System and method for distributed video-on-demand

• US 8,739,231 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2005
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NBC Universal Media LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Vudu Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Ganesan, Prasanna, Miranz, Tony, Rossmann, Alain
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): LUONG, ALAN H
• Application Number:
  US11/210,272
• Publication Number:
  US 20070056002A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,199 Days
• Field of Search: 725/115, 725/42, 725 86- 87, 725 93- 95, 725/90, 725/110, 386/87, 709/231
• US Class Current: 725/93
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• 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 67/108 characterised by resources being split in blocks or fragments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• 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 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Various techniques for providing a video-on-demand (VOD) system based on distributed networks are disclosed. According to one aspect of the VOD system, individual client devices on a network are identified to supply each other with needed sources in pieces to render required services. As a result, the loading pressure on a central server or centralized servers is distributed into the network. A VOD system so contemplated can sustain a substantial growth in its subscribers.

Claims

1. A system for providing video-on-demand services, the system comprising:

a plurality of devices, coupled to a network, each of the plurality of devices including a storage element for storing data segments corresponding to a plurality of media content, and wherein each of the plurality of devices is configurable to generate a request for playback of a selected one of the plurality of media content; and

a server coupled to the network and configured to;

classify the plurality of media content into at least a first group and a second group, the first group corresponding to a plurality of media content that is selected as being more popular than a plurality of media content in the second group;

generate data segments each including a plurality of non-consecutive data blocks selected by decimated sampling of the plurality of media content;

wherein the data segments have a number equal to the smallest integer that is larger than a ratio of a download rate of the plurality devices divided by an upload rate of the plurality of devices;

distribute the data segments corresponding to the plurality of media content to the plurality of devices by distributing more data segments of the plurality of media content in the first group than data segments of the plurality of media content in the second group to the plurality of devices so that at least one data segment of each media content in the first group is stored in the storage element of each of the plurality of devices;

provide a response to a request for playback of a selected media content from a first devices of the plurality of devices, the response including source information identifying a set of devices from the plurality of devices designated to provide a plurality of distributed data segments corresponding to the selected media content to the first device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of backup devices, wherein each of the plurality of backup devices is configurable to provide a copy of at least one of the plurality of distributed data segments pertaining to the selected media content to the first device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the response further includes authentication information to facilitate secured communications between the first device and the set of designated devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of distributed data segments sand the local data segment are encrypted, and wherein the response further includes security information to enable the plurality of distributed data segments and the local data segment to be decrypted.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of designated devices is selected based on at least one of:

(i) a geographic location, (ii) a time zone, and (iii) a working status of each of the set of designated devices.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first device is further configured to determine a number of distributed data segments required to facilitate continuous playback of the selected media content, and to determine a first duration of time needed to retrieve the number of distributed data segments from the set of designated devices.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first device is configured to determine whether to initiate playback of at least a first or second commercial media content other than the selected media content, wherein the determination is based, at least in part, on (a) a real-time determination of the first or second commercial media content using one or more bids that are submitted by sponsors of the respective first or second commercial media content and (b) the selected media content;

and

wherein the first devices is further configured to provide playback of one of the first or second commercial media content, based on the determination, when playing back the selected media content on-demand on the device; and

wherein the first device is further configured to adjust a duration of playback of the first or second commercial media content to be greater than or equal to the first duration of time.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first or second commercial media content further includes at least one of:

(i) texts, (ii) pictures, (iii) movie trailers, and (iv) previews.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first or second commercial media content is comprised of a sequence of slots, and wherein a price established by a service provider for showing content in each slot of the sequence of slots is based on the position of the slot in the sequence.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the first devices is further configured to:

(i) initiate playback of the first or second commercial media content while concurrently retrieving the plurality of distributed data segments from the set of designated devices, and (ii) play back selected media content once playback of the first or second commercial media content in completed.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to reclassify at least one of the plurality of media content in the first group as being in the second group.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to classify the plurality of media content into at least the first group and the second group based on at least one of:

(i) ages of the plurality of media content, (ii) statistics of viewing behavior, and (iii) user ratings.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to generate the data segments each including the plurality of non-consecutive data blocks selected by decimated sampling of the plurality of media content such that the data segments are effective to all be streamed to the first device at the same time and be played back by the first device as the data segments are all being received by the first device.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is configured to generate the data segments each including the plurality of non-consecutive data blocks selected by decimated sampling by:

including in each segment every Nth data block of the media content, each segment starting at a different data block in the media content.