Reassigning source peers

• US 9,407,494 B1
• Filed: 08/30/2007
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Original Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Inventors: Zhang, Hui, Stoica, Ion, McCanne, Steven R., Zhan, Jibin, Ganjam, Aditya R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Christensen, Scott B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Richardson, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US11/897,957
• Time in Patent Office: 3,260 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1042 using topology management mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1063 Discovery through centralising entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1085 involving dynamic management of active down- or uploading connections
• 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

Abstract

Delivering information over a distribution network using a distribution manager is disclosed. A first assignment of one or more sources peers in the distribution network is sent to a destination peer in the distribution network. At least one of a change in a network condition and a policy change is detected. It is determined that at least one modification should be made to the first assignment. A second assignment of one or more source peers in the distribution network is sent to the destination peer.

Claims

1. A system for delivering assignment information over a distribution network comprising a plurality of peers organized in a content distribution topology, the system comprising a distribution manager, including:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to;

send a first assignment of a first set of one or more source peers in the plurality of peers in the distribution network to provide audiovisual content to a destination peer in the plurality of peers in the distribution network;

detect at least one of a change in a network condition and a policy change associated with another peer in the distribution network that is different from the destination peer;

determine, based at least in part on the detected at least one change and one or more thresholds, that at least a portion of the content distribution topology should be recalculated;

in response to the determination that the at least portion of the content distribution topology should be recalculated, recalculate the at least portion of the content distribution topology, wherein recalculating the content distribution topology includes reassessing peers used to exchange audiovisual content, and wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on an evaluation of uplink capacities of at least some of the peers used to exchange audiovisual content;

determine, based at least in part on the recalculated at least portion of the content distribution topology, that the first assignment sent to the destination peer should be modified; and

in response to the determination that the first assignment sent to the destination peer should be modified;

generate, according to the recalculated content distribution topology, a revised assignment of a second set of one or more source peers in the distribution network that is different from the first set of one or more source peers; and

propagate the revised assignment to the destination peer, wherein the propagated revised assignment causes the destination peer to request content from the second set of one or more source peers.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on at least one new peer joining the distribution network.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the new peer has a higher priority than the destination peer.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on at least one existing peer leaving the distribution network.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on a detected network failure.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on a detection of network congestion.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on the computation of an objective function.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on a detected violation of a content delivery policy.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the content delivery policy is a network policy.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the content delivery policy is a provider policy.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the content delivery policy is a client policy.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on an evaluation of geographic proximity of the at least some of the peers used to exchange content.

13. A method of delivering assignment information over a distribution network comprising a plurality of peers organized in a content distribution topology using a distribution manager, including:

sending, by the distribution manager, a first assignment of a first set of one or more source peers in the plurality of peers in the distribution network to provide audiovisual content to a destination peer in the plurality of peers in the distribution network;

detecting, by the distribution manager, at least one of a change in a network condition and a policy change associated with another peer in the distribution network that is different from the destination peer;

determining, by the distribution manager and based at least in part on the detected at least one change and one or more thresholds, that at least a portion of the content distribution topology should be recalculated;

in response to the determination that the at least portion of the content distribution topology should be recalculated, recalculating, by the distribution manager, the at least portion of the content distribution topology, wherein recalculating the content distribution topology includes reassessing peers used to exchange audiovisual content, and wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on an evaluation of uplink capacities of at least some of the peers used to exchange audiovisual content;

determining, by the distribution manager and based at least in part on the recalculated at least portion of the content distribution topology, that the first assignment sent to the destination peer should be modified; and

in response to the determination that the first assignment sent to the destination peer should be modified;

generating, by the distribution manager and according to the recalculated content distribution topology, a revised assignment of a second set of one or more source peers in the distribution network that is different from the first set of one or more source peers; and

propagating, by the distribution manager, the revised assignment to the destination peer, wherein the propagated revised assignment causes the destination peer to request content from the second set of one or more source peers.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on at least one new peer joining the distribution network.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the new peer has a higher priority than the destination peer.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on at least one existing peer leaving the distribution network.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on a detected network failure.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on a detection of network congestion.

19. The method of claim 13 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on the computation of an objective function.

20. The method of claim 13 wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on a detected violation of a content delivery policy.

21. A computer program product for delivering assignment information over a distribution network comprising a plurality of peers organized in a content distribution topology using a distribution manager, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable medium and comprising computer instructions for:

sending, by the distribution manager, a first assignment of a first set of one or more source peers in the plurality of peers in the distribution network to provide audiovisual content to a destination peer in the plurality of peers in the distribution network;

detecting, by the distribution manager, at least one of a change in a network condition and a policy change associated with another peer in the distribution network that is different from the destination peer;

determining, by the distribution manager and based at least in part on the detected at least one change and one or more thresholds, that at least a portion of the content distribution topology should be recalculated;

in response to the determination that the at least portion of the content distribution topology should be recalculated, recalculating, by the distribution manager, the at least portion of the content distribution topology, wherein recalculating the content distribution topology includes reassessing peers used to exchange audiovisual content, and wherein the recalculation is based at least in part on an evaluation of uplink capacities of at least some of the peers used to exchange audiovisual content;

determining, by the distribution manager and based at least in part on the recalculated at least portion of the content distribution topology, that the first assignment sent to the destination peer should be modified; and

in response to the determination that the first assignment sent to the destination peer should be modified;

generating, by the distribution manager and according to the recalculated content distribution topology, a revised assignment of a second set of one or more source peers in the distribution network that is different from the first set of one or more source peers; and

propagating, by the distribution manager, the revised assignment to the destination peer, wherein the propagated revised assignment causes the destination peer to request content from the second set of one or more source peers.