UTILITY-BASED MODEL FOR CACHING PROGRAMS IN A CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK

• US 20130145001A1
• Filed: 12/01/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Qian, Yuhui, Yao, Xuefeng, Jin, Zhiying, Hao, Jack Jianxiu
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• 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 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

Methods, devices, and storage media for receiving one or more utility preferences that indicate one or more criteria for measuring one or more utilities of programs; calculating utility solutions for the programs based on the one or more utility preferences; selecting one or more programs to store for at least one of downloading or streaming based on the utility solutions; and storing the one or more programs for downloading or streaming to users.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a network device, one or more utility preferences that indicate one or more criteria for measuring one or more utilities of programs;

calculating, by the network device, utility solutions for the programs based on the one or more utility preferences;

selecting, by the network device, one or more programs to store for at least one of downloading or streaming based on the utility solutions; and

storing the one or more programs.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more weights for the one or more utility preferences, and wherein the calculating comprises;

calculating the utility solutions for the programs based on the one or more weights for the one or more utility preferences.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting statistical information pertaining to the programs, and wherein the calculating comprises;

calculating the utility solutions based on the statistical information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more utility preferences includes at least one of previous access history pertaining to the programs or bitrates of the programs.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing hard constraint information, and wherein the selecting comprises;

selecting the one or more programs to store for at least one of downloading or streaming based on the utility solutions and the hard constraint information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to another device, an update program request that identifies the programs to be stored.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating comprises:

applying one or more heuristics that reduce a time constraint for selecting the one or more programs.

8. A device comprising:

a communication interface;

one or more memories that store instructions; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions to;

receive one or more utility preferences that indicate one or more criteria for measuring one or more utilities of programs;

calculate utility solutions for the programs based on the one or more utility preferences; and

select one or more programs to store for at least one of downloading or streaming based on the utility solutions.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

receive one or more weights for the one or more utility preferences, and wherein the calculating comprises;

calculate the utility solutions for the programs based on the one or more weights for the one or more utility preferences.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

store hard constraint information;

determine whether any of the selected one or more programs will cause a violation of the hard constraint information; and

remove any of the selected one or more programs in response to a determination that any of the selected one or more programs will cause a violation of the hard constraint information.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

receive statistical information pertaining to the programs, and wherein when calculating, the one or more processors further execute the instructions to;

calculate the utility solutions based on the statistical information.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

transmit a message to another device that stores the one or more programs, wherein the messages indicates the selected one or more programs.

13. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

store the one or more programs;

receive user requests for the at least one of downloading or streaming of programs; and

download or stream programs to users in response to the user requests.

14. The device of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

store user preference information pertaining to users that at least one of download or stream programs, and wherein when selecting the one or more programs, the one or more processors further execute the instructions to;

select the one or more programs based on the user preference information.

15. The device of claim 8, wherein the device includes an edge server of a content delivery network or an edge server controller of a content delivery network.

16. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by a computational device to:

receive one or more utility preferences that indicate one or more criteria for measuring one or more utilities of programs;

calculate a utility solution for each program based on the one or more utility preferences;

compare the calculated utility solutions;

determine a set of programs having a higher utility relative to other programs in response to comparisons; and

select one or more programs to store for at least one of downloading or streaming based on the utility solutions.

17. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, further storing instructions executable by the computational device to:

receive one or more weights for the one or more utility preferences, and wherein the calculating comprises;

calculate the utility solutions for the programs based on the one or more weights for the one or more utility preferences.

18. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, further storing instructions executable by the computational device to:

determine whether any of the selected one or more programs will cause a violation of constraint information; and

remove any of the selected one or more programs in response to a determination that any of the selected one or more programs will cause a violation of the constraint information.

19. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, further storing instructions executable by the computational device to:

select the one or more programs based on user preference information pertaining to users that at least one of download or stream programs.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 16, further storing instructions executable by the computational device to:

update programs stored based on the selected one or more programs.