Managing mobile device user subscription and service preferences to predictively pre-fetch content

• US 10,771,583 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2014
• Issued: 09/08/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Balakrishnan, Prasandh, Luciani, James V., Aysola, Ravi S., D'Addio, Richard G., Gensch, Lawrence, Shaikh, Ittehad, Lobo, Terence
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dustin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hao H
• Application Number:
  US14/584,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20160191651A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,080 Days
• Field of Search: 709202, 709203, 709213, 709217, 709219, 709224, 709226, 709231, 709235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• 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 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5683 Storage of data provided by user terminals, i.e. reverse caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A content delivery network (CDN) is enhanced to enable mobile network operators (MNOs) to provide their mobile device users with a content prediction and pre-fetching service. Preferably, the CDN enables the service by providing infrastructure support comprising a client application, and a distributed predictive pre-fetching function. The client application executes in the user'"'"'s mobile device and enables the device user to subscribe to content (e.g., video) from different websites, and to input viewing preferences for such content (e.g.: “Sports: MLB: Boston Red Sox”). This user subscription and preference information is sent to the predictive pre-fetching support function that is preferably implemented within or across CDN server clusters. A preferred implementation uses a centralized back-end infrastructure, together with front-end servers positioned in association with the edge server regions located nearby the mobile core network. The predictive pre-fetch service operates on the user'"'"'s behalf in accordance with the user preference information.

Claims

1. A method of content delivery operative in association with an overlay network coupled to a mobile network, wherein end user mobile devices connect to the mobile network, the method comprising:

operating the overlay network as a content delivery network (CDN) on behalf of sites of participating content providers;

for each end user mobile device, receiving and storing a set of preferences, the set of preferences including;

an identification of given content that originates with the CDN participating content providers and that is deliverable over the CDN, and that the end user of the mobile device has provided an indication is desired to be predictively prefetched to the end user mobile device, one or more user-specific content types associated with the content, and a service type;

based at least in part on the preferences associated with a particular end user mobile device, predicting content of interest, the content of interest being content then available to be delivered from the CDN;

generating a manifest identifying the content of interest and its location;

providing the manifest to the end user mobile device in accordance with a policy;

automatically delivering the content of interest to the end user mobile device from a CDN edge server in a background process;

receiving and storing consumption information from the end user mobile device, the consumption information indicating whether the content of interest has been viewed;

reconciling delivery data collected by the overlay network in association with the automated delivery to the end user mobile device of the content of interest and for which the participating content provider would otherwise be charged in accordance with the consumption information, wherein reconciling includes crediting the participating content provider with respect to that portion of the content of interest which, because such portion was not requested for viewing, is determined to have been incorrectly predictively prefetched to the end user mobile device; and

updating the predicted content of interest for a subsequent automatic delivery to the end user mobile device to reflect that portion of the content of interest that was incorrectly predicted;

wherein at least the manifest is provided to the end user mobile device as zero-rated (0RB) data.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the content of interest is identified by monitoring changes to one or more CDN content provider sites.

3. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the changes are received from a content provider site by one of:

crawling the content provider site, receiving a syndication feed from the content provider site, and receiving change notifications published by the content provider site over an application programming interface (API).

4. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the content of interest is predicted based on the changes and the set of preferences for the end user mobile device.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the policy is based on at least one of:

a network condition, a temporal attribute, and a status of the end user mobile device.

6. The method as described in claim 5 wherein the status of the end user mobile device is one of:

an amount of available storage, and a power level.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the content of interest also is predicted based at least in part on the consumption information.

17. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the content of interest also is predicted based on one or more social networking preferences.

8. Apparatus, operative in association with an overlay network coupled to a mobile network, wherein end user mobile device connect to the mobile network, the overlay network operated as a content delivery network (CDN) on behalf of sites of participating content providers, comprising:

at least one processor;

computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the processor and operative to;

receive and store a set of preferences for each of a plurality of end user mobile devices, each set of preferences including;

an identification of given content that originates with the CDN participating content providers and that is deliverable over the CDN, and that the end user of the mobile device has provided an indication is desired to be predictively prefetched to the end user mobile device, one or more user-specific content types associated with the content, and a service type;

based at least in part on the set pf preferences associated with a particular end user mobile device, predict content of interest for the particular end user mobile device, the content of interest being content then available to be delivered from the CDN;

for each particular end user mobile device, generate a manifest identifying the content of interest and its location, wherein the manifest is adapted to be used by the particular end user mobile device to obtain the content of interest from the CDN in a background process and without user input;

provide the manifest for delivery to the end user mobile device in accordance with a policy;

receive and store consumption information from each particular end user mobile device, the consumption information indicating whether the content of interest has been viewed at that particular end user mobile device;

reconcile delivery data collected by the overlay network in association with automated delivery to the end user mobile device of the content of interest and for which the participating content provider would otherwise be charged in accordance with the consumption information, wherein reconciling includes crediting the participating content provider with respect to that portion of the content of interest which, because such portion was not requested for viewing, is determined to have been incorrectly predictively prefetched to the end user mobile device; and

update the predicted content of interest for a subsequent automatic delivery to the end user mobile device to reflect that portion of the content of interest that was incorrectly predicted;

wherein at least the manifest is provided to the end user mobile device as zero-rated (0RB) data.

9. The apparatus as described in claim 8 wherein the computer program instructions are further operative to identify the content of interest by monitoring changes to one or more CDN content provider sites.

10. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the changes are received from a content provider site by one of:

crawling the content provider site, receiving a syndication feed from the content provider site, and receiving change notifications published by the content provider site over an application programming interface (API).

11. The apparatus as described in claim 9 wherein the content of interest is predicted based on the changes and the set of preferences for the end user mobile device.

12. The apparatus as described in claim 8 wherein the policy is based on at least one of:

a network condition, a temporal attribute, and a status of the end user mobile device.

13. The apparatus as described in claim 12 wherein the status of the end user mobile device is one of:

an amount of available storage, and a power level.

14. Apparatus, operative in association with a content delivery network (CDN) and an end user mobile device, the CDN being operated on behalf of sites of participating content providers, comprising:

at least one processor;

computer memory holding computer program instructions executed by the processor and operative to;

receive and store a set of preferences for the end user mobile device, the set of preferences including;

an identification of given content that originates with the CDN participating content providers and that is deliverable over the CDN, and that the end user of the mobile device has provided an indication is desired to be predictively prefetched to the end user mobile device, one or more user-specific content types associated with the content, and a service type;

receive a manifest, the manifest including resource locators for content that has been predicted to be of interest to a user of the end user mobile device based on least in part on the set of preferences;

automatically fetch from the CDN and cache the content of interest identified by the manifest for future viewing, in a background process and without user input, the content of interest being content then available from the CDN;

provide consumption information indicating whether the content of interest has been viewed;

reconcile delivery data collected by the overlay network in association with automated delivery to the end user mobile device of the content of interest and for which the participating content provider would otherwise be charged in accordance with the consumption information, wherein reconciling includes crediting the participating content provider with respect to that portion of the content of interest which, because such portion was not requested for viewing, is determined to have been incorrectly predictively prefetched to the end user mobile device; and

update the predicted content of interest for a subsequent automatic delivery to the end user mobile device to reflect that portion of the content of interest that was incorrectly predicted;

wherein at least the manifest is provided to the end user mobile device as zero-rated (0RB) data.

15. The apparatus as described in claim 14 wherein the computer program instructions are further operative to flush the content of interest from the end user mobile device after a configurable time period.

16. The apparatus as described in claim 14 wherein the content of interest is video.