SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR RECONSTRUCTABLE ALL-IN-ONE CONTENT SYSTEM

• US 20160057190A1
• Filed: 08/19/2014
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Palo Alto Research Center, Inc. (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Mosko, Marc E., Solis, Ignacio
• Granted Patent: US 9,467,492 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• 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 21/26603 for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques

Abstract

One embodiment provides a system for assembling a reconstructable content stream. The system obtains a content collection that includes a plurality of content components and generates a manifest. An entry in the manifest corresponds to a content component. The system obtains a set of stream-construction rules, generates a stream-construction manifest by attaching the set of stream-construction rules to the manifest, and constructs a set of stream objects based on the stream-construction rules. A respective stream object may include an embedded chunk of a content component. The system signs the set of stream objects and assembles the reconstructable content stream by including the stream-construction manifest followed by the set of stream objects, thereby enabling an intermediate node to extract and store one or more content components and to reconstruct, at a later time, stream objects for the one or more content components based on the stream-construction manifest and the stored components.

Claims

1. A computer-executable method for assembling a reconstructable content stream and delivering the reconstructable content stream over a network, comprising:

obtaining, by a computer, a content collection that includes a plurality of content components;

generating a manifest for the content collection, wherein a respective entry in the manifest corresponds to a content component;

obtaining a set of stream-construction rules;

generating a stream-construction manifest by attaching the set of stream-construction rules to the manifest;

constructing a set of stream objects for the content collection based on the set of stream-construction rules, wherein a respective stream object may include an embedded chunk of a content component;

cryptographically signing the set of stream objects; and

assembling the reconstructable content stream by including the stream-construction manifest followed by the set of stream objects, thereby enabling an intermediate node in the network to extract and store embedded chunks of one or more content components and to reconstruct, at a later time, stream objects for the one or more content components based on the stream-construction manifest and the stored embedded chunks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of stream-construction rules includes one or more of:

a rule that defines a naming convention for the set of stream objects;

a rule that specifies a signing key; and

a rule that specifies whether to include cryptographic signatures for the set of stream objects in the stream-construction manifest.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a respective content component includes multiple chunks spanning multiple stream objects, and a corresponding entry in the manifest lists hash values of the multiple chunks embedded in the multiple stream objects.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the stream-construction manifest further comprises a cryptographic signature generated over the stream-construction manifest, thereby enabling a recipient of a stream object to authenticate the set of stream objects based on the cryptographic signature.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a content-centric network, and wherein the stream objects are standard CCN Content Objects.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform a method for assembling a reconstructable content stream and delivering the reconstructable content stream over a network, the method comprising:

obtaining a content collection that includes a plurality of content components;

generating a manifest for the content collection, wherein a respective entry in the manifest corresponds to a content component;

obtaining a set of stream-construction rules;

generating a stream-construction manifest by attaching the set of stream-construction rules to the manifest;

constructing a set of stream objects for the content collection based on the set of stream-construction rules, wherein a respective stream object may include an embedded chunk of a content component;

cryptographically signing the set of stream objects; and

assembling the reconstructable content stream by including the stream-construction manifest followed by the set of stream objects, thereby enabling an intermediate node in the network to extract and store embedded chunks of one or more content components and to reconstruct, at a later time, stream objects for the one or more content components based on the stream-construction manifest and the stored embedded chunks.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the set of stream-construction rules includes one or more of:

a rule that defines a naming convention for the set of stream objects;

a rule that specifies a signing key; and

a rule that specifies whether to include cryptographic signatures for the set of stream objects in the stream-construction manifest.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein a respective content component includes multiple chunks spanning multiple stream objects, and a corresponding entry in the manifest lists hash values of the multiple chunks embedded in the multiple stream objects.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the stream-construction manifest further comprises a cryptographic signature generated over the stream-construction manifest, thereby enabling a recipient of a stream object to authenticate the set of stream objects based on the cryptographic signature.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the network is a content-centric network, and wherein the objects are standard CCN Content Objects.

11. A computer-implemented method for reconstructing one or more stream objects that belong to a content stream for downloading a content collection, comprising:

receiving, by a computer, from a provider of the content collection, an initial set of stream objects of the content stream, wherein the initial set of stream objects includes a stream-construction manifest, wherein the stream-construction manifest includes a set of stream-construction rules and a set of entries corresponding to content components in the content collection;

in response to determining that a content component included in the content collection exists in a local cache, reconstructing one or more stream objects for the content component based on the set of stream-construction rules; and

inserting the reconstructed one or more stream objects into the content stream.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the set of stream-construction rules includes one or more of:

a rule that defines a naming convention for the set of stream objects;

a rule that specifies a signing key; and

a rule that specifies whether to include cryptographic signatures for the set of stream objects in the stream-construction manifest.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

extracting a global unique identifier (GUID) for the content stream from a foremost stream object in the initial set of stream objects;

in response to determining that the local cache stores a copy of the stream-construction manifest based on the extracted GUID, reconstructing a copy of the entire content stream using content components stored in the local cache; and

delivering the copy of the entire content stream to a requester of the content stream.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein a respective entry in the stream-construction manifest corresponds to a content component spanning multiple stream objects, wherein the entry lists hash values of multiple chunks embedded in the multiple stream objects.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the stream-construction manifest further comprises a cryptographic signature generated over the stream-construction manifest, thereby enabling a recipient of a stream object to authenticate the set of stream objects based on the cryptographic signature.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the network is a content-centric network, and wherein the objects are standard CCN Content Objects.

17. A computer system for reconstructing one or more stream objects that belong to a content stream for downloading a content collection, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a storage device coupled to the processor and storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising;

receiving, by a computer, from a provider of the content collection, an initial set of stream objects of the content stream, wherein the initial set of stream objects includes a stream-construction manifest, wherein the stream-construction manifest includes a set of stream-construction rules and a set of entries corresponding to content components in the content collection;

in response to determining that a content component included in the content collection exists in a local cache, reconstructing one or more stream objects for the content component based on the set of stream-construction rules; and

inserting the reconstructed one or more stream objects into the content stream.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the set of stream-construction rules includes one or more of:

a rule that defines a naming convention for the set of stream objects;

a rule that specifies a signing key; and

a rule that specifies whether to include cryptographic signatures for the set of stream objects in the stream-construction manifest.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

extracting a global unique identifier (GUID) for the content stream from a foremost stream object in the initial set of stream objects;

in response to determining that the local cache stores a copy of the stream-construction manifest based on the extracted GUID, reconstructing a copy of the entire content stream using content components stored in the local cache; and

delivering the copy of the entire content stream to a requester of the content stream.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein a respective entry in the stream-construction manifest corresponds to a content component spanning multiple stream objects, wherein the entry lists hash values of multiple chunks embedded in the multiple stream objects.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the stream-construction manifest further comprises a cryptographic signature generated over the stream-construction manifest, thereby enabling a recipient of a stream object to authenticate the set of stream objects based on the cryptographic signature.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the network is a content-centric network, and wherein the objects are standard CCN Content Objects.