System and method for minimizing network bandwidth retrieved from an external network

• US 9,344,496 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2014
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Hurst, Mark B., Larson, Loren, Anderson, David S., Wang, Lei
• Primary Examiner(s): Ibrahim, Mohamed
• Application Number:
  US14/531,804
• Publication Number:
  US 20150058496A1
• Time in Patent Office: 561 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1076 Resource dissemination mechanisms or network resource keeping policies for optimal resource availability in the overlay network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• 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 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440227 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 : Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

A system and method are provided of minimizing network bandwidth used from an external network by client peers in a local network. The method can include the operation of organizing a plurality of clients each having media streamlets and a client parent in a structure within the local network. Mapping information propagates through the structure. The mapping information represents local streamlet locations as stored by the plurality of clients. Another operation is retrieving a local streamlet from a client identified in the mapping information as having the local streamlet for the requesting client.

Claims

1. A method executable a client device operating as one of a plurality of clients during streaming of a media stream made up of a series of media segments available from an external server, the method comprising:

obtaining at least one media segment from the external server by the client device; and

sharing segment mapping information with at least one other of the plurality of clients, the segment mapping information comprising an address of the at least one media segment that is usable by the other clients to obtain the at least one media segment from the client device.

2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising:

the client device receiving additional segment mapping information from other ones of the plurality of clients; and

during playback of the media stream by the client device, the client device retrieving additional media segments of the media stream from the other clients using the additional segment mapping information.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein the plurality of clients is linked in a hierarchical structure.

4. The method as in claim 3, further comprising creating a defined number of tokens for a first client that joins the hierarchal structure.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein the creating a defined number of tokens comprises creating the defined number of tokens based on a maximum number of mapping information exchange connections that are supportable.

6. A method as in claim 2 wherein the retrieving comprises obtaining the additional media segments from the other clients if the additional media segments are available from the other clients, and otherwise obtaining the additional media segments from the external server.

7. A method as in claim 2 wherein the retrieving comprises retrieving the additional segments from the other client instead of the external server to thereby reduce consumption of network bandwidth.

8. A method as in claim 2 wherein the plurality of clients is linked in a ring structure.

9. A method as in claim 2, wherein the sharing comprises distributing segment mapping information that includes the segment mapping for the replying client and additional segment mapping information received from other linked clients.

10. A method as in claim 2, further comprising the client device applying a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining the at least one media segment for media playback, and wherein the network priorities define the ordering in which segments at defined qualities should be retrieved from clients on the local network and servers on external networks.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising the client device requesting the segment of the media stream from the external server via the internet when the local segment is not available in the mapping information.

12. A client device configured to operate as one of a plurality of clients in a local area network, the client device comprising a processor, memory and an interface to the local area network, wherein the client device is configured to obtain and playback a media stream made up of a series of media segments that are each made available from an external server by:

obtaining at least one media segment from the external server by the client device; and

sharing segment mapping information with at least one other of the plurality of clients, the segment mapping information comprising an address of the at least one media segment that is usable by the other clients to obtain the at least one media segment from the client device.

13. The client device of claim 12, wherein the client device is further configured to obtain additional segment mapping information from other ones of the plurality of clients and to retrieve additional media segments of the media stream from the other clients using the additional segment mapping information during playback of the media stream by the client device.

14. The client device of claim 13, wherein the client device is further configured to obtain the additional media segments from the other clients if the additional media segments are available from the other clients, and to otherwise obtain the additional media segments from the external server.

15. The client device of claim 13, wherein the client device is further configured to retrieve the additional segments form the other client instead of the external server to thereby reduce consumption of network bandwidth.

16. The client device of claim 13 wherein the client device further applies a priority policy rule defining segment quality priorities and network priorities that are used when obtaining media streamlets for media playback, wherein the segment quality priorities consider the particular quality of each segment.

17. The client device of claim 12 wherein each segment is an individually-addressable data file containing an identifiable portion of the media stream having a particular quality.