Close fulfillment of content requests

• US 9,538,249 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2013
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ViaSat Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ViaSat Incorporated
• Inventors: Dankberg, Mark D., Newman, Daniel M.
• Primary Examiner(s): MENDOZA, JUNIOR O
• Application Number:
  US13/890,971
• Publication Number:
  US 20140337875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,335 Days
• Field of Search: 725 32- 36
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4784 receiving rewards

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for subscriber-driven resource shifting in an attempt to maximize delivery of desirable content to subscribers while minimizing the impact of that content delivery to network infrastructure resources. When a media plan subscriber requests access to media content, and the requested object is determined not to be “watch-nowable” (e.g., it would be undesirable to deliver the object in substantially real time to the subscriber given present communications resource availability) embodiments identify a number of content objects that are presently watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber. Of those watch-nowable content objects, various techniques are presented for determining a set of alternate content objects, including those most likely to provide the subscriber with a similar level of engagement. Embodiments present those alternate content objects to the requesting subscriber as alternatives to the requested content object in exchange for a discount.

Claims

1. A method for resource shifting in a communications infrastructure having a provider-side system in communication with a plurality of subscriber-side systems, the method comprising:

receiving a first request for a content object via a requesting one of a plurality of subscriber-side systems associated with a subscriber;

determining, by a provider-side system, whether to perform resource shifting in the communications infrastructure in response to a network resource usage calculated from subscriber-side system demands;

calculating, by the provider-side system, a request engagement relationship between the requested content object and a plurality of watch-nowable content objects, wherein the watch-nowable content objects are determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber-side system as being deliverable to the requesting subscriber-side system substantially in real time according to present characteristics of a network for delivering the plurality of watch-nowable content objects, and each of at least some of the watch-nowable content objects has an associated content engagement relationship between itself and others of the plurality of watch-nowable content objects;

determining, by the provider-side system, a set of alternate content objects comprising those of the plurality of watch-nowable content objects having content engagement relationships most similar to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object; and

communicating, to the subscriber via the requesting subscriber-side system, in response to the determined network resource usage and the determined set of alternate content objects an offer of a discount in exchange for the subscriber opting for delivery of one of the set of alternate content objects instead of opting for delivery of the requested content object, the requested content object not being communicated to the requesting subscriber-side system when the offer is received;

receiving, in response to the offer, a second request from the subscriber via the requesting subscriber-side system for a selected content object, such that the selected content object is the requested content object; and

delivering the selected content object to the subscriber via the requesting subscriber-side system in response to the second request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the second request is for a selected one of the alternate content objects that is presently stored in a local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system; and

delivering the selected content object comprises delivering the selected one of the alternate content objects to the subscriber via the local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the requested content object is a watch-nowable content object,

wherein the calculating the request engagement relationship, the determining the set of alternate content objects, and the communicating the offer steps are performed only when the requested content object is not a watch-nowable content object.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the requested content object is determined to be a watch-nowable content object when a shared communications link of the network is determined to be in a state that supports substantially real-time delivery of the requested content object via the requesting subscriber-side system using opportunistic capacity of the network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the content engagement relationship associated with each watch-nowable content object is represented as a corresponding location in a multi-dimensional vector space calculated according to a set of pre-defined engagement parameters as applied to engagement characteristics associated with the requesting subscriber-side system;

calculating the request engagement relationship comprises calculating a location of the requested content object in the multi-dimensional vector space according to the set of pre-defined engagement parameters as applied to the engagement characteristics associated with the requesting subscriber-side system; and

determining the set of alternate content objects comprises determining a subset of the watch-nowable objects having corresponding locations in the multi-dimensional vector space that are closest to the calculated location of the requested content object in the multi-dimensional vector space.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the content objects are determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber-side system by determining that they are presently stored in a local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the content objects are determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber-side system by determining that a watch-now portion of a queue maintained by the provider-side system is in a state that supports present scheduling of the content objects for communication over the communications infrastructure from the watch-now portion of the queue.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the content objects are determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber-side system by:

determining that a portion of the content object is not presently stored in a local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system; and

determining that a shared communications link is in a state that supports substantially real-time delivery of the portion of the content object not presently stored in the local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the request for the content object is received by the provider-side system via the requesting subscriber-side system; and

the provider-side system performs the steps of;

determining that the requested content object is not a watch-nowable content object;

calculating the request engagement relationship; and

determining the set of alternate content objects.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein at least some of the content objects are determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber-side system by determining that they are presently stored in a local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system according to a model of the local cache maintained by the provider-side system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the request for the content object is received by a subscriber optimizer of the requesting subscriber-side system; and

the subscriber optimizer performs the steps of;

determining that the requested content object is not a watch-nowable content object; and

communicating the offer to the subscriber via the requesting subscriber-side system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the subscriber optimizer further performs the steps of:

calculating the request engagement relationship; and

determining the set of alternate content objects.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of alternate content objects comprises selecting a predetermined number of watch-nowable content objects having content engagement relationships most similar to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of alternate content objects comprises:

identifying a plurality of candidate alternate content objects as watch-nowable content objects having content engagement relationships most similar to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object;

calculating a candidate score for each candidate alternate content object according to a set of scalars; and

determining the set of alternate content objects as comprising a predetermined number of the candidate alternate content objects having highest respective candidate scores.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein each of the set of scalars is selected from the group consisting of:

a diversity scalar indicating a magnitude of diversity between a respective candidate alternate content object and others of the candidate alternate content objects;

a local availability scalar indicating an amount of the respective candidate alternate content object presently stored in a local cache of the requesting subscriber-side system; and

