Layered request processing in a content delivery network (CDN)

• US 9,628,347 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 04/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sandpiper CDN, LLC (Theseus LF Asset Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Varney, Lewis Robert, Lipstone, Laurence R., Crowder, William, Swart, Andrew, Newton, Christopher
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hitesh
• Application Number:
  US13/802,470
• Publication Number:
  US 20140173053A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,497 Days
• Field of Search: 709219, 709224, 709226
• 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

In a content delivery network (CDN a method includes: receiving a request for a CDN service of a particular type, wherein a CDN service of said particular type defines a fixed number of configurable layers of request processing, sequentially from a first layer to a last layer; and processing said request, starting at said first layer, said processing being based on a modifiable runtime environment, said processing continuing conditionally through each of said layers in turn until either said request is terminated by one of said layers or said last layer processes said request. The CDN service may be selected from: delivery services, collector services, reducer services, rendezvous services, configuration services, and control services.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method in a content delivery network (CDN), and on a device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor, the computer-implemented method comprising:

(A) receiving a request for a CD service of a particular service type, wherein a CD service of said particular service type defines a particular number of configurable layers of request processing associated with said CD service of said particular service type, sequentially from a particular first layer to a particular last layer;

(B) processing said request, starting at said particular first layer, said processing being based on a modifiable runtime environment, said processing continuing conditionally through each of said particular layers in turn until either said request is terminated by one of said layers or said particular last layer processes said request,

wherein said runtime environment comprises a modifiable control environment and a modifiable request environment, said modifiable request environment being based on said request, wherein said modifiable control environment comprises a modifiable global control environment, and wherein said modifiable control environment is distinct from said modifiable request environment,

wherein the first layer determines the modifiable request environment from information associated with the request initially received in (A), and wherein each subsequent layer obtains the modifiable request environment from the previous layer,

wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said modifiable control environment to produce a modified control environment, and wherein processing of said request by a subsequent layer is based on the modified control environment,

wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said runtime environment.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said request environment to produce a modified request environment, and wherein processing of said request by a subsequent layer is based on the modified request environment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein said control environment for said first layer is independent of said request.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein each layer determines how to process the request based on information in the runtime environment at the time the request reaches said layer.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 wherein the processing at each layer is based on whether said request reaching said layer matches certain conditions evaluated using said runtime environment.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 wherein each layer defines a default behavior for that layer to apply to a request that does not match certain conditions evaluated using said runtime environment.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said processing in at least one of said layers relates to subscriber-specific behaviors for at least one subscriber of said CDN.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein said processing in at least one of said layers relates to system or service level policies of said CDN.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least some of said layers are reserved for specific service types of processing.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein processing of said request by a particular layer includes:

(i) obtaining information for processing said request from a peer service.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein, when said particular layer allows the request to continue to another layer, the particular layer modifies the runtime environment, and wherein said other layer processes said request using the modified runtime environment.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein at least some information in said runtime environment is provided to the service in advance of said request processing.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein said processing of said request at each layer is based on a set of constraints on matching requests and on an associated configuration to be applied to matching requests.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 wherein the associated configuration for a particular layer comprises environment settings and at least one behavior to be applied to matching requests.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein said modifiable runtime environment is global to said service, and wherein, in processing said request, each layer uses the runtime environment as modified by any previous layers.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request is an HTTP request for content.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein the CD service is selected from the CD services comprising:

delivery services, collector services, reducer services, rendezvous services, configuration services, and control services.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein said request for said CD service comprises a request for a streaming service.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 wherein said CD service of said particular service type defines a fixed number of configurable layers of request processing.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein processing of said request by a particular layer further includes one of:

(ii) rejecting said request;

(iii) redirecting said request to another service; and

(iv) allowing the request to continue to another layer.

18. A device in a content delivery network (CDN), the device comprising:

(a) hardware including memory and at least one processor, and

(b) a content delivery (CD) service running on said hardware, wherein said service;

(A) receives a request for a CD service of a particular service type, wherein a CD service of said particular service type defines a particular number of configurable layers of request processing, sequentially from a particular first layer to a particular last layer;

(B) processes said request, starting at said particular first layer, said processing being based on a modifiable runtime environment, said processing continuing conditionally through each of said layers in turn until either said request is terminated by one of said layers or said particular last layer processes said request,

wherein said modifiable runtime environment comprises a modifiable control environment and a modifiable request environment, said modifiable request environment being based on said request, wherein said modifiable control environment comprises a modifiable global control environment, and wherein said modifiable control environment is distinct from said modifiable request environment,

wherein the first layer determines the modifiable request environment from information associated with the request initially received in (A), and wherein each subsequent layer obtains the modifiable request environment from the previous layer,

wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said modifiable control environment to produce a modified control environment, and wherein processing of said request by a subsequent layer is based on the modified control environment,

wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said modifiable runtime environment.

19. A system comprising the device of claim 18.

20. A content delivery network (CDN) comprising the device of claim 18.

23. The device of claim 18 wherein said request for said CD service comprises a request for a streaming service.

26. The device of claim 18 wherein said CD service of said particular service type defines a fixed number of configurable layers of request processing.

21. A computer program product having computer readable instructions stored on non-transitory computer readable media, the computer readable instructions including instructions for implementing a computer-implemented method, said computer-implemented method in a content delivery network (CDN) and on a device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor and running a service on said hardware, said computer-implemented method comprising:

(A) receiving a request for a content delivery (CD) service of a particular service type, wherein a CD service of said particular service type defines a number of configurable layers of request processing, sequentially from a first layer to a last layer;

(B) processing said request, starting at said first layer, said processing being based on a modifiable runtime environment, said processing continuing conditionally through each of said layers in turn until either said request is terminated by one of said layers or said last layer processes said request,

wherein said runtime environment comprises a modifiable control environment and a modifiable request environment, said modifiable request environment being based on said request, wherein said modifiable control environment comprises a modifiable global control environment, and wherein said modifiable control environment is distinct from said modifiable request environment,

wherein the first layer determines the modifiable request environment from information associated with the request initially received in (A), and wherein each subsequent layer obtains the modifiable request environment from the previous layer,

wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said modifiable control environment to produce a modified control environment, and wherein processing of said request by a subsequent layer is based on the modified control environment,

wherein, in processing of said request, at least one of said layers modifies said runtime environment.

24. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein said request for said CD service comprises a request for a streaming service.

27. The computer program product of claim 21 wherein said CD service of said particular service type defines a fixed number of configurable layers of request processing.