Request processing in a content delivery network

• US 9,755,914 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Issued: 09/05/2017
• 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): SERRAO, RANODHI N
• Application Number:
  US13/714,416
• Publication Number:
  US 20140172970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,726 Days
• 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 content delivery (CD) service of a plurality of CD services. The plurality of CD services comprise one or more CD service networks, and each particular CD service network has a dynamic network topology.

Claims

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

(A) receiving a first request at a first content delivery (CD) service instance;

(B) determining a first request environment from said first request;

(C) determining a second request environment using (i) said first request environment, and (ii) information from sources other than the first request, said second request environment being distinct from said first request environment; and

(D) attempting to process said first request using said second request environment,

wherein said attempting to process in (D) comprises;

(D)(1) causing at least some of said first request to be processed by a second CD service instance,

wherein said second CD service instance is a peer of said first CD service instance, and

wherein the first request is for requested content, wherein the requested content comprises a specific subscriber property and wherein the information from other sources comprises behavior information for said specific subscriber property.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said second CD service instance is provided said second request environment.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the information from other sources includes default information for processing the request.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the information from other sources includes information about the particular service implementation that the first service instance executes.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the information from other sources includes information about a state of the first CD service instance when the first request is processed.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said first request is a request for content and wherein said first CD service instance and said second CD service instance are CDN delivery service instances.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first request environment is determined from information associated with the request initially received in (A).

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the causing in (D)(1) comprises:

redirecting the first request to the second CD service instance.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein said second CD service instance is provided said second request environment.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the request initially received in (A) is an initial HTTP request for a first resource.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the first request environment comprises an HTTP protocol, a host, and a component of a URL path.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein said second request environment contains more information than said first request environment.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein said first CD service instance comprises a streaming service instance.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the second CD service instance comprises a streaming service instance.

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

(A) receiving a first request for a first resource at a first CDN delivery service instance;

(B) determining a first request environment using said first request;

(C) determining a second request environment using (i) said first request environment, and (ii) information from sources other than the first request, said second request environment being distinct from said first request environment; and

(D) causing at least some of said first request to be processed using said second request environment,

wherein said causing in (D) comprises;

(D)(1) causing at least some of said first request to be processed by a second CDN delivery service instance using said second request environment, said second CDN delivery service instance being a peer of said first CDN delivery service instance, wherein said second CDN delivery service instance is provided said second request environment, and

wherein the first resource comprises a specific subscriber property and wherein the information from other sources comprises behavior information for said specific subscriber property.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the information from other sources includes one or more of:

(i) default information for processing the request;

(ii) information about the particular service implementation that the first service instance executes; and

(iii) information about a state of the first CDN delivery service instance when the first request is processed.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the request initially received in (A) is an initial HTTP request for a first resource.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the first request environment comprises an HTTP protocol, a host, and a component of a URL path.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein said second request environment contains more information than said first request environment.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein said first CDN delivery service instance comprises a streaming service instance.

21. The method of claim 15 wherein the second CDN delivery service instance comprises a streaming service instance.

22. 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 method operable in a content delivery network (CDN) and operable on a device comprising hardware including memory and at least one processor and running a service on said hardware, said method comprising:

(A) receiving a first request at a first content delivery (CD) service instance;

(B) determining a first request environment from said first request;

(C) determining a second request environment using (i) said first request environment, and (ii) information from sources other than the first request, said second request environment being distinct from said first request environment; and

(D) attempting to process said first request using said second request environment,

wherein said attempting to process in (D) comprises;

(D)(1) causing at least some of said first request to be processed by a second CD service instance,

wherein said second CD service instance is a peer of said first CD service instance, and

wherein the first request is for requested content, wherein the requested content comprises a specific subscriber property and wherein the information from other sources comprises behavior information for said specific subscriber property.

23. The computer program product of claim 22 wherein said first CD service instance comprises a streaming service instance.

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

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

(b) a first CD service instance running on said hardware, wherein said first CD service instance is configured to;

(A) receive a first request;

(B) determine a first request environment from said first request;

(C) determine a second request environment using (i) said first request environment, and (ii) information from sources other than the first request, said second request environment being distinct from said first request environment; and

(D) attempt to process said first request using said second request environment

wherein said first CD service instance is configured to attempt to process in (D) by;

(D)(1) causing at least some of said first request to be processed by a second CD service instance,

wherein said second CD service instance is a peer of said first CD service instance, and

wherein the first request is for requested content, wherein the requested content comprises a specific subscriber property and wherein the information from other sources comprises behavior information for said specific subscriber property.

25. A system comprising the device of claim 24.

26. The device of claim 24 wherein said first CD service instance comprises a streaming service instance.

27. A content delivery network (CDN) comprising the device of claim 24.