Client based opportunistic routing

• US 9,137,301 B1
• Filed: 06/30/2009
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dunlap, David Alexander, Saraf, Tal, Maniscalco, Nicholas J., Redman, Benjamin W. S., Slot, Martin Cornelis Frederik, Marshall, Bradley E.
• Primary Examiner(s): JOSHI, SURAJ M
• Application Number:
  US12/494,916
• Time in Patent Office: 2,268 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

When a client requests content from a Content Delivery Network (or other system), a first portion of the content is requested from a source capable of providing high performance to that client. When the client has a sufficient amount of the content to perform its function, then additional portions of the content can be requested from a source that provides a lower performance to that client with a minimal or no performance penalty to the user of the client.

Claims

1. A method of obtaining content, comprising:

receiving a request for the content from a user;

requesting resolution of a first domain name for a first source of the content, the first source corresponding to a first selected point of presence of a content delivery network, the first selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon one of geographic proximity or network proximity with respect to the user, the first selected point of presence configured to transmit data at least at a threshold transmission rate;

receiving a first IP address for the first source of the content;

requesting resolution of a second domain name for a second source of the content, the second source corresponding to a second selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the second selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon (a) the second selected point of presence being more remote to the user than the first selected point of presence with respect to the one of geographic proximity or network proximity, and (b) the first selected point of presence including at least one server capable of transmitting the content at least at the threshold transmission rate, the second selected point of presence configured to transmit data at least at the threshold transmission rate;

receiving a second IP address for the second source of the content;

requesting a particular portion of the content from the first source using the first IP address;

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the particular portion of the content from the first source and storing the particular portion of the content in a buffer;

determining whether the buffer has a sufficient amount of the content so that more of the content can be obtained before the buffer is entirely consumed;

based at least in part upon determining the buffer has the sufficient amount of the content, requesting an additional portion of the content from the second source using the second IP address;

based at least in part upon determining the buffer does not have the sufficient amount of the content, requesting the additional portion of the content from the first source using the first IP address; and

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the additional portion of the content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a seek command from the user;

requesting a later portion of the content from the first source using the first IP address based at least in part upon the seek command; and

presenting the later portion of the content to the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

requesting resolution of the second domain name is performed after determining whether the buffer has the sufficient amount of the content;

the content is a movie;

presenting the particular portion of the content includes playing the movie; and

the particular portion of the content is played prior to requesting the additional portion of the content.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of requesting resolution of the first domain name for the first source of the content, requesting resolution of the second domain name for the second source of the content, requesting the particular portion of the content, requesting the additional portion of the content from the second source, and presenting the particular portion of the content are performed by a client device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the first source of the content and the second source of the content are servers chosen to provide the content by one or more entities other than the client device.

6. A method of obtaining content, comprising:

sending a request for the content from a client to a first source corresponding to a first selected point of presence of a content delivery network, the first selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon one of geographic proximity or network proximity with respect to the client, the first selected point of presence configured to transmit data at least at a threshold transmission rate;

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, a first portion of the content at the client from the first source;

determining whether the client has a threshold amount of the content buffered;

based at least in part upon determining the client does not have the threshold amount, requesting an additional portion of the content from the first source of the content;

based at least in part upon determining the client has the threshold amount, requesting the additional portion from a second source of the content corresponding to a second selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the second selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon (a) the second selected point of presence being more remote to the client than the first selected point of presence with respect to the one of geographic proximity or network proximity, and (b) the first selected point of presence including at least one server capable of transmitting the content at least at the threshold transmission rate, the second selected point of presence configured to transmit the data at least at the threshold transmission rate; and

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the additional portion at the client.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

determining whether the client has the threshold amount of the content buffered includes determining whether a buffer is sufficiently filled so that the additional portion can be obtained before the additional portion is needed by the client.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

requesting, by the client, a first indication of the first source of the content determined to be optimal with respect to delivery of the content to the client;

receiving, at the client, the first indication of the first source of the content without the client specifically choosing the first source of the content;

requesting, by the client, a second indication of a second source of the content different from the first source of the content; and

receiving, at the client, the indication of the second source of the content without the client specifically choosing the second source of the content.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

requesting resolution of a first domain name associated with the first source of the content;

requesting the first portion of the content from the first source of the content based at least in part upon resolving the first domain name; and

prior to determining whether the client has the threshold amount of the content buffered and subsequent to requesting the first portion of the content from the first source, determining the additional portion is needed.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein requesting the additional portion from the second source of the content comprises:

requesting resolution of a second domain name associated with the second source of the content; and

requesting the additional portion of the content from the second source of the content based at least in part upon resolving the second domain name.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the content includes video, the method further comprising:

playing a portion of the video on a monitor.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the content includes a web page having embedded data, the embedded data including the additional portion; and

determining whether the client has the threshold amount of the content buffered includes determining that the additional portion is not initially visible from the client when the web page is displayed by the client.

