Peer-to-peer video on demand techniques

• US 9,462,337 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2014
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hainline, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Dubasky, Gigi L
• Application Number:
  US14/196,539
• Publication Number:
  US 20140189762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• Field of Search: 725 86-100
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23113 involving housekeeping operations for stored content, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; snloading stored programs G06F9/445; housekeeping operations in file systems, e.g. deletion policies G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44245 Monitoring the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. its availability, bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Techniques for delivering video-on-demand content via peer-to-peer connections are provided. A video-on-demand distribution service maintains associations of viewer devices that have specific video-on-demand content. As new viewer devices, which lack the specific video-on-demand content, make requests for the specific video-on-demand content from the video-on-demand distribution system, the video-on-demand distribution system identifies a peer-to-peer viewer device from which the specific video-on-demand content may be acquired via a peer-to-peer transaction. Video-on-demand content sources are identified by comparing distances between the geographical location of the requestor device and geographical locations of devices of the plurality of viewer devices to a distance threshold. A first portion of a first item of video on demand content is obtained from source viewer device and a second portion of the first item of video on demand content is obtained from the video distribution system. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

distributing, by a processing system including a processor, a first item of video on demand content to equipment of a viewer of a plurality of viewers for storage on the equipment of the viewer without providing a viewer notification, wherein the distributing of the first item of video on demand content is not based on a requestor device requesting the video on demand content;

generating, by the processing system, an index of equipment of the plurality of viewers comprising indicia of geographical locations of the equipment of the plurality of viewers and indicia of a plurality of video on demand content items stored thereon;

receiving, by the processing system, a request for the first item of video on demand content from the requestor device, wherein the first item of video on demand content comprises personalized video content;

identifying, by the processing system, a geographical location of the requestor device;

searching, by the processing system, the index of the equipment of the plurality of viewers to identify the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content and determining when the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content is within a proximity to the geographical location of the requestor device, by comparing distances between the geographical location of the requestor device and geographical locations of the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content against a predetermined distance threshold;

providing, by the processing system, an access key to the requestor device, wherein access by the requestor device to a first portion of the first item of video on demand content stored by the equipment of the viewer is based on a presentation of the access key by the requestor device;

instructing, by the processing system, the requestor device to obtain the first portion of the first item of video on demand content from the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content in response to determining when the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content is within the proximity to the geographical location of the requestor device and responsive to the presentation of the access key by the requestor device;

instructing, by the processing system, the requestor device to obtain a second portion of the first item of video on demand content from the processing system; and

instructing, by the processing system, the equipment of the viewer to remove the first item of video on demand content from storage in response to policy evaluation.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising facilitating, by the processing system, a peer-to-peer connection between the requestor device and the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content to deliver the first portion of the first item of video on demand content to the requestor device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying of the geographical location of the requestor device is based on a billing address of the requestor device, the method further comprising recording, by the processing system, a billing event for the requestor device responsive to the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content reporting that the first item of video on demand content was delivered to the requestor device, wherein the access key is selected from a group consisting of a license key, an encryption key and an IP address.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising encrypting, by the processing system, the first item of video on demand content, wherein access to play the first item of video on demand content is enabled by way of a license key distributed by the processing system to the requestor device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the access key facilitates access to a service of the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content, and wherein the distributing of the first item of video on demand content comprises pre-selecting, by the processing system, the equipment of the viewer of the plurality of viewers responsive to the first item of video on demand content becoming available, wherein the pre-selecting occurs before the first item of video on demand content is available.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content comprises the requestor device, wherein presence of the video on demand content at the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content is unbeknownst to the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising selecting, by the processing system, the equipment of the plurality of viewers in response to the geographical location of the requestor device and geographic profile information.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the access key permits the requestor device to directly connect to peer-to-peer communication services of the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video on demand content.

9. A machine-readable memory having instructions embedded thereon, the instructions when accessed by a processing system including a processor facilitate performance of operations comprising:

receiving a first item of video on demand content without notification, wherein the receiving of the first item of video on demand content is not based on a request from the processing system;

receiving a request for the first item of video on demand content from a requestor device, wherein the first item of video on demand content comprises personalized video content and the processing system is selected from a prioritized list of viewer devices to service the request for the first item of video on demand content, wherein the prioritized list of viewer devices is generated by searching a network to identify a plurality of viewers having respective devices storing a plurality of items of video on demand content, including the first item of video on demand content, and being within a proximity to a geographical location of the requestor device determined by comparing distances between the geographical location of the requestor device determined from a billing address and geographical locations of devices of the plurality of viewers against a predetermined distance threshold;

receiving an access key from the requestor device;

establishing a peer-to-peer connection with the requestor device responsive to the receiving of the access key, wherein delivery of the first item of video on demand content is based on the receiving of the access key from the requestor device;

delivering the first item of video on demand content to the requestor device over the peer-to-peer connection, wherein a second portion of the first item of video on demand content is delivered to the requestor device from a video distribution service; and

removing the first item of video on demand content from storage in response to a policy received from the video distribution service.

