Fractional pre-delivery of content to user devices for uninterrupted playback

• US 9,742,861 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2014
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Opanga Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Opanga Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Harrang, Jeffrey Paul, Westerfield, Giles, Burnette, John, Gibbons, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Tiv, Backhean
• Application Number:
  US14/549,450
• Publication Number:
  US 20150142910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,006 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

Systems and methods for delivering fractions of content to user devices before the content is selected or requested (e.g., a pre-delivery of content) are described. In some embodiments, the systems and methods receive an indication that content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network, determine a fraction (e.g., size) of the content available for pre-delivery that satisfies one or more predicted content playback conditions, and causes the determined fraction of the content available for pre-delivery to be delivered to the user device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an indication that first content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network;

determining minimum consumption credit function (CCF) values based on a rate of consumption of second content by the user device and a rate of delivery of the second content to the user device from a remote content source, the second content being previously delivered to the user device;

generating a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve that plots the determined minimum CCF values versus uninterrupted playback probabilities associated with the user device;

selecting a fraction of the first content that is associated with the desired uninterrupted playback probability using the CDF curve;

and

causing the converted fraction of the first content to be delivered to the user device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second content includes content of a certain file size of the first content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the the second content includes content previously delivered to the user device over the same network type as a network type over which the fraction of the first content is delivered.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second content includes content encoded with the same bit rate as the first content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second content includes content previously delivered to the user device at a certain location of the user device during a playback event of the first content.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

predicting a delivery network via which the content is to be delivered to the user device during a playback event of the content,

wherein the CDF curve is generated based on the predicted delivery network used during the playback event.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

predicting one or more delivery network conditions via which the content is to be delivered to the user device during a playback event of the content,

wherein the CDF curve is generated based on the predicted one or more delivery network conditions associated with a delivery network used during the playback event.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined fraction of the content is adjusted based on a current playback performance of the first content by the user device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the determined fraction of the first content to be delivered to the user device includes causing the determined fraction to be delivered to the user device before the user device receives a request to consume the determined fraction.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the second content to correspond to content previously delivered to the user device at a location where the user device is predicted to play back the first content, and to content played back by the user device at a time when the user device is predicted to play back the first content.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the user device is a first user device, and

wherein the minimum consumption credit function (CCF) values are further based on a rate of consumption of third content by a second user device and a rate of delivery of the third content to the second user device from a remote content source, the third content corresponding to content previously delivered to the second user device at a location where the first user device is predicted to play back the first content, and to content played back by the second user device at a time when the user device is predicted to play back the first content.

12. A system supported by a mobile device, the system comprising:

a content module that receives an indication that first content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network;

a content fraction module that determines a fraction of the first content that is associated with a desired uninterrupted playback probability; and

a pre-delivery module that causes the determined fraction of the first content to be delivered to the user device,

wherein the content fraction module;

determines minimum consumption credit function (CCF) values based on a rate of consumption of second content by the user device and a rate of delivery of the second content to the user device from a remote content source, the second content being previously delivered to the user device;

generates a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve that plots the determined minimum CCF values versus uninterrupted playback probabilities associated with the user device; and

selects a fraction of the first content that is associated with the desired uninterrupted playback probability using the CDF curve.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the second content includes content of a certain file size of the first content.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the second content includes content previously delivered to the user device over the same network type as the network type over which the first content is delivered.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the second content includes content encoded with the same bit rate as the first content.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the second content includes content previously delivered to the user device at a certain location of the user device during a playback event of the first content.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the content fraction module determines the minimum consumption credit function values for the consumption credit function when the user device is actively requesting the first content from a remote content source.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the content fraction module:

predicts a delivery network via which the first content is to be delivered to the user device during a playback event of the content,

wherein the CDF curve is generated based on the predicted delivery network used during the playback event.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium whose contents, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations, comprising:

receiving an indication that first content is available for pre-delivery from a content server to a user device over a network;

determining minimum consumption credit function (CCF) values based on a rate of consumption of second content by the user device and a rate of delivery of the second content to the user device from a remote content source, the second content being previously delivered to the user device over a delivery network via which the first content is predicted to be delivered during a playback event;

generating a cumulative-distribution function (CDF) curve that plots the determined minimum CCF values versus uninterrupted playback probabilities associated with the user device;

selecting a fraction of the first content that is associated with the desired uninterrupted playback probability using the CDF curve; and

causing the determined fraction of the first content to be delivered to the user device.