13. A method of obtaining content, comprising:

sending a first request from a client for a first portion of the content to a content delivery network that includes multiple points of presence, one or more of the multiple points of presence configured to transmit data at least at a threshold transmission rate;

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the first portion of the content from a first server corresponding to a first selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the first selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon one of geographic proximity or network proximity with respect to the client;

sending one or more additional requests for additional portions of the content to the content delivery network;

monitoring how much of the content is buffered, the additional requests for the additional portions indicating an amount of the content that is buffered; and

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the additional portions based at least in part upon the additional requests,

wherein the additional portions of the content received based at least in part upon the additional requests that indicate that a threshold amount of the content has not been buffered are received at a first set of one or more sources corresponding to the first selected point of presence and the additional portions received based at least in part upon the additional requests that indicate that the threshold amount of the content has been buffered are received at a second set of one or more sources corresponding to a second selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the second selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon (a) the second selected point of presence being more remote to the client than the first selected point of presence with respect to the one of geographic proximity or network proximity, and (b) the first selected point of presence including at least one server capable of transmitting the content at least at the threshold transmission rate.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

resolving a first domain name for the first selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the first request being sent to the first selected point of presence based at least in part upon resolving the first domain name for the first point of presence; and

resolving a second domain name for the second selected point of presence of the content delivery network.

15. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on the processor readable storage devices, the processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

sending a request for content from a client to a first source corresponding to a first selected point of presence of a content delivery network, the first selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon one of geographic proximity or network proximity with respect to the client, the first selected point of presence configured to transmit data at least at a threshold transmission rate;

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, a first portion of the content at the client from the first source;

determining whether the client has a threshold amount of the content buffered;

based at least in part upon determining that the client does not have the threshold amount of the content, requesting an additional portion of the content from the first source of the content;

based at least in part upon determining that the client has the threshold amount of the content, requesting the additional portion from a second source of the content corresponding to a second selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the second selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon (a) the second selected point of presence being more remote to the client to the client than the first selected point of presence with respect to the one of geographic proximity or network proximity, and (b) the first selected point of presence including at least one server capable of transmitting the content at least at the threshold transmission rate, the second selected point of presence configured to transmit the data at least at the threshold transmission rate; and

receiving, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the additional portion at the client.

16. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

requesting resolution of a first domain name associated with the first source;

requesting the first portion of the content from the first source of the content based at least in part upon resolving the first domain name; and

prior to determining whether the client has the threshold amount of the content buffered and subsequent to requesting the first portion of the content from the first source of the content, determining that the additional portion of the content is needed,

wherein requesting the additional portion of the content from the second source comprises requesting resolution of a second domain name associated with the second source of the content and requesting the additional portion of the content from the second source of the content based at least in part upon resolving the second domain name.

17. An apparatus that provides content, comprising:

one or more storage devices;

a communication interface;

an output device; and

one or more processors in communication with the one or more storage devices, the communication interface, and the output device, the one or more processors having processor readable code for programming the one or more processors to;

send a first request from a client to resolve a first domain name for providing the content;

receive a first address for a first source of the content, the first source being chosen remotely from the one or more processors, the first source of the content corresponding to a first selected point of presence of a content delivery network, the first selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon one of geographic proximity or network proximity with respect to the client, the first selected point of presence configured to transmit data at least at a threshold transmission rate;

send a second request to resolve a second domain name for a second source of the content, the second source corresponding to a second selected point of presence of the content delivery network, the second selected point of presence being selected based at least in part upon (a) the second selected point of presence being more remote to the client than the first selected point of presence with respect to the one of geographic proximity or network proximity, and (b) the first selected point of presence including at least one server capable of transmitting the content at least at the threshold transmission rate, the second selected point of presence configured to transmit the data at least at the threshold transmission rate;

receive a second address for the second source of the content, the second source being chosen remotely from the one or more processors;

request for a particular portion of the content from the first source;

receive, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the particular portion of the content from the first source and store the particular portion of the content in the one or more storage devices;

determine whether the one or more storage devices have a threshold amount of the content;

request for an additional portion of the content from the first source based at least in part upon determining that the one or more storage devices do not have the threshold amount of the content;

request for the additional portion of the content from the second source based at least in part upon determining that the one or more storage devices have the threshold amount of the content;

receive, at least at the threshold transmission rate, the additional portion of the content; and

present at least a portion of the content via the output device.