System and method for minimizing network bandwidth retrieved from an external network

• US 8,880,721 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2013
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Hurst, Mark B., Larson, Loren, Anderson, David S., Wang, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): Ibrahim, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US13/757,571
• Publication Number:
  US 20130151626A1
• Time in Patent Office: 641 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1076 Resource dissemination mechanisms or network resource keeping policies for optimal resource availability in the overlay network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440227 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• 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 21/643 : Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A system and method are provided of minimizing network bandwidth used from an external network by client peers in a local network. The method can include the operation of organizing a plurality of clients each having media streamlets and a client parent in a structure within the local network. Mapping information propagates through the structure. The mapping information represents local streamlet locations as stored by the plurality of clients. Another operation is retrieving a local streamlet from a client identified in the mapping information as having the local streamlet for the requesting client.

Claims

1. A method executable by a media client device to reduce total network bandwidth used in the distribution of a media stream to a plurality of media clients, wherein the media stream is distributed as a series of individually-addressable file segments, the method comprising:

the media client device identifying other clients of the plurality of clients that have segments of the same media stream, the plurality of other clients being located within a same local network as the media client device and being logically organized in a hierarchical structure, the media client device requesting to join the hierarchical structure;

the media client device receiving a response message from one of the other clients, the response message identifying a place in the hierarchical structure for the media client device;

the media client device receiving mapping information from a particular one the other that describes locations of local segments of the media stream that are locally stored on each of the plurality of clients organized in the hierarchical structure; and

the media client device subsequently obtaining at least one segment of the media stream from a location identified in the mapping information by making a direct request from the requesting client to the client within the local network having the locally-stored segment stored at the location identified in the mapping information and the media client device applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media segments for media playback, and

wherein the priority policy rule is defined to retrieve the highest quality segments possible based on a comparison of minimum segment quality available on the local network and minimum latency threshold for retrieving the packets from a network.

2. The method as in claim 1, further comprising creating a defined number of tokens for a first client that joins the hierarchal tree.

3. The method as in claim 2, wherein the creating a defined number of tokens for a first client to join a hierarchical content tree, further comprises creating a number of tokens based on a maximum number of mapping information exchange connections that are supportable.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the media client device requesting the local segment of the media stream from a video server via the internet when the local segment is not available in the mapping information.

5. A media player device configured to operate as one of a plurality of clients in a local area network, the client device comprising a processor, memory and an interface to the local area network, wherein the media player device is configured to obtain and playback a media stream made up of a series of media segments that are each made available from an external server by:

organizing in a linked structure with the other clients on the local area network, wherein each of the plurality of clients in the linked structure has a different set of media segments obtained from the external server,

sharing segment mapping information with each of the other clients in the linked structure, the segment mapping information representing locations of local media segments stored by each of the plurality of clients in the linked structure; and

during playback of the media stream by the client, retrieving additional media segments of the media stream using the segment mapping information if the additional media segments are available from other clients within the linked structure, and otherwise obtaining the additional media segments from the external network repository, wherein the retrieving applies a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when retrieving media segments for media playback and wherein the priority policy rule is defined to retrieve the highest quality segments possible based on a comparison of minimum segment quality available on the local network and a minimum latency threshold for retrieving the packets from a network.

6. The media player device of claim 5 wherein each segment is an individually-addressable data file containing an identifiable portion of the media stream having a particular quality.

7. The media player device of claim 6 the media player device further applies a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media streamlets for media playback, wherein the segment quality priorities consider the particular quality of each segment.

8. A method executable by a client device operating as one of a plurality of clients in a local area network to reduce consumption of network bandwidth during streaming of a media stream made up of a series of media segments that are each obtained from an external server, the method comprising:

organizing in a linked structure with the other clients, wherein each of the plurality of clients in the linked structure has a different set of media segments obtained from the external server;

with each of the other clients in the linked structure, the segment mapping information representing locations of local media segments stored by each of the plurality of clients in the linked structure; and

during playback of the media stream by the client, retrieving additional media segments of the media stream using the segment mapping information if the additional media segments are available from other clients within the linked structure, and otherwise obtaining the additional media segments from the external network repository, wherein the retrieving applies a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when retrieving media segments for media playback and wherein the priority policy rule is defined to retrieve the highest quality segments possible based on a comparison of minimum segment quality available on the local network and a minimum latency threshold for retrieving the packets from a network.

9. A method as in claim 8, further comprising applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media segments for media playback, and wherein the priority policy rule to obtain the highest quality segments possible with a lowest amount of external network access.

10. A method as in claim 8, further comprising applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media segments for media playback, and wherein the priority policy rule is to obtain as many local segments as possible regardless of streamlet quality in order to minimize external network access.

11. A method as in claim 8, further comprising applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media segments for media playback, and wherein the priority policy rule is defined to have clients obtain the highest quality segments by checking the local network first using the segment mapping information and then the external network second.

12. A method as in claim 8, further comprising applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media segments for media playback, and wherein the priority policy rule is defined to retrieve the highest quality segments possible based on a client machine'"'"'s ability to sustainably decode the segments and based on a minimum latency threshold of retrieving the packets from local and external networks.

13. A method as in claim 8, wherein the media clients are linked in a hierarchical structure.

14. A method as in claim 8, wherein the media clients are linked in a ring structure.

15. A method as in claim 8, wherein the sharing comprises distributing segment mapping information that includes the segment mapping for the replying client and additional segment mapping information received from other linked clients.

16. A method as in claim 8, further comprising the client device applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media segments for media playback, and wherein the network priorities define the ordering in which segments at defined qualities should be retrieved from clients on the local network and servers on external networks.