SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTELLIGENT VIDEO DELIVERY AND CACHE MANAGEMENT

• US 20130144979A1
• Filed: 12/02/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stammers, Timothy, Bhupalam, Bhaskar, Panda, Biswaranjan, Iyer, Jayaraman, KANSAL, Vivek
• Granted Patent: US 8,903,955 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234309 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64784 Data processing by the network data processing in packet switching systems H04L12/56; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; intermediate storage or scheduling H04L49/90; provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56

Abstract

Network operators are striving to find ways to provide stable video services amid a rapid increase in video data traffic. In order to provide stable video services with constrained network resources, network operators attempted to reduce video file sizes and to cache videos for future use. However, network operators failed to exploit user information and to leverage benefits of distributing these functionalities across the network. This disclosure provides systems and methods for efficiently delivering video and managing video caches by exploiting user information and by distributing video delivery functionalities across the network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first video request from a user equipment that includes a video identifier of a video requested by the user equipment;

identifying a network policy associated with the user equipment;

identifying video capabilities associated with the user equipment;

determining a level of adaptation for the video based on the network policy and the video capabilities associated with the user equipment;

sending a content location request to an asset information manager (AIM) that includes the video identifier of the requested video and the level of adaptation for the requested video;

receiving a content location response from the AIM that identifies a source device from which to receive the requested video adapted according to the level of adaptation;

sending a second video request to the source device that includes the video identifier and the level of adaptation to be associated with the video; and

receiving the version of the video adapted according to the level of adaptation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying video capabilities associated with the user equipment includes analyzing a user-agent field in the first video request'"'"'s header.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the network policy includes a bit rate policy associated with the user equipment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the video capabilities associated with the user equipment include a screen size of the user equipment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein if the content location response identifies the source device using <

null>

, the method further comprising identifying the source device as an online content adaptation engine.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the network policy includes receiving the network policy from a policy server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first video request and the second video request include a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) get request.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein sending the content location request to the AIM includes sending an Extensible Markup Language (XML) CRReq message to the AIM using an Mc interface, and wherein receiving the content location response from the AIM includes receiving an XML CRRsp message over an Mc interface.

9. A network device comprising:

interfaces configured to provide communication with a user equipment, an asset information manager (AIM), an online content adaptation engine (CAE), and a policy server;

a memory configured to store a module; and

a processor configure to run the module that is configured to receive a video request including a video identifier of a video requested by the user equipment, to determine a level of adaptation to be associated with the video using a network policy and video capabilities associated with the user equipment, to send a content location request to the AIM to determine a source device from which to receive a version of the video adapted according to the level of adaptation, and to receive from the source device the version of the video adapted according to the level of adaptation.

10. The network device of claim 9, wherein the module is further configured to receive from the policy server the network policy associated with the user equipment.

11. The network device of claim 9, wherein the module configured to derive the video capabilities associated with the user equipment includes a module configured to analyze a user-agent field of the video request'"'"'s header.

12. The network device of claim 9, wherein the video capabilities associated with the user equipment includes a screen size of the user equipment.

13. The network device of claim 9, wherein the module is further configured to receive a content location response from the AIM, wherein the content location response identifies the source device from which to receive the adapted version of the video.

14. The network device of claim 13, wherein if the content location response identifies the source device using <

null>

, the module further configured to identify the source device as the online CAE.

15. The network device of claim 13, wherein if the content location response identifies the source device using a uniform resource identifier (URI) format, the module further configured to send an additional video request to a service router to receive an Internet protocol (IP) address of the source device.

16. Logic encoded on one or more non-transitory media for execution and when executed operable to:

receive a first video request from a user equipment that includes a video identifier of a video requested by the user equipment;

receive a network policy associated with the user equipment;

analyze the first video request to determine video capabilities associated with the user equipment;

determine a level of adaptation for the video based on the network policy and the video capabilities associated with the user equipment;

send a content location request to an asset information manager (AIM) that includes the video identifier and the level of adaptation to be associated with the video;

receive a content location response from the AIM that identifies a source device from which to receive a version of the video adapted according to the level of adaptation;

send a second video request to the source device that includes the video identifier and the level of adaptation to be associated with the video; and

receive the version of the video adapted according to the level of adaptation.

17. The logic of claim 16, if the content location response identifies the source device using <

null>

, the logic further operable to identify the source device as an online content adaptation engine.

18. The logic of claim 16, if the content location response identifies the source device in a uniform resource identifier (URI) format, the logic further operable to send a third video request to a service router to receive an Internet protocol (IP) address of the source device.

19. The logic of claim 16, wherein the logic operable to analyze the first video request to determine the video capabilities includes the logic operable to analyze a user-agent field of the first video request'"'"'s header.

20. The logic of claim 16, wherein the video capabilities associated with the user equipment includes a screen size of the user equipment.