10. The machine-readable memory of claim 9, wherein delivering further comprises streaming the first item of video on demand content to the requestor device during the peer-to-peer connection.

11. The machine-readable memory of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise requesting confirmation from the video on demand content server before delivering the first item of video on demand content to the requestor device over the peer-to-peer connection and wherein a location of the requestor device is a geographical location determined in response to the billing address for the requestor device for video on demand service.

12. The machine-readable memory of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprising pre-selecting a viewer device to store the first item of video on demand content before the first item of video on demand content is available, to store the first item of video on demand content when the first item of video on demand content becomes available.

13. The machine-readable memory of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprising encrypting the first item of video on demand content, wherein access to play the first item of video on demand content is enabled by way of a license key distributed to the requestor device.

14. The machine-readable memory of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprising retaining geographic profile information for each viewer of the plurality of viewers, wherein a location of the requestor device is a geographical location determined in response to the billing address for the requestor device for video on demand service.

15. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores executable instructions and having a repository to store video on demand content; and

a video on demand distribution service element comprising a processing system including a processor in communication with the memory, wherein the video on demand distribution service element, responsive to executing the instructions, facilitates performance of operations comprising;

distributing a first item of video on demand content to a set top box of a viewer without providing a notification, wherein the distributing of the first item of video on demand content is not based on a requesting subscriber device requesting the first item of video on demand content;

identifying a plurality of viewers having a plurality of set-top boxes storing a plurality of items of video on demand content;

generating an index of a plurality of set top boxes comprising indicia of geographical locations of the plurality of set top boxes and indicia of the plurality of video on demand content items stored thereon, wherein the plurality of set top boxes comprises the set top box of the viewer;

managing identities of the plurality of set-top boxes to service a request from the requesting subscriber device for the first item of video on demand content comprising personalized video content;

providing an access key to the requesting subscriber device, wherein acquisition of a first portion of the first item of video on demand content is based on a presentation of the access key by the requesting subscriber device;

selectively distributing an identity of a set top box of the plurality of set top boxes in response to the request, wherein the identities of a group of set top boxes of the plurality of set top boxes storing the first item of video on demand content and being within a proximity to a geographical location of the requesting subscriber device are determined by comparing distances between the geographical location of the requesting subscriber device and geographical locations of the set-top boxes of the plurality of set top boxes storing the first item of video on demand content against a predetermined distance threshold, and wherein the requesting subscriber device subsequently acquires the first portion of the first item of video on demand content via peer-to-peer exchange with a source set-top box of the plurality of set top boxes in the index, storing the first item of video on demand content and within the proximity to the geographical location of the requesting subscriber device and wherein the requesting subscriber device subsequently acquires a second portion of the first item of video on demand content from the video on demand distribution service element;

distributing the second portion of the first item of video on demand content to the requesting subscriber device, responsive to the presentation of the access key by the requesting subscriber device, wherein the first portion of the first item of video on demand content is distributed to the requesting subscriber device from the source set-top box; and

distributing a policy to the set top box of the viewer to instruct removing the first item of video on demand content from storage.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise maintaining a video on demand index comprising geographic profile information for each of the plurality of viewers and for the requesting subscriber device that subsequently request the first item of video on demand content, and identifying the first item of video on demand content and pre-seeds the set-top-boxes of the plurality of viewers, and wherein the key is one of a license key, an encryption key or an IP address.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise enforcing a retention policy for the first item of video on demand content with each of the set-top-boxes of the plurality of viewers based on a policy supplied with the video on demand content and, in response to the retention policy, instructing the set-top boxes of the plurality of viewers to remove the first item of video on demand content.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise distributing the first item of video on demand content in an encrypted format, and wherein the encrypted format is decrypted with a license key to enable playback of the first item of video on demand content.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a location of the requesting subscriber device is determined according to a billing address of the requesting subscriber device.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise distributing the license key to the requesting subscriber device in response to the request for the first item of video on demand content.