Client-side predictive caching for content

• US 9,544,388 B1
• Filed: 05/09/2014
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ma, Andrew Jason, Ahluwalia, Gurpreet Singh, Dubey, Abhishek, Shah, Sachin, Benjamin, Gregory Scott, Shah, Prateek RameshChandra, Powell, Cody Wayne Maxwell, Celikel, Meltem, Hudgin, Darryl, Freeman, James Marvin, Li, Lei, Sen, Vijay, Bromberg, Aaron M., Herron-Patmon, Bryant F., Karmacharya, Nush, Barnard, Joshua B., Chen, Peter Wei-Chih, Slotnick, Stephen A., Watts, Andrew J., Winograd, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chen, Wuji
• Application Number:
  US14/274,121
• Time in Patent Office: 977 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/023 Free address space management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0813 with a network or matrix configuration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0862 with prefetch
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/121 using replacement algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/107 License processing; Key processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1024 Latency reduction
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/154 Networked environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/455 Image or video data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/507 using speculative control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/6024 History based prefetching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5683 Storage of data provided by user terminals, i.e. reverse caching

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for client-side predictive caching of content to facilitate instantaneous use of the content. If a user is likely to commence use of a content item through a client, the client is configured to predictively cache the content item before the user commences use. In doing so, the client may obtain metadata for the content item and an initial portion of the content item from another computing device. The client may then initialize various resources to facilitate instantaneous use of the content item by the client based at least in part on the metadata and the initial portion. The client-side cache may be divided into multiple segments with different content selection criteria.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in a client computing device, wherein when executed the program causes the client computing device to at least:

determine a plurality of content items to be cached in a client cache associated with a user, the client cache having a plurality of cache segments, wherein a particular content item is selected for a first one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the particular content item is playable by the user via a current user interface rendered by a content access application, the particular content item is selected for a second one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the particular content item has been played previously by the user, and the particular content item is selected for a third one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the particular content item is predicted to be played by the user;

prepare the client computing device for instantaneous playback of the plurality of content items before the user selects any of the plurality of content items for playback, wherein, for individual ones of the plurality of content items, the program causes the client computing device to at least;

obtain a corresponding decryption key, a corresponding manifest, and an initial portion of media content from another computing device; and

initialize decryption logic for decrypting the initial portion of media content using the corresponding decryption key; and

perform instantaneous playback of one of the plurality of content items in response to the one of the plurality of content items being selected by the user for playback after the client computing device is prepared for instantaneous playback of the one of the plurality of content items.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein when executed the program further causes the client computing device to at least determine whether at least one of the plurality of content items is available from another client via a local network connection, wherein the at least one of the plurality of content items are obtained from the other client when available from the other client via the local network connection instead of being obtained from a remote server.

3. A system, comprising:

a computing device; and

a caching system executable in the computing device, wherein when executed the caching system causes the computing device to at least;

determine a content item to be cached for a user in a client cache, the client cache including a plurality of cache segments, wherein the content item is selected for a first one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the content item is playable by the user via a current user interface rendered by a content access application, the content item is selected for a second one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the content item has been played previously by the user, and the content item is selected for a third one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the content item is predicted to be played by the user;

obtain an initial portion of the content item and metadata associated with the content item from at least one other computing device prior to the user explicitly indicating that use of the content item is desired; and

perform processing relative to the metadata to prepare the computing device for the use of the content item prior to the user explicitly indicating that the use of the content item is desired.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the caching system further causes the computing device to at least:

add the content item to a queue in association with a priority; and

select the content item from the queue based at least in part on the priority.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the caching system further causes the computing device to at least report at least one caching metric to at least one server, the at least one caching metric indicating at least one of:

a first proportion of content item usage for which the processing relative to the metadata has been completed when the user explicitly indicates that the use of the content item is desired;

a second proportion of content item usage for which the initial portion of the content item has been obtained when the user explicitly indicates that the use of the content item is desired;

or

a third proportion of content item usage for which the content item has been determined to be cached when the user explicitly indicates that the use of the content item is desired.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the caching system further causes the computing device to at least report at least one caching metric to at least one server, the at least one caching metric indicating at least one of:

a respective size for the individual ones of the plurality of cache segments or a respective time until playback for the content item.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one other computing device comprises a client computing device, and the initial portion of the content item and the metadata associated with the content item are obtained from another client cache in the client computing device via a local network connection.

8. The system of claim 3, wherein the individual ones of the plurality of cache segments are associated with corresponding ones of a plurality of different cache segment capacities.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein the content access application is executed in another computing device.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the content item is determined based at least in part on a subscription status of the user and whether a discounted price for the content item is available for the user given the subscription status.

11. The system of claim 3, wherein the content item is determined based at least in part on whether the content item will become unavailable to the user within a predetermined time period.

12. The system of claim 3, wherein the content item is determined based at least in part on whether the content item is recommended to the user via a user interface of a content access application.

13. The system of claim 3, wherein the metadata includes a decryption key for decrypting the content item, the processing includes decrypting the initial portion of the content item using the decryption key.

14. A method, comprising:

determining, in a first client computing device, a content item to be cached in a client cache associated with a user, the client cache having a plurality of cache segments, wherein the content item is selected for a first one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the content item is playable by the user via a current user interface rendered by a content access application, the content item is selected for a second one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the content item has been played previously by the user, and the content item is selected for a third one of the plurality of cache segments based at least in part on whether the content item is predicted to be played by the user; and

in response to determining the content item and before the user commences use of the content item via the first client computing device;

obtaining, in the first client computing device, metadata for the content item from a second client computing device via a local network connection;

obtaining, in the first client computing device, an initial portion of the content item from the second client computing device via the local network connection; and

initializing resources of the first client computing device to facilitate instantaneous use of the content item based at least in part on the metadata and the initial portion of the content item.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising deallocating, in the first client computing device, resources associated with a previously cached content item in response to determining the content item to be cached.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining, in the first client computing device, a list of content items selectable for use via a user interface currently rendered for display to the user, wherein the content item is determined based at least in part on whether the content item is included in the list of content items.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising obtaining, in the first client computing device, from at least one server, a list of content items predicted to be used by the user, wherein the content item is determined based at least in part on whether the content item is included in the list of content items.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising reporting, in the first client computing device, at least one caching metric to at least one server, the at least one caching metric indicating at least one of:

a first proportion of content item usage for which the processing relative to the metadata has been completed when the user explicitly indicates that the use of the content item is desired;

a second proportion of content item usage for which the initial portion of the content item has been obtained when the user explicitly indicates that the use of the content item is desired;

or

a third proportion of content item usage for which the content item has been determined to be cached when the user explicitly indicates that the use of the content item is desired.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the individual ones of the plurality of cache segments are associated with corresponding ones of a plurality of different cache segment capacities.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the content item is determined based at least in part on whether the content item will become unavailable to the user within a predetermined time period.