System and method for disaster recovery

• US 8,819,476 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2011
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Imagine Communications Limited (Gores Broadcast Holdings LLC)
• Original Assignee: Imagine Communications Limited (Gores Broadcast Holdings LLC)
• Inventors: Roth, Todd Stuart, Moote, Stanley Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): KO, CHAE M
• Application Number:
  US13/245,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20130080823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: 714/4.11, 714/13
• US Class Current: 714/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2094 Redundant storage or storage space G06F11/2056 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2097 maintaining the standby controller/processing unit updated initialisation or re-synchronisation thereof G06F11/1658 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

A disaster recovery system can include a plurality of resources arranged in a cloud computing environment. Each of the resources can be assignable to function within the cloud computing environment as part of one or more media systems. A content intake service can be programmed to control delivery of an incoming media asset to the cloud computing environment. A monitoring and recovery process can be programmed to monitor a primary media system to which the incoming media asset is being provided and, in response to detecting a disaster recovery condition, the monitoring and recovery process can intelligently manage selected resources of the plurality of resources based on the incoming media asset being delivered to the primary media system.

Claims

1. A disaster recovery system comprising:

a plurality of resources arranged in a cloud computing environment, each of the plurality of resources being assignable to function within the cloud computing environment as one or more parts of a media supply chain configured to implement real-time broadcast operations of at least one media system;

a content intake service programmed to control delivery of an incoming media asset to the cloud computing environment;

a monitoring and recovery process programmed to monitor a primary media system corresponding to one of the at least one media systems of a subscribing media provider to which the incoming media asset is being provided;

a disaster detector programmed to;

compare at least one operating parameter of the primary media system of the subscribing media provider to a plurality of preprogrammed operating parameters corresponding to a disaster recovery condition indicating a failure of a resource in the primary media system, wherein the at least one operating parameter is defined by a subscription that controls a level and type of service provided by the disaster recovery system for the subscribing media provider; and

determine, based upon the comparison, whether the disaster recovery condition has occurred for the primary media system; and

wherein, in response to determining that a disaster recovery condition has occurred for the primary media system, the monitoring and recovery process is programmed to intelligently manage selected resources of the plurality of resources by mapping and allocating the selected resources of the plurality of resources based on the incoming media asset being delivered to the primary media system and the subscription of the subscribing media provider.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of resources comprises:

a cloud storage resource to store media for the at least one media system; and

a media resource comprising at least two of an uplink, a downlink, a traffic and billing system, an ad insertion system, a digital asset management system, a media delivery system, a playout automation system, and a contingency media asset.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising a switchover control programmed to connect the selected resources into real-time operations of the media supply chain of the primary media system in response to a trigger that is separate from the disaster recovery condition.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the trigger comprises a user input provided by an authorized user.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a rule selector to select rules based on a definition of the media asset; and

a rules engine to control allocation and mapping of the plurality of resources for the disaster recovery condition based on the selected rules.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising a metadata extractor to extract metadata from the incoming media asset being delivered to the primary media system, the definition of the media asset being generated based on the metadata.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the incoming media asset being delivered to the primary media system corresponds to a live real-time media asset, the rule selector selecting the rules to facilitate retrieving contingency content based on the definition of the media asset if the live real-time media asset cannot be delivered during the disaster recovery condition.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the contingency content comprises one of a different live media asset or a substitute media asset stored in a storage resource within the cloud computing environment.

9. The system of claim 5, wherein the media asset being delivered to the primary media system corresponds to a pre-recorded media asset, the rule selector selecting the rules to facilitate retrieving the pre-recorded media asset from memory, based on the definition of the media asset, to enable scheduled playout thereof during the disaster recovery condition.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the content intake service further comprises a transcoder to transcode the incoming media asset to a corresponding disaster recovery asset having a reduced bit rate, wherein the amount of reduction of the reduced bit rate is based on the subscription of the subscribing media provider.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the content intake service further comprises a rules engine that controls at least one of delivery or storage of the corresponding disaster recovery asset to the cloud computing environment based on metadata for the incoming media asset.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the primary media system comprises a plurality of subscribing media systems, each having a respective subscription to the disaster recovery system, the plurality of resources in the cloud computing environment being thinly provisioned to service the plurality of subscribing primary media systems according to the respective subscriptions, such that in response to the monitoring and recovery process allocating selected resources of the plurality of resources to a given subscribing media system, the allocated selected resources become deterministic for disaster recovery operations for the given subscribing media system.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein an instance of the content intake service is provided for each of the plurality of subscribing media systems, at least some instances of the content intake service being programmed to modify media content of the incoming media assets.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitoring and recovery process allocates at least one resource to replicate an automation and asset management function of the primary media system.

15. A method of providing a disaster recovery service for broadcast media providers, the method comprising:

comparing at least one operating parameter associated with a primary media system of a respective media provider to a plurality of preprogrammed operating parameters corresponding to a disaster recovery condition indicating a failure of a resource in the primary media system of the respective media provider, wherein the at least one operating parameter is defined by a subscription that controls a level and type of service provided by the disaster recovery service for the respective media provider; and

detecting a disaster recovery condition within a media supply chain of a respective media provider based on the subscription of the respective media provider;

preparing and allocating selected resources of the plurality of resources in a cloud computing environment for switchover to corresponding operations in the media supply chain based on a definition of an incoming real-time media asset to the respective media provider and the subscription of the respective media provider; and

in response to receiving a trigger, switching over the operations in the media supply chain of the respective media provider to the allocated resources in the cloud computing environment to provide deterministic disaster recovery media operations for the respective media provider.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein preparing and allocating further comprises:

selecting rules based on the definition of the media asset; and

controlling allocation and mapping of the resources for the disaster recovery condition based on the selected rules.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

extracting metadata from the incoming real-time media asset; and

generating the definition of the media asset based on the extracted metadata.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the incoming real-time media asset corresponds to a live media asset, the rules being selected to enable retrieving a related contingency media asset based on the definition of the media asset if the live media asset cannot be delivered during the disaster recovery condition.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

extracting metadata from the incoming real-time media asset to the respective media system; and

selecting a contingency media asset based on the extracted metadata to replace an expected real-time media asset during the disaster recovery media operations.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising delivering the real-time media asset to a cloud storage resource assigned to the respective media provider based on associated rules.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising transcoding the real-time media asset to a reduced disaster recovery data rate such that media asset is stored in the cloud storage resource with the reduced disaster recovery data rate, wherein the amount of reduction of the reduced bit rate is based on the subscription of the respective media provider.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising sending an alert notification in response to detecting the disaster recovery condition, wherein the trigger is received in response to a user input responsive to the alert notification and is separate from the disaster recovery condition.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising allocating at least one media resource to replicate automation and asset management functions in the media supply chain of the respective media provider.