System and method for live service content handling with content storing servers caching popular content therein

• US 10,812,837 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2018
• Issued: 10/20/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwilt, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qwilt, Inc.
• Inventors: Avrahami, Hagai, Groys, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Zand, Davoud A
• Application Number:
  US16/151,868
• Publication Number:
  US 20190045239A1
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand

Abstract

A method for providing live content from a service delivery apparatus (SDA) is presented. The method includes identifying by the SDA a live content, wherein the live content includes a content identification (CID) and is provided by a content source (CS); acquiring the live content designated by the CID to store in a fast access memory of the SDA, wherein the SDA includes the fast access memory and a slow access storage; providing the live content from the fast access memory to a user node (UN) in response to receiving a request for the live content, the request comprising at least the CID.

Claims

1. A method for providing live content from a service delivery apparatus (SDA), comprising:

identifying by the SDA a live content, wherein the live content includes a content identification (CID) and is provided by a content source (CS);

acquiring the live content designated by the CID to store in a fast access memory of the SDA, wherein the SDA includes the fast access memory and a slow access storage; and

providing the live content from the fast access memory to a user node (UN) in response to receiving a request for the live content, the request comprising at least the CID,

wherein the CID corresponding to the live content is added to or removed from the fast access memory as a function of time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the live content from the fast access memory of the SDA to the UN further comprises:

sending a redirect instruction to the UN to redirect future requests from the CS to the SDA.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the live content to the UN in tandem to the content being acquired by the SDA reduces latency.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the fast access memory is one of a random-access memory (RAM) and a solid-state drive (SSD).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more video-on-demand (VOD) content is stored in the storage and one or more live content is stored in the fast access memory.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a content collection identification (CCID), wherein the CCID includes at least the CID.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the CCID is generated by the CS.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

acquiring each CID of the CCID from the CS to the SDA.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

acquiring continuously CIDs to the SDA, wherein the CCID is continuously updated by the CS with at least a new CID, the new CID not present prior in the CCID.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

detecting that an old CID was removed from the CCID;

determining a time period during which the content of the old CID is stored in the SDA; and

deleting the content of the old CID from the SDA after the time period has elapsed.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the removed old CID is stored in the storage.

12. A service delivery apparatus (SDA) for providing live content from a content source (CS) to at least a user node, comprising:

a first network interface to sniff traffic between at least a first portion of a network and at least a second portion of a network;

a second network interface configured to communicate with the at least a first portion of a network and the at least a second portion of a network;

a fast access memory;

a slow access storage;

a processing unit; and

a memory containing instructions that when executed by the processing unit causes the SDA to;

identify a live content, wherein the live content includes a content identification (CID) and is provided by a content source (CS);

acquire the live content designated by the CID to store in the fast access memory of the SDA; and

provide the live content from the fast access memory to a user node (UN) in response to receiving a request for the live content, the request comprising at least the CID,

wherein the CID corresponding to the live content is added to or removed from the fast access memory as a function of time.