Content delivery framework with dynamic service network topologies

• US 9,628,343 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Newton, Christopher, Varney, Lewis Robert, Lipstone, Laurence R., Crowder, William, Swart, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Whipple, Brian P
• Application Number:
  US13/714,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20140173038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0808 with cache invalidating means G06F12/0815 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/173 using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/177 Initialisation or configuration control processor initialisation G06F9/4405
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0869 Validating the configuration within one network element
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2503 : Translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 : using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 : using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/58 : Caching of addresses or names
• 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 67/01 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 : specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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 67/1078 : Resource delivery mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 : Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 : Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 : Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 : Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 : Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 : Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 : Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/03 : Protocol definition or specification protocol conformance testing H04L1/244

Abstract

A content delivery framework (CDF) includes a plurality of devices, each device configured to run at least one of a plurality of content delivery (CD) services. The plurality of CD services form one or more CD service networks, and each CD service network having a dynamic network topology.

Claims

1. A content delivery framework (CDF) comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein

(A) said plurality of CD services comprise:

collector services and control services; and

wherein

(B) (i) at least some CD services are configured to obtain control input from other CD services, and

(ii) at least some CD services are configured to produce control output for other CD services; and

(iii) at least some CD services are configured to obtain state input from other CD services, and

(iv) at least some CD services are configured to produce state output for other CD services; and

(v) at least some CD services are configured to obtain event input from other CD services, and

(vi) at least some CD services are configured to produce event output for other CD services; and

(C) at least some of said CD services produce, as event output, one or more event streams relating to their respective operation; and

(D) at least some of said event output is provided to at least some of said collector services as event input to said collector services; and

(E) at least some of said collector services;

(E)(1) obtain their event input from one or more CD services, and

(E)(2) produce, as their respective state output, state information, said state information being based on said event input from said one or more CD services, and

(E)(3) provide at least some of said state information to said control services; and

(F) at least some of said control services;

(F)(1) obtain state information from said collector services as their respective state input and

(F)(2) produce control information based on said state information from said collector services; and

(F)(3) provide control information to at least some of said CD services to control operation or configuration of said at least some of said CD services, wherein at least some of said control information provided to control operation or configuration of said at least some CD services was based on specific event information produced by at least one of said CD services, and

wherein said plurality of CD services comprise one or more CD service networks, and wherein each particular CD service network has a dynamic network topology, and wherein the network topology of the particular CD service network is updated based on one or more of;

(i) control information from the control services, and (ii) state information from the collector services.

2. The framework of claim 1 wherein at least some of said plurality of devices run collector services, and wherein said collector services running on said at least some of said plurality of devices comprise at least one collector services network.

3. The framework of claim 2 wherein each said at least one collector services network has a corresponding dynamic network topology.

4. The framework of claim 2 wherein said network topology of each said at least one collector services network is configured and controlled dynamically based on control information provided by said control services to said CD services.

5. The framework of claim 1 wherein said plurality of CD services also comprise delivery services, and wherein at least some of the devices run delivery services.

6. The framework of claim 5 wherein said delivery services running on the at least some of the devices comprise at least one delivery network.

7. The framework of claim 6 wherein said at least one delivery network has a dynamic topology.

8. The framework of claim 7 wherein each delivery network has a corresponding network topology, and wherein said network topology of each network is configured dynamically based on control information provided by said control services to said CD services.

9. The framework of claim 8 wherein said delivery network is a caching network.

10. The framework of claim 6 wherein said plurality of CD services also comprise reducer services, and wherein

at least some of said plurality of devices run reducer services, and wherein said reducer services running on said at least some of said plurality of devices comprise at least one reducer services network, and wherein the at least one delivery network has a different network topology than the at least one reducer services network.

11. The framework of claim 1 wherein said plurality of CD services further comprise rendezvous services, and wherein at least some of the devices run rendezvous services.

12. The framework of claim 11 wherein said rendezvous services running on said at least some of the devices comprise at least one rendezvous network.

13. The framework of claim 12 wherein said plurality of CD services also comprise reducer services, and wherein at least some of said plurality of devices run reducer services, and wherein said reducer services running on said at least some of said plurality of devices comprise at least one reducer services network, and wherein the at least one rendezvous network has a different network topology than the at least one reducer services network.

22. The framework of claim 1 wherein at least some of said collector services:

(E)(4) provide at least some of said state information to other CD services.

14. A system comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein said CD services are selected from the services comprising:

collector services and control services; and

wherein

(A) at least some of said devices run collector services and at least some of said devices run control services, and wherein

(B) said at least some of said devices running collector services comprise a collector services network, wherein said collector services network has a dynamic first network topology, and wherein

(C) at least some of said CD services produce event output relating to their respective operation; and

wherein

(D) at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to said collector services network; and

wherein

(E) at least some of said collector services provides state information to said control services, said state information being based on said event input from said at least some of said CD services, and wherein

(F) at least some of said control services provide control information to said CD services, at least some of said control information being based on state information from the collector services network; and

wherein

(H) at least some of said CD services obtain control information from said control services and are controlled and configured based on the control information received from said control services, wherein at least some of the control information used to control and configure the CD services was based on specific event information produced by at least one of said plurality of CD services.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the first network topology of the collector services network is controlled and configured based on one or more of:

(i) control information from the control services, and (ii) state information from the collector services.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the first network topology of the collector services network is controlled and configured based on said one or more of:

(i) control information provided as feedback to the CD services by the control services, and (ii) state information produced and provided as feedback to the CD services by the collector services.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein said plurality of CD services comprise one or more CD service networks, and wherein each particular CD service network has a corresponding dynamic network topology, and wherein the network topology of the particular CD service network is updated based on one or more of:

(i) control information provided to the CD services by the control services, and (ii) state information provided to the CD services by the collector services.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the network topology of a particular CD service network is updated based on said one or more of:

(i) control information provided as feedback to the CD services by the control services, and (ii) state information provided as feedback to the CD services by the collector services.

23. The system of claim 14 wherein:

at least some of said collector services network also provides state information to other CD services of said plurality of CD services.

19. A system comprising a plurality of devices, each device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, each device configured to run at least one content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services, wherein said CD services are selected from the services comprising:

collector services, control services, rendezvous services, and delivery services; and

wherein

(A) at least some of said devices run collector services, and at least some of said devices run control services, and wherein

(B) said at least some of said devices running collector services comprise at least one collector services network, and said at least some of said devices running control services comprise at least one control services network, said at least one control services network comprising a control system; and

(C) at least some of said CD services produce event output relating to their respective operation; and

wherein

(D) at least some of said event output from at least some of said CD services is provided to said at least one collector services network; and

wherein

(E) at least some of said collector services provides state information to said control services, said state information being based on said event input from said at least some of said CD services, and wherein

(F) at least some of said control services provide control information to said CD services, at least some of said control information being based on state information from the collector services network; and

wherein

(H) at least some of said CD services obtain control information from said control services and are controlled and configured based on the control information received from said control services; and

wherein

(I) at least some of said CD services obtain state information from said collector services network and are controlled and configured based on the state information received from said collector services network.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said plurality of CD services comprise one or more CD service networks, and wherein each particular CD service network has a dynamic network topology, and wherein the network topology of the particular CD service network is updated based on one or more of:

(i) control information produced and provided to the CD services by the control services, and (ii) state information produced and provided to the CD services by the collector services.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the network topology of a particular CD service network is updated based on said one or more of:

(i) control information produced and provided as feedback to the CD services by the control services, and (ii) state information produced and provided as feedback to the CD services by the collector services.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein:

at least some of said collector services network also provides state information to other CD services of said plurality of CD services.