Methods and apparatus for content delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12425463-B2
Application number	US-201716956448-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2017
Priority date	Dec 20, 2017
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided for content delivery. In one aspect, method of receiving content in a device comprises sending a request for the content to a first network node, receiving a redirection instruction from the first network node, wherein the redirection instruction indicates a content delivery network and indicates a data transfer policy, sending a request for the content to the content delivery network, wherein the request indicates the data transfer policy, and receiving data associated with the content from the content delivery network according to the data transfer policy.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of receiving content in a device, the method comprising:
sending a request for the content to a first network node;
receiving a redirection instruction from the first network node, wherein the redirection instruction indicates a content delivery network and indicates a data transfer policy;
sending a second request for the content to the content delivery network, wherein the second request indicates the data transfer policy; and
receiving data associated with the content from the content delivery network according to the data transfer policy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data transfer policy specifies what is permitted irrespective of the device's capabilities or the content's quality, the data transfer policy indicates a data rate, a content quality, a maximum data rate or a maximum content quality for transfer of the data from the content delivery network to the device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein sending the second request for the content to the content delivery network comprises sending the second request for the content to a first content delivery network node, wherein the redirection instruction indicates the first content delivery network node.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a manifest associated with the content from a first content delivery network node, wherein the manifest indicates a second content delivery network node; and
wherein receiving data associated with the content from the content delivery network comprises receiving the data from the second content delivery network node.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the redirection instruction indicates a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that indicates the content delivery network and includes an indication of the data transfer policy.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the indication of the data transfer policy is a query parameter in the URL.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the redirection instruction includes an indication of the data transfer policy that is encoded, encrypted or scrambled, and the second request for the content sent to the content delivery network includes the encoded, encrypted or scrambled indication of the data transfer policy.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content comprises a manifest, and the data comprises portions of media identified in the manifest, and the method comprises receiving the manifest from the content delivery network.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein sending the second request for the content comprises sending a request for the manifest, and receiving data associated with the content from the content delivery network comprises receiving one or more of the portions of media from the content delivery network.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the redirection instruction indicates one or more of a plurality of data transfer policies.

11. A method in a network node, the method comprising:
receiving a request for content from a device; and
sending a redirection instruction to the device, wherein the redirection instruction indicates a content delivery network and indicates a data transfer policy for transfer of data associated with the content between the device and the content delivery network.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the data transfer policy specifies what is permitted irrespective of the device's capabilities or the content's quality, the data transfer policy indicates a data rate, a content quality, a maximum data rate or a maximum content quality for transfer of the data from the content delivery network to the device.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the request for the content comprises a HTTP Get request, the redirection instruction from a first network node comprises a HTTP redirection instruction, and the redirection instruction indicates a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that indicates the content delivery network and includes an indication of the data transfer policy.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the redirection instruction includes an indication of the data transfer policy that is encoded, encrypted or scrambled.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the request for the content comprises a request for a manifest, and the data comprises portions of media identified in the manifest.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein the network node is a node in the content delivery network, and wherein the request for the content indicates the data transfer policy.

17. An apparatus for receiving content, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor such that the apparatus is operable to:
send a request for the content to a first network node;
receive a redirection instruction from the first network node, wherein the redirection instruction indicates a content delivery network and indicates a data transfer policy;
send a second request for the content to the content delivery network, wherein the second request indicates the data transfer policy; and
receive data associated with the content from the content delivery network according to the data transfer policy.

18. An apparatus for redirecting a device to content, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processor such that the apparatus is operable to:
receive a request for the content from the device; and
send a redirection instruction to the device, wherein the redirection instruction indicates the content delivery network and indicates a data transfer policy for transfer of data associated with the content between the device and a content delivery network.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Skog Robert
• Ihlar Marcus
• Lohmar Thorsten

Classifications

• H04L65/762

  at the source  (reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355) · CPC title

• H04L65/613

  for the control of the source by the destination (control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637) · CPC title

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L65/612 Primary

  for unicast · CPC title