Hybrid video selection, delivery, and caching

• US 9,438,935 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2010
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: McDysan, David E., O'Callaghan, Daniel J., Leiden, Stevan H., Pasko, Douglas M., Rathke, John E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pendleton, Brian T
• Assistant Examiner(s): LUONG, ALAN H
• Application Number:
  US12/953,238
• Publication Number:
  US 20120131622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,114 Days
• Field of Search: 725/93, 725/95, 725/97, 455405-408
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 21/23113 involving housekeeping operations for stored content, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; snloading stored programs G06F9/445; housekeeping operations in file systems, e.g. deletion policies G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• 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 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6408 Unicasting

Abstract

One or more devices, in a video content delivery network, store video content for one or more customer premise devices in a hierarchical storage, and provide real time video content from the hierarchical storage, via multicast or unicast, to the one or more customer premise devices. The one or more devices also provide non-real time video content from the hierarchical storage to the one or more customer premise devices during idle time periods associated with the network. The one or more devices further establish a license with the one or more customer premise devices to view video content in multiple formats, and establish a license with the one or more customer premise devices to view video content via multiple customer premise devices.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices in a network that delivers media content, the method comprising:

storing, in a set of queues of the one or more computing devices, multiple types of video content for delivery to one or more customer devices associated with a subscriber, in a hierarchical storage, the video content corresponding to a highest level of relative popularity in a video serving office (VSO), the video content corresponding to an intermediary level of relative popularity in a video hub office (VHO), and the video content corresponding to a lowest level of relative popularity in customer premises equipment (CPE) of the network, based on corresponding priorities;

receiving, by a first scheduler of the one or more computing devices, real time video content from the hierarchical storage corresponding to the subscriber based on the corresponding priorities, and scheduling delivery of the real time video content to the one or more customer devices;

retrieving, by the first scheduler of the one or more computing devices, non-real time video content from the hierarchical storage corresponding to the subscriber based on the corresponding priorities, and scheduling delivery of the non-real time video content to the one or more customer devices during idle time periods associated with the network;

forwarding, by a second scheduler of the one or more computing devices, each of the scheduled video content from the first scheduler to the one or more customer devices, and other scheduled video content from another hierarchical storage corresponding to another subscriber, based on a schedule determined by the second scheduler;

exchanging, between at least one of the one or more computing devices and the one or more customer devices, a license related to the delivery of a particular video content of the stored video content in multiple formats or via multiple customer devices associated with the subscriber;

receiving, from a particular customer device of the one or more customer devices, a request for switching the delivery of the particular video content from;

a first one of the multiple formats to a second one of the multiple formats, or

the particular customer device to another customer device of the one or more customer devices; and

delivering, responsive to the request and based on the exchanged license, the particular video content to the particular customer device in the second format or to the other customer device, wherein delivering the particular video content comprises the delivery of the non-real time video content and includes;

receiving congestion feedback information associated with the network,

determining a schedule for the delivery of the non-real time video content based on the congestion feedback information, and

delivering the non-real time video content to the one or more customer devices based on the determined schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more computing devices are provided in one or more of:

a super head end (SHE) of the network,

the VHO of the network,

the VSO of the network, or

the CPE of the network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering the particular video content comprises the delivery of the real time video content and includes:

providing Internet protocol television (IPTV) content, via multicast, to the one or more customer devices; and

providing video on demand (VOD) content, via unicast, to the one or more customer devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the IPTV content includes:

receiving requests for the same IPTV content from different customer premises associated with different subscribers in the network;

batching the requests for the same IPTV content into a single request; and

providing, based on the single request, the same IPTV content to the different customer premises at the same time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing broadcast television content at the VSO of the network;

storing Internet protocol television (IPTV) content and video on demand (VOD) content at the VHO of the network; and

storing the non-real time video content at the one or more customer devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein

receiving congestion feedback information includes receiving congestion feedback information based on a pre-congestion notification (PCN) method, wherein the PCN method includes:

configuring PCN threshold rates on edge and backbone links in a trusted domain,

comparing actual packet rates to the to the PCN threshold rates, and

marking packets that exceed the PCN threshold rates.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving congestion feedback information includes:

receiving congestion feedback information based on a low extra delay background transport (ledbat) method.

8. The method of claim 1, where the non-real time video content includes one or more of:

over the top (OTT) video content,

Internet protocol (IP) unicast video content,

pre-recorded video content,

previous television episodes, or

advertisements.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving congestion feedback information includes:

receiving congestion feedback information based on a re-inserted feedback explicit congestion notification (re-ECN) method, wherein the re-ECN method includes;

configuring congestion notification threshold rates on edge and backbone links in a non-trusted domain,

comparing actual packet rates to the to the congestion notification threshold rates, and

marking packets that exceed the congestion notification threshold rates.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving congestion feedback information includes:

receiving congestion feedback information based on an explicit congestion notification (ECN) method, wherein the ECN method includes;

negotiating the ECN at endpoints of the network,

setting an IP header bit in a packet as an indication of a beginning of the congestion, and

forwarding the indication to the second scheduler.

