Opportunistic delivery of cacheable content in a communications network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12192118-B2
Application number	US-202318448076-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2023
Priority date	Jun 15, 2012
Publication date	Jan 7, 2025
Grant date	Jan 7, 2025

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for using opportunistically delayed delivery of content to address sub-optimal bandwidth resource usage in network infrastructures that allow subscribers to share forward link resources. According to some embodiments, content is identified as delayable and assigned to a delaycast queue and/or service flow. For example, a server system of a satellite communications system identifies content that can be delayed to exploit future excess link capacity through multicasting and to exploit subscriber-side storage resources. Some implementations attempt to exploit any excess link resources at any time, while others exploit unused bandwidth only during certain times or when a certain threshold of resources is available. Various embodiments also provide content scoring and/or other prioritization techniques for optimizing exploitation of the delaycast queue.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method for providing content to a user system in a communications infrastructure, the method comprising:
receiving a request for the content;
determining that the content is not fully cached in storage at the user system;
comparing a bandwidth requirement for delivery of an un-cached portion of the content to a presently available bandwidth of a communications link of the communications infrastructure;
determining the bandwidth requirement for delivery of the un-cached portion is greater than the presently available bandwidth; and
presenting to a user of the user system a first option to deliver the content in real-time using provisioned bandwidth of the user system and a second option to delay delivery of the content.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
delivering the content to the user system in real-time in response to selection of the first option.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the delivering the content in real-time comprises partially fulfilling the request locally with a cached portion of the content from the storage at the user system and requesting the un-cached portion of the content over the communications infrastructure.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the un-cached portion of the content is contained in a multicast communication to a requesting user system and at least one non-requesting user system.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
delivering the content to the user system once unused bandwidth sufficient to meet the bandwidth requirement for delivery becomes available in response to selection of the second option.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
attributing first network usage for delivery of the content in real-time to the user system in response to selection of the first option or second network usage for delayed delivery of the content to the user system in response to selection of the second option;
wherein the first network usage is greater than the second network usage.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first network usage or the second network usage is attributed to a fair access policy of the user system.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second network usage does not attribute to the fair access policy of the user system.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
fulfilling the request for the content by providing the content from the storage to a customer premise equipment (CPE) if the content is fully cached in the storage.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
delivering the un-cached portion of the content to a requesting user system using the presently available bandwidth if the bandwidth requirement for delivery of the un-cached portion is less than the presently available bandwidth.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the un-cached portion of the content is provided in a multicast communication to the requesting user system and at least one non-requesting user system.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the communications link comprises a shared communications link servicing a plurality of user systems.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the communications infrastructure comprises a satellite communications system, and the shared communications link comprises a satellite link.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the shared communication link comprises a satellite spot beam.

15. A system for providing content to a user system in a communications infrastructure, the system comprising:
an optimizer of the communications infrastructure that is configured to:
receive a request for the content;
determine a cache status of the content in storage at the user system;
if the content is fully cached in the storage at the user system, instruct the user system to locally fulfill the request for the content by providing the content from the storage to a customer premise equipment (CPE);
if the content is not fully cached in the storage at the user system, compare a bandwidth requirement for delivery of an un-cached portion of the content to a presently available bandwidth of a communications link of the communications infrastructure;
if the bandwidth requirement for delivery of the un-cached portion is less than the presently available bandwidth, deliver the un-cached portion of the content to the user system using the presently available bandwidth; and
if the bandwidth requirement for delivery of the un-cached portion is greater than the presently available bandwidth, present to a user of the user system a first option to deliver the content in real-time using provisioned bandwidth of the user system and a second option to delay delivery of the content.

16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:
a gateway for establishing the communications link to deliver the content to the user system in real-time in response to selection of the first option.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein delivery of the content to the user system in real-time comprises partially fulfilling the request locally with a cached portion of the content from the storage at the user system and requesting the un-cached portion of the content over via the gateway.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the un-cached portion of the content is multicast in a multicast communication from the gateway to a requesting user system and at least one non-requesting user system.

19. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:
a gateway for establishing the communications link to deliver the content to the user system once unused bandwidth sufficient to meet the bandwidth requirement for delivery becomes available in response to selection of the second option.

20. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:
an account manager operative to attribute first network usage for delivery of the content in real-time to the user system in response to selection of the first option and attribute second network usage for delayed delivery of the content to the user system in response to selection of the second option;
wherein the first network usage is greater than the second network usage.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein the second network usage does not attribute to a fair access policy of the user system.

22. The system of claim 15 , wherein the un-cached portion of the content is provided in a multicast communication to the requesting user system and at least one non-requesting user system.

23. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:
a storage manager that maintains a client dictionary regarding stored content in the storage at the user system, wherein the cache status of the content is at least in part based on the client dictionary.

24. The system of claim 15 , wherein the communications link comprises a shared communications link servicing a plurality of user systems.

25. The system of claim 24 , wherein the shared communications link comprises a satellite link.

26. The system of claim 25 , wherein the shared communications link comprises a satellite spot beam.

27. A system for providing content to a user system in a communications infrastructure, the system comprising:
means for receiving a request for the content;
means for determining a cache status of the content in storage at the user system;
means for instructing the user system to locally fulfill the request for the content by providing the content from the storage to a customer

Assignees

• Viasat Inc

Inventors

• Dankberg Mark D
• Newman Daniel M

Classifications

• H04L47/801

  Real time traffic · CPC title

• H04W72/0446

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04M3/42178

  by downloading data to substation equipment · CPC title

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W72/30

  Resource management for broadcast services · CPC title