Analyzing internet protocol television data to support peer-assisted video-on-demand content delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9635437-B2
Application number	US-201514600519-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 20, 2015
Priority date	Nov 23, 2009
Publication date	Apr 25, 2017
Grant date	Apr 25, 2017

Abstract

A video-on-demand (VOD) server in an Internet protocol television (IPTV) network with a network of set-top boxes includes IPTV operational data and an analysis module that selects a content item. The VOD server divides the content item into sequential chunks, divides the chunks into stripes, pre-populates set-top boxes in a peering network with at least one stripe from each chunk, receives a request for the content item, and directs each set-top box to sequentially stream its stripes. A method includes selecting a content item based upon IPTV operational data, dividing the content item into sequential chunks, dividing the chunks into stripes, pre-populating set-top boxes in a peering network with at least one stripe from each chunk, receiving a request for the content item, and directing each set-top box to sequentially stream its stripes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
selecting a content item;
determining a number of copies of the content item to reside on a peering network based on network operational data, the network operational data including power state data for a plurality of media processors forming the peering network, wherein the power state data indicates a number of the plurality of media processors expected to be powered off and accordingly unavailable to provide the content item;
dividing copies of the content item into a plurality of sequential portions;
dividing the plurality of sequential portions into a plurality of subportions;
populating the plurality of media processors with a subportion from each of the plurality of sequential portions; and
directing the plurality of media processors to sequentially stream subportions associated with successive sequential portions of the plurality of sequential portions to a media processor requesting the content item.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the media processors included in the peering network based upon the power state data.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise evaluating the power state data to determine a safety factor with which to over-populate the peering network, thereby ensuring availability of the content item to the requesting media processor.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a number of the plurality of subportions according to the network operational data.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network operational data comprises a frequency of content requests per content item for a plurality of content items, and wherein the content item is selected based upon the frequency of content requests.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the content item is a most frequently requested content item from among the plurality of content items.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a time window in which to populate the peering network with the content item.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the network operational data comprises a frequency of content requests per time of day, and wherein the time window is determined based upon the frequency of content requests per time of day.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein dividing each portion of the plurality of sequential portions into a plurality of subportions is performed using an erasure coding scheme for each of the plurality of subportions, such that for each portion of the plurality of sequential portions a number of subportions less than the number of the plurality of subportions comprises information of the portion.

10. The device of claim 9 wherein, in accordance with the erasure coding scheme, each subportion in a portion of the plurality of sequential portions includes information from another subportion.

11. A method comprising:
selecting, by a processing system including a processor, a content item;
determining, by the processing system, a number of copies of the content item to reside on a peering network based on network operational data, the network operational data including power state data for a plurality of media processors forming the peering network, wherein the power state data indicates a number of the plurality of media processors expected to be powered off and accordingly unavailable to provide the content item;
allocating, by the processing system, an upload bandwidth capacity for populating the media processors with the content item;
dividing, by the processing system, copies of the content item into a plurality of sequential portions;
dividing, by the processing system, the plurality of sequential portions into a plurality of subportions; and
populating, by the processing system, the plurality of media processors with a subportion from each of the plurality of sequential portions, in accordance with the allocated upload bandwidth capacity,
wherein the allocated upload bandwidth capacity comprises a portion of a total upload bandwidth capacity of the plurality of media processors.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising directing, by the processing system, each media processor of the plurality of media processors to sequentially stream subportions associated with successive sequential portions of the plurality of sequential portions to a media processor requesting the content item.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining, by the processing system, the media processors included in the peering network based upon the power state data.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the populating further comprises over-populating, by the processing system, the peering network with copies of the content item, and further comprising evaluating the power state data to determine a safety factor with which to over-populate the peering network.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the network operational data comprises a frequency of content requests per content item for a plurality of content items, and wherein the content item is selected based upon the frequency of content requests.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein dividing each portion of the plurality of sequential portions into a plurality of subportions is performed using an erasure coding scheme for each of the plurality of subportions.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
selecting a content item;
determining a number of copies of the content item to reside on a peering network based on network operational data, the network operational data including power state data for a plurality of media processors forming the peering network, wherein the power state data indicates a number of the plurality of media processors expected to be powered off and accordingly unavailable to provide the content item;
determining the media processors included in the peering network based upon the power state data;
allocating an upload bandwidth capacity for populating the media processors with the content item;
dividing copies of the content item into a plurality of sequential portions;
dividing the plurality of sequential portions into a plurality of subportions; and
populating the plurality of media processors with a subportion from each of the plurality of sequential portions, in accordance with the allocated upload bandwidth capacity.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the allocated upload bandwidth capacity comprises a portion of a total upload bandwidth capacity of the plurality of media processors.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise directing each media processor of the plurality of media processors to sequentially stream subportions associated with successive sequential portions of the plurality of sequential portions to a media processor requesting the content item.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the populating further comprises over-populating the peering network with copies of the content item, and further comprising evaluating the power state data to determine a safety factor with which to ove

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp
• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Chen Yih-Farn
• Jana Rittwik
• Stern Daniel L
• Sun Hailong
• Wei Bin
• Yang Ping-Fai

Classifications

• H04N21/2385

  Channel allocation (H04N21/266 takes precedence); Bandwidth allocation (H04N21/24 takes precedence {; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16}) · CPC title

• H04N21/2668

  Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles {(information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063)} · CPC title

• H04N21/632

  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 title

• H04N21/2181 Primary

  comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers (distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097) · CPC title

• H04N21/4334

  Recording operations (recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27) · CPC title