Multicast overlay network for delivery of real-time video

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10951672-B2
Application number	US-202016747267-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2020
Priority date	Dec 30, 2016
Publication date	Mar 16, 2021
Grant date	Mar 16, 2021

Abstract

A method of multicasting real-time video is described. The method begins by establishing a multicast network of machines capable of ingress, forwarding and broadcasting traffic, together with a mapping infrastructure. The multicast network preferably comprises a portion of an overlay network, such as a content delivery network (CDN). A video stream is published to the multicast network by (a) using the mapping infrastructure to find an ingress node in the multicast network, and then receiving the video stream from a publisher at the ingress node. One or more subscribers then subscribe to the video stream. In particular, and for subscriber, this subscription is carried out by (a) using the mapping infrastructure to find an egress node for the requesting client, and then delivering the video stream to the subscriber from the egress node. Preferably, the publisher and each subscriber use WebRTC to publish or consume the video stream, and video stream is consumed in a videoconference.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of multicasting over a multicast network of machines providing ingress and broadcast, the multicast network associated with an overlay network, the method comprising:
receiving a data stream at an ingress node of the multicast network, the ingress node having been identified as having sufficient bandwidth and processing capability, and by being in network proximity to a publisher of the data stream;
responsive to resolution of name requests associated with the data stream, associating a set of client machines to the data stream by identifying, for each client machine, an appropriate egress node of the multicast network, at least one egress node being distinct from the ingress node; and
delivering the data steam to a respective client machine of the set of client machines from its identified egress node;
wherein the set of client machines participate in a collaboration session with respect to the data stream.

2. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the data stream is a video stream.

3. The method as described in claim 2 wherein the video stream is received at the ingress node using Web Real Time Communications (WebRTC) protocol.

4. The method as described in claim 3 wherein the respective client machine consumes the video stream via WebRTC.

5. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the collaboration session has an associated chat session.

6. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the collaboration session has an associated document share.

7. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the collaboration session has an associated desktop share.

8. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the collaboration session is a video conference among users of the set of client machines.

9. The method as described in claim 3 wherein the ingress and egress nodes handle WebRTC PeerConnections, and each client machine has an individual WebRTC PeerConnection to an individual egress node.

10. The method as described in claim 1 wherein the multicast network is part of the overlay network.

11. The method as described in claim 10 wherein the overlay network is a content delivery network (CDN).

12. The method as described in claim 1 wherein each client machine maintains a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection or Unigram Data Protocol (UDP) session with its respective egress node.

13. The method as described in claim 1 wherein an egress node is located in a same network as a network used by the client machine, and wherein the network supports multicast.

14. The method as described in claim 1 wherein an anycast Internet Protocol (IP) address is provided to any client machine that subscribes to consume the data stream.

15. The method as described in claim 1 further including building a fan-out tree of nodes between the ingress node and the identified egress nodes, and forwarding the data stream within the multicast network over the fan-out tree.

Assignees

• Akamai Tech Inc

Inventors

• Gero Charles E
• Lohner Martin
• Mehta Abhijit C
• Williams Brandon O

Classifications

• H04L67/1074 Primary

  for supporting data block transmission mechanisms (file transfer H04L67/06) · CPC title

• H04L65/65

  Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP] · CPC title

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title

• H04L65/611 Primary

  for multicast or broadcast (systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06) · CPC title

• H04L65/403

  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 title