of estimated future requests for the content set as a function of a percentage of the content set anticipated to change in relation to the estimated future requests for the content set, the future compression gain being estimated according to the set-level profile associated with the content set identifier, such that the ACV metric is functionally related to the future compression gain;
determining whether to anticipatorily pre-position the content set over the communications path according to the ACV metric; and
when it is determined to anticipatorily pre-position the content set over the communications path according to the ACV metric, determining whether to multicast the data block over the communications path to a client of the plurality of clients according to the fingerprint.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, apparatuses, and systems are provided for improving utilization of the communications system through various “deltacasting” techniques for handling content sets (e.g., feeds or websites). In some embodiments, within a client-server context, content sets are anticipatorily pre-positioned in client dictionaries using multicasting techniques to share forward link capacity. Pre-positioning determinations are made according to byte-level data, set-level metadata, and/or user preferences. In some embodiments, when locally stored information from the content sets is requested by a user, deltacasting techniques are used to generate fingerprints for use in identifying and exploiting multicasting and/or other opportunities for increased utilization of links of the communications system.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for pre-positioning content over a communications system having a communications path between a server side of the communications system and a plurality of clients, the communications path comprising a shared forward link over which bandwidth resources are shared during a multicast communication, the method comprising:
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intercepting a data block at the server side of the communications system, the data block comprising a header portion and a content portion and being communicated as part of a content set over the communications path, the content set comprising a plurality of content objects and being identified by a content set identifier, the content set identifier being associated with a set-level profile characterizing the content set; associating the data block with the content set identifier; generating a fingerprint using byte-level information comprised by the content portion of the data block; generating an anticipatory content value (ACV) metric at least partially according to the set-level profile associated with the content set identifier by estimating a future compression gain achieved by pre-positioning the content set in anticipation of estimated future requests for the content set as a function of a percentage of the content set anticipated to change in relation to the estimated future requests for the content set, the future compression gain being estimated according to the set-level profile associated with the content set identifier, such that the ACV metric is functionally related to the future compression gain; determining whether to anticipatorily pre-position the content set over the communications path according to the ACV metric; and when it is determined to anticipatorily pre-position the content set over the communications path according to the ACV metric, determining whether to multicast the data block over the communications path to a client of the plurality of clients according to the fingerprint. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A server system for multicasting over a communications system having a communications path between a server side of the communications system and a plurality of clients, the communications path comprising a shared forward link over which bandwidth resources are shared during a multicast communication, the server system comprising:
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an optimizer module, stored in a memory at the server side of the communications system, the optimizer module, when executed, causing a processor to; intercept a data block comprising a header portion and a content portion, the data block being communicated as part of a content set over the communications path, the content set comprising a plurality of content objects and being identified by a content set identifier, the content set identifier being associated with a set-level profile characterizing the content set; associate the data block with the content set identifier; and generate a fingerprint using byte-level information comprised by the content portion of the data block; an anticipatory content value (ACV) generator module, stored in the memory, communicatively coupled with the optimizer module, the ACV generator module, when executed, causing the processor to; generate an ACV metric at least partially according to the set-level profile associated with the content set identifier by estimating a future compression gain achieved by pre-positioning the content set in anticipation of estimated future requests for the content set as a function of a percentage of the content set anticipated to change in relation to the estimated future requests for the content set, the future compression gain being estimated according to the set-level profile associated with the content set identifier, such that the ACV metric is functionally related to the future compression gain; and a pre-positioning module, stored in the memory, communicatively coupled with the ACV module, the pre-positioning module, when executed, causing the processor to; determine whether to anticipatorily pre-position the content set over the communications path according to the ACV metric; and when it is determined to anticipatorily pre-position the content set over the communications path according to the ACV metric, determines whether to multicast the data block over the communications path to a client of the plurality of clients according to the fingerprint. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification