Systems and methods for delivering content over a network
First Claim
1. A system for delivering content over a data network, comprising a data storage device for storing content to be delivered over the data network, a server process capable of monitoring the data network for responding to a request to serve selected content over the data network, and a file system capable of communicating with the server process and capable of processing the request to identify meta-data associated with the selected content and being representative of a level of service to be provided the selected content.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The systems and methods described herein include systems and methods for serving data including streams of content, such as video content, audio content, and other types of content, and for serving the data at a selected level of service. The server provides a flexible platform that can examine an incoming request for content and based on certain attributes associated with that request, make a determination of the level of service that the request is to receive and a determination of whether the system currently has the capacity to handle the request at that level of service. Additionally and optionally, the server allows a network service provider/administrator to determine which attributes are relevant in determining the proper level of service and what level of service, or characteristics of that level of service will be associated with the attribute. To control the processing of requests so that different requests are kept on schedule and that established levels of service are met, the server can include an application program that manages the server processes access to a system resource, such as processor time, network bandwidth/access, disk access, or some other resource.
175 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for delivering content over a data network, comprising
a data storage device for storing content to be delivered over the data network, a server process capable of monitoring the data network for responding to a request to serve selected content over the data network, and a file system capable of communicating with the server process and capable of processing the request to identify meta-data associated with the selected content and being representative of a level of service to be provided the selected content.
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22. A method for serving streams of content at selected levels of service, comprising
listening on a data network for a request for a stream of selected content, executing a process capable of identifying a file associated with the selected content and capable of identifying meta-data associated with the file and having information representative of one of a plurality of levels of service to provide a stream of the selected content, and controlling access by a streaming server process to a system resource employed for processing the request as a function of the level of service associated with the selected content.
Specification