Content Delivery in Wireless Wide Area Networks

• US 20160204990A1
• Filed: 03/21/2016
• Published: 07/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Genghiscomm Holdings, LLC, Twin Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Genghiscomm Holdings, LLC, Twin Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Shattil, Steve J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,806,953 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/70 Routing based on monitoring results
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In a content delivery network, a metrics manager processes network topology information from channel measurements collected from at least one of a digi-node field and a client field, and distributes data signals to a selected edge-server set for storage and delivery to client devices. A parent server selects the edge-server set by employing an algorithm that constructs a trellis having a number of states at least equal to a number of edge servers in the edge-server set, wherein each state comprises a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate edge servers. A trellis-exploration algorithm provides interconnects between each node of a first state to each of a plurality of nodes in a next state, and for each node in a state, selects a path corresponding to a best performance metric that connects to a node in a previous state, wherein each performance metric comprises the network topology information.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to select an edge-server set from a plurality of candidate edge servers, comprising:

a metrics manager configured to produce network topology information from channel measurements collected from at least one of a digi-node field and a client field, and to distribute data signals to the edge-server set for at least one of storage and delivery to client devices; and

a parent server configured to;

construct a trellis having a number of states at least equal to a number of edge servers in the edge-server set, wherein each state comprises a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to one of the plurality of candidate edge servers; and

employ a trellis-exploration algorithm to select the edge-server set, comprising providing interconnects between each node of a first state to each of a plurality of nodes in a next state, and for each node in a state, selecting a path corresponding to a best performance metric that connects to a node in a previous state, wherein each performance metric comprises the network topology information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the performance metric comprises channel state information from at least one of edge servers and client devices in a wireless network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the metrics manager and the parent server are configured for at least one of adapting a network topology and allocating channels to serve the client devices.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network topology information comprises at least one of estimated bit rates, link-delay information, requests for retransmission, a wireless communication channel model, congestion, queue backlogs, and latency.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network topology information comprises a statistical model of the network topology state comprising a time-average of at least one of server loads, user demands, queue backlogs, bit rates, channel quality, and geographical distributions of users.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network topology information comprises at least one of a device network topology for each of a plurality of device types and a demand topology for each of a plurality of content types.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the network topology information comprises data collected from client-side metrics managers.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the performance metric comprises monetary costs for employing at least one of the plurality of candidate edge servers.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trellis exploration algorithm accounts for allocating channels to at least one of edge servers and client devices in a wireless network.

10. An apparatus configured to employ an iterative process to select an edge-server set, comprising:

a metrics manager configured to collect network topology information from at least one of a digi-node field and a client field, and to distribute data signals to the edge-server set for at least one of storage and delivery to client devices; and

a parent server configured to;

construct a trellis having a number of states at least equal to a number of edge servers in the edge server set, wherein each state comprises a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate edge servers;

employ a trellis-exploration algorithm to select the edge-server set, comprising providing interconnects between each node of a first state to each of a plurality of nodes in a next state, and for each node in a state, selecting a path corresponding to a best performance metric that connects to a node in a previous state, wherein the best performance metric comprises a benefit minus a cost for serving the client devices; and

schedule data transmissions from the edge-server set to deliver the data signals to the client devices.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the performance metric comprises channel state information.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the trellis-exploration algorithm provides for calculating performance metrics upon adapting at least one of a network topology and a network topology state of the edge-server set.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the trellis-exploration algorithm provides for selecting channels to serve the client devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the edge-server set is selected after a predetermined number of iterations or when a predetermined criterion is met.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the edge-server set is selected based on at least one of appending and deleting at least one edge server from a previous edge-server set.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the performance metric is calculated using a backpressure routing algorithm.

17. An apparatus configured for selecting an edge-server set, comprising:

a metrics manager configured to collect network topology information from at least one of a digi-node field and a client field, and to distribute data signals to the edge-server set for at least one of storage and delivery to client devices; and

a parent server configured to;

construct a trellis having a number of states at least equal to a number of edge servers in the edge-server set, wherein each state comprises a plurality of nodes, each node corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate edge servers;

calculate a fitness function based on network performance and cost corresponding to each candidate edge server and the network topology information; and

employ a trellis-exploration algorithm to select the edge-server set by identifying a path through the trellis having optimal path metrics derived from the fitness function, comprising providing interconnects between each node of a first state to each of a plurality of nodes in a next state, and for each node in a state, selecting a path corresponding to a best path metric that connects to a node in a previous state, wherein the best path metric comprises the fitness function.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the parent server is configured to perform multiple iterations through the trellis to refine selecting the edge-server set.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the network performance comprises at least one of predicted performance and measured performance.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein path metrics comprise channel state information.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the trellis-exploration algorithm provides for adapting at least one of a network topology and a network topology state of the edge-server set.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the trellis-exploration algorithm provides for selecting channels to serve the plurality of client devices.