a promotional scalar indicating a provider-side interest in promoting the respective candidate alternate content object.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of alternate content objects comprises:

calculating a candidate score for each of a plurality of watch-nowable content objects according to a set of scalars, wherein at least a first scalar is calculated as a function of the content engagement relationship of the watch-nowable content objects and at least a second scalar is calculated not as a function of the content engagement relationship of the watch-nowable content objects; and

determining the set of alternate content objects as comprising a predetermined number of the watch-nowable content objects having highest respective candidate scores.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of alternate content objects further comprises:

identifying an additional alternate content object having a content engagement relationship that represents an outlier relative to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object and the content engagement relationships of the set of alternate content objects.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the request for the content object is received via a graphical user interface displayed on a subscriber interface device of the requesting subscriber-side system; and

the offer is communicated to the subscriber via the graphical user interface.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the offer comprises a first option for delivery of the requested content object substantially in real time for a first cost and a second option for delivery of any of the set of alternate content objects substantially in real time for a second cost, wherein the discount represents a difference between the first cost and the second cost.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein:

the offer further comprises a third option for delivery of the requested content object at a later timeframe for a third cost that is less than at least the first cost.

21. A provider-side system for resource shifting in a communications infrastructure in communication with a plurality of subscriber-side systems, the system comprising:

a provider-side subsystem that determines whether to perform resource shifting in the communications infrastructure in response to a network resource usage calculated from subscriber-side system demands;

a offer generator subsystem that;

calculates a request engagement relationship between a requested content object and a plurality of content objects determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to a requesting subscriber-side system associated with a subscriber, each of at least some of the watch-nowable content objects having an associated content engagement relationship between itself and others of the plurality of watch-nowable content objects;

determines a set of alternate content objects comprising those of the plurality of watch-nowable content objects having content engagement relationships most similar to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object; and

communicates, to the subscriber via the requesting subscriber-side system, in response to the determined network resource usage and the determined set of alternate content objects an offer of a discount in exchange for the subscriber opting for delivery of one of the set of alternate content objects instead of opting for delivery of the requested content object, the requested content object not being communicated to the requesting subscriber-side system when the offer is received,

wherein the offer generation subsystem further models the plurality of watch-nowable content objects as being within a multi-dimensional vector space wherein the content engagement relationship associated with each of the watch-nowable content objects is represented as a corresponding location in the multi-dimensional vector space calculated according to a set of pre-defined engagement parameters as applied to engagement characteristics associated with the requesting subscriber-side system, and

wherein the offer generation subsystem calculates the request engagement relationship by modeling a location of the requested content object in the multi-dimensional vector space according to the set of pre-defined engagement parameters as applied to the engagement characteristics associated with the requesting subscriber-side system.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a communications subsystem that;

receives a substitute request for a selected one of the alternate content objects from the subscriber in response to the offer; and

delivers the selected one of the alternate content objects to the subscriber via a shared communications link and the requesting subscriber-side system in response to the substitute request.

23. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a communications subsystem that;

receives a substitute request for a selected one of the alternate content objects from the subscriber in response to the offer; and

directs the requesting subscriber-side system to deliver the selected one of the alternate content objects to the subscriber from subscriber-side content storage in response to the substitute request.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the offer generation subsystem:

determines the set of alternate content objects by determining a subset of the watch-nowable objects having corresponding locations in the multi-dimensional vector space that are closest to the calculated location of the requested content object in the multi-dimensional vector space.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the offer generation subsystem determines the set of alternate content objects by:

identifying a plurality of candidate alternate content objects according to respective positions of the watch-nowable content objects and the requested content object in the multi-dimensional vector space;

calculating a candidate score for each candidate alternate content object according to a set of scalars; and

determining the set of alternate content objects to include at least a predetermined number of the candidate alternate content objects having highest respective candidate scores.

26. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a communications subsystem that;

receives a substitute request for a selected content object, such that the selected content object is the requested content object from the subscriber in response to the offer; and

delivers the selected content object to the subscriber via a shared communications link and the requesting subscriber-side system in response to the substitute request.

27. A method for resource shifting in a communications infrastructure having a provider-side system in communication with a plurality of subscriber-side systems, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a content object via a requesting one of a plurality of subscriber-side systems associated with a subscriber;

determining, by a provider-side system, whether to perform resource shifting in the communications infrastructure in response to a network resource usage calculated from subscriber-side system demands;

calculating, by the provider-system, a request engagement relationship between the requested content object and a plurality of watch-nowable content objects, wherein the watch-nowable content objects are determined to be watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber-side system, and each of at least some of the watch-nowable content objects has an associated content engagement relationship between itself and others of the plurality of watch-nowable content objects;

determining, by the provider-system, a set of alternate content objects comprising those of the plurality of watch-nowable content objects having content engagement relationships most similar to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object;

communicating, to the subscriber via the requesting subscriber-side system, in response to the determined network resource usage and the determined set of alternate content objects an offer of a discount in exchange for the subscriber opting for delivery of one of the set of alternate content objects instead of opting for delivery of the requested content object;

wherein determining the set of alternate content objects comprises;

identifying a plurality of candidate alternate content objects as watch-nowable content objects having content engagement relationships most similar to the request engagement relationship of the requested content object;

calculating a candidate score for each candidate alternate content object according to a set of scalars;

determining the set of alternate content objects as comprising a predetermined number of the those of the candidate alternate content objects having highest respective candidate scores; and

wherein each of the set of scalars includes a diversity scalar indicating a magnitude of diversity between a respective candidate alternate content object and others of the candidate alternate content objects, to ensure that the alternate content objects are not too similar.