Peer-to-peer video on demand techniques

• US 9,736,539 B2
• Filed: 08/29/2016
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hainline, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Dubasky, Gigi L
• Application Number:
  US15/250,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20160373822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 351 Days
• 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 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44245 Monitoring the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. its availability, bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4788 communicating with other users, e.g. chatting arrangements for providing for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms, to substation in data switching networks H04L12/1813; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• 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 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Techniques for delivering video content are provided. A video distribution service maintains associations of viewer devices that have portions of specific items of video content. As new viewer devices, which lack the specific video content, make requests for the specific items of video content from the video distribution system, the video distribution system identifies a viewer device from which a portion of the item of video content may be acquired. Viewer devices having the requested content are identified by comparing distances between the locations of the requestor device and the other viewer devices of the plurality of viewers to a distance threshold. The first portion of a first item of video content is obtained from a source viewer device and a second portion of the first item of video content is obtained from the video distribution system. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a processing system including a processor, a geographical location of a requestor device requesting a first item of video content;

searching, by the processing system, an index of equipment of a plurality of viewers to identify equipment of a viewer storing a first portion of the first item of video content, wherein a transfer of the first portion of the first item of video content from a video distribution system to the equipment of the viewer is not based on a request from the requestor device, and wherein the index of the equipment of the plurality of viewers comprises indications of geographical locations of the equipment of the plurality of viewers and indications of a plurality of items of video content stored thereon;

determining, by the processing system, a distance between the geographical location of the requestor device and a geographical location of the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content;

comparing, by the processing system, the distance to a distance threshold to obtain a distance comparison;

facilitating, by the processing system, access by the requestor device to the first portion of the first item of video content from the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content based on a presentation of an access key by the requestor device and on the distance comparison;

facilitating, by the processing system, access by the requestor device to a second portion of the first item of video content from the video distribution system; and

facilitating, by the processing system, removal of the first item of video content, in response to a policy evaluation, from the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video content.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising facilitating, by the processing system, a peer-to-peer connection between the requestor device and the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content to deliver the first portion of the first item of video content to the requestor device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the geographical location of the requestor device is based on a billing address of the requestor device, the method further comprising recording, by the processing system, a billing event for the requestor device responsive to the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video content reporting that the first item of video content was delivered to the requestor device.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising encrypting, by the processing system, the first item of video content, wherein access to play the first item of video content is enabled by way of the access key, wherein the access key is distributed by the processing system to the requestor device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the access key facilitates access to a service of the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content, and wherein the transfer of the first portion of the first item of video content comprises pre-selecting, by the processing system, the equipment of the viewer of the plurality of viewers responsive to the first portion of the first item of video content becoming available, wherein the pre-selecting occurs before the first portion of the first item of video content is available.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein presence of the first portion of the first item of video content at the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content is unbeknownst to the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content, and wherein a license key for playing the first item of video content is not present at the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content.

7. The method of claim 1, comprising selecting, by the processing system, the equipment of the plurality of viewers in response to the geographical location of the requestor device and geographic profile information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the processing system, the access key to the requestor device,

wherein the access key permits the requestor device to directly connect to peer-to-peer communication services of the equipment of the viewer storing the first item of video content.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:

determining a location of a requestor device requesting a first item of video content;

searching, by the processing system, an index of equipment of a plurality of viewers to identify equipment of a viewer storing a first portion of the first item of video content, wherein a transfer of the first portion of the first item of video content from a video distribution system to the equipment of the viewer is not based on a request from the requestor device;

determining a distance between the location of the requestor device and a location of the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content;

comparing the distance to a threshold to obtain a distance comparison;

facilitating access by the requestor device to the first portion of the first item of video content from the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content based on a presentation of an access key by the requestor device and on the distance comparison;

facilitating access by the requestor device to a second portion of the first item of video content from the video distribution system; and

facilitating removal of the first portion of the first item of video content, in response to a policy evaluation, from the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

facilitating a peer-to-peer connection between the requestor device and the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content to deliver the first portion of the first item of video content to the requestor device.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the determining of the location of the requestor device is based on a billing address of the requestor device, and wherein the operations further comprise recording a billing event for the requestor device responsive to the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content reporting that the first portion of the first item of video content was delivered to the requestor device.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

encrypting the first portion of the first item of video content, wherein access to play the first portion of the first item of video content is enabled by way of the access key, wherein the access key is distributed by the processing system to the requestor device.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the access key facilitates access to a service of the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content, and wherein the transfer of the first portion of the first item of video content comprises pre-selecting, by the processing system, the equipment of the viewer of the plurality of viewers responsive to the first portion of the first item of video content becoming available, wherein the pre-selecting occurs before the first portion of the first item of video content is available.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein presence of the first portion of the first item of video content at the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content is unbeknownst to the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content, and wherein a license key for playing the first item of video content is not present at the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content.

15. A device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations comprising;

searching an index of equipment of a plurality of viewers to identify equipment of a viewer storing a first portion of a video content item requested by a requestor device, wherein a transfer of the first portion of the video content item from a video distribution system to the equipment of the viewer is not based on a request from the requestor device;

determining a physical proximity between the requestor device and the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item;

comparing the physical proximity to a threshold to obtain a comparison;

facilitating access by the requestor device to the first portion of the video content item from the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item based on a presentation of an access key by the requestor device and on the comparison;

facilitating access by the requestor device to a second portion of the video content item from the video distribution system; and

facilitating removal of the first portion of the video content item, in response to a policy evaluation, from the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item.

16. The device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

facilitating a peer-to-peer connection between the requestor device and the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item to deliver the first portion of the video content item to the requestor device.

17. The device of claim 15, wherein the determining of the physical proximity between the requestor device is based on a billing address of the requestor device, and wherein the operations further comprise recording a billing event for the requestor device responsive to the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item reporting that the first portion of the video content item was delivered to the requestor device.

18. The device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

encrypting the first portion of the video content item, wherein access to play the first portion of the video content item is enabled by way of the access key, wherein the access key is distributed by the processing system to the requestor device.

19. The device of claim 18, wherein the access key facilitates access to a service of the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item, and wherein the transfer of the first portion of the video content item comprises pre-selecting, by the processing system, the equipment of the viewer of the plurality of viewers responsive to the first portion of the video content item becoming available, wherein the pre-selecting occurs before the first portion of the video content item is available.

20. The device of claim 15, wherein presence of the first portion of the video content item at the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item is unbeknownst to the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the video content item, and wherein a license key for playing the first video content item is not present at the equipment of the viewer storing the first portion of the first item of video content.