System and method for pre-provisioning adaptive bitrate (ABR) assets in a content delivery network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9516084-B2
Application number	US-201314069490-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2013
Priority date	Nov 1, 2013
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for pre-provisioning ABR assets in a content delivery network (CDN). In an example, historical delivery patterns of one or more ABR assets downloaded at respective content delivery nodes of the CDN are monitored. For each content delivery node, one or more delivery rules may be determined based on statistical distributions of the ABR assets delivered over a period of time. When a particular content is determined to become popular at a specific content delivery node, a pre-provisioning policy may be modulated such that only certain representations or adaptation sets of the particular content's assets that pass the delivery rules are pre-provisioned for the specific content delivery node.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method operative at a management node associated with a content delivery network (CDN) configured to deliver adaptive streaming content, the method for effectuating efficient usage of network resources of the CDN and comprising:
obtaining historical delivery patterns of one or more adaptive bitrate (ABR) assets associated with one or more content delivery nodes of the CDN, wherein the historical delivery patterns corresponding to a particular content delivery node comprise distributions of the one or more ABR assets of various content files that are delivered from the particular content delivery node over a configurable time window to a plurality of subscribers served by the particular content delivery node;
determining, for each content delivery node, one or more delivery rules based on the distributions of the ABR assets delivered over the configurable time window;
obtaining a push policy for a particular content determined to become popular at a specific content delivery node, the push policy operating to facilitate pre-provisioning of the particular content at the specified content delivery node, and modulating the push policy to pre-provision only certain subsets of the one or more ABR assets of the particular content for delivery at the specific content delivery node based on the one or more delivery rules established for the specific content delivery node; and
providing the modulated push policy to at least one of a central distribution node and a regional distribution node of the CDN for minimizing bandwidth cost for transmitting the particular content through the CDN with respect to servicing subscriber requests for the particular content at the specific content delivery node.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the ABR assets comprise at least one of video components, audio track components and one or more subtitle languages of the various content files delivered to the plurality of subscribers.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the historical delivery patterns are obtained for all the video components, all the audio track components, and all subtitle languages downloaded over the configurable time window at respective content delivery nodes of the CDN.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein the one or more delivery rules for a respective content delivery node comprise at least one of a video delivery rule based on bit rates of video components downloaded from the respective content delivery node, an audio delivery rule based on audio language tracks downloaded from the respective content delivery node, and a subtitle delivery rule based on subtitle language selections downloaded from the respective content delivery node.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the particular content is estimated to become popular at a specific content delivery node based on at least one of revenue data, search trend data, subscriber demographic data, and social media data obtained for the particular content.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the content delivery nodes comprise one or more edge distribution nodes and one or more regional distribution nodes coupled to the central distribution node.

7. A management node operative with a content delivery network (CDN) configured to deliver adaptive streaming content, the management node adapted for effectuating efficient usage of network resources of the CDN and comprising:
one or more processors;
a database for storing historical delivery patterns of one or more adaptive bitrate (ABR) assets associated with one or more content delivery nodes of the CDN, wherein the historical delivery patterns corresponding to a particular content delivery node comprise distributions of the one or more ABR assets of various content files that are delivered from the particular content delivery node over a configurable time window to a plurality of subscribers served by the particular content delivery node;
a delivery node management and control (DNMC) module embodied in a persistent memory coupled to the one or more processors, the DNMC module having instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to determine, for each content delivery node, one or more delivery rules based on the distributions of the ABR assets delivered over the configurable time window; and
a content pre-provisioning control module embodied in a persistent memory coupled to the one or more processors, the content pre-provisioning control module having instructions executable by the one or more processors and configured to:
obtain a push policy for a particular content determined to become popular at a specific content delivery node, the push policy operating to facilitate pre-provisioning of the particular content at the specified content delivery node, and modulate the push policy to pre-provision only certain subsets of the one or more ABR assets of the particular content for delivery at the specific content delivery node based on the one or more delivery rules established for the specific content delivery node; and
provide the modulated push policy to at least one of a central distribution node and a regional distribution node of the CDN for minimizing bandwidth cost for transmitting the particular content through the CDN with respect to servicing subscriber requests for the particular content at the specific content delivery node.

8. The management node as recited in claim 7 , wherein the ABR assets comprise at least one of video components, audio track components and one or more subtitle languages of the various content files delivered to the plurality of subscribers.

9. The management node as recited in claim 8 , wherein the historical delivery patterns are obtained and stored in the database for all the video components, all the audio track components, and all subtitle languages downloaded over the configurable time window at respective content delivery nodes of the CDN.

10. The management node as recited in claim 9 , wherein the DNMC module is operative to determine the one or more delivery rules for a respective content delivery node comprising at least one of a video delivery rule based on bit rates of video components downloaded from the respective content delivery node, an audio delivery rule based on audio language tracks downloaded from the respective content delivery node, and a subtitle delivery rule based on subtitle language selections downloaded from the respective content delivery node.

11. The management node as recited in claim 7 , wherein the particular content is estimated to become popular at a specific content delivery node based on at least one of revenue data, search trend data, subscriber demographic data, and social media data obtained for the particular content.

12. A method operative at a management node associated with a content delivery network (CDN) configured to deliver adaptive streaming content, the method for effectuating efficient usage of network resources of the CDN and comprising:
monitoring historical network conditions associated with one or more content delivery nodes of the CDN for delivery of one or more adaptive bitrate (ABR) assets, wherein the historical network conditions corresponding to a particular content delivery node comprise performance conditions associated with downloading of various content files from the particular content delivery node over a configurable time window to a plurality of subscribers served by the particular content delivery node;
determining, for each content delivery node, one or more delivery rules based on the historical network conditions monitored for the ABR assets delivered over the configurable period of time;
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Assignees

• Ericsson Television Inc
• Ericsson Ab

Inventors

• Phillips Chris
• Forsman Robert Hammond
• Reynolds Jennifer Ann

Classifications

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L67/2847

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/601 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/75

  Media network packet handling · CPC title