9. One or more computing devices provided in a network that delivers media content, wherein at least one of the one or more computing devices is configured to:

cache, at a set of queues, multiple types of video content, for delivery to one or more customer devices associated with a subscriber, in a hierarchical storage, the video content corresponding to a highest level of relative popularity in a video serving office (VSO), the video content corresponding to an intermediary level of relative popularity in a video hub office (VHO), and the video content corresponding to a lowest level of relative popularity in customer premises equipment (CPE) of the network, based on corresponding priorities;

schedule, at a first scheduler, dequeuing of real time video content from the hierarchical storage corresponding to the subscriber based on the corresponding priorities, for providing to a second scheduler of the one or more computing devices;

schedule, at the first scheduler, dequeuing of non-real time video content from the hierarchical storage corresponding to the subscriber based on the corresponding priorities, and for providing to the second scheduler of the one or more computing devices;

forward, from the second scheduler, each of the dequeued video content from the first scheduler to the one or more customer devices, and other dequeued video content from another hierarchical storage corresponding to another subscriber, based on a schedule determined by the second scheduler;

exchange a first license, with the one or more customer devices, related to the delivery of a first particular video content of the cached video content in a plurality of desired formats;

exchange a second license, with the one or more customer devices, related to the delivery of a second particular video content of the cached video content via multiple customer devices associated with the subscriber;

receive, from a particular customer device of the one or more customer devices, a request for switching the delivery of;

the first particular video content from a first format to one of the desired formats, or

the second particular video content from the particular customer device to another customer device of the one or more customer devices; and

deliver, responsive to the request and based on the first or second license, the first particular video content to the particular customer device in the desired format or the second particular video content to the other customer device.

10. The one or more computing devices of claim 9, wherein the one or more computing devices are provided in:

the VHO of the network, and

the VSO of the network.

11. The one or more computing devices of claim 9, where the real time video content includes one or more of:

broadcast television content,

Internet protocol television (IPTV) content, or

video on demand (VOD) content.

12. The one or more computing devices of claim 9, where the non-real time video content includes one or more of:

over the top (OTT) video content,

Internet protocol (IP) unicast video content,

pre-recorded video content,

previous television episodes, or

advertisements.

13. The one or more computing devices of claim 9, wherein, when scheduling the dequeuing of the real time video content, at least one of the one or more computing devices is further configured to:

receive requests for the same real time video content from different customer premises associated with different subscribers in the network;

batch the requests for the same real time video content into a single request; and

provide, based on the single request, the same real time video content to the different customer premises at the same time.

14. The one or more computing devices of claim 9, wherein at least one of the one or more computing devices is further configured to:

store broadcast television content at the VSO of the network;

store Internet protocol television (IPTV) content and video on demand (VOD) content at the VHO of the network; and

store the non-real time video content at the one or more customer devices.

15. The one or more computing devices of claim 9, wherein, when forwarding the non-real time video content, the second scheduler is further configured to:

receive congestion feedback information associated with the network;

determine a schedule for the delivery of the non-real time video content based on the congestion feedback information; and

deliver the non-real time video content to the one or more customer devices based on the determined schedule.

16. The one or more computing devices of claim 15, where the congestion feedback information is provided via one or more of:

an explicit congestion notification (ECN) method,

a pre-congestion notification (PCN) method,

a re-inserted feedback explicit congestion notification (ECN) method, or

a low extra delay background transport (ledbat) method.

17. A system, comprising:

one or more devices, including;

a set of queues for prioritizing queuing of multiple types of video content, for delivery to one or more customer devices associated with a delivery point associated with a network for delivering the video content, in a first hierarchical storage, the video content corresponding to a highest level of relative popularity in a video serving office (VSO), the video content corresponding to an intermediary level of relative popularity in a video hub office (VHO), and the video content corresponding to a lowest level of relative popularity in customer premises equipment (CPE) of the network, corresponding to the delivery point, based on a corresponding priority associated with a respective type of the video content,

a first scheduler to;

schedule dequeuing of real time video content from the first hierarchical storage corresponding to the delivery point based on the relative priority, for provision to a second scheduler of the one or more devices, and

schedule dequeuing of non-real time video content from the first hierarchical storage corresponding to the delivery point based on the relative priority, and for provision to the second scheduler, and

the second scheduler, to forward each of the dequeued video content from the first scheduler to the one or more customer devices, and other dequeued video content from a second hierarchical storage corresponding to another delivery point, based on a schedule determined by the second scheduler.