Extended, home, and mobile content delivery networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9706249-B2
Application number	US-201414211707-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 14, 2014
Publication date	Jul 11, 2017
Grant date	Jul 11, 2017

Abstract

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium provide an extended content delivery network service in which user devices are configured as extended content delivery network devices that download and/or stream programs to other users of the extended content delivery network service. Additionally, a method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium provide an in-home media server device that stores programs in a same format as a format of the programs stored in a content delivery network, and provide an error correction service in which a portion of a program including an error, initially received via a multicast or broadcast transmission, is replaced with a corrected portion of the program via a unicast transmission. Still further, a method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium provide a mobile extended content delivery network device that downloads or streams programs to other users of the extended content delivery network service.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing, by a server device and to user devices, a program service that includes at least one of downloading or streaming of programs to the user devices, wherein the server device is a part of a content delivery network of a program service provider and is not a customer premises device;
receiving, by the server device and from one of the user devices, a request to download or stream a beginning of a program from the server device, wherein the program is one of the programs;
searching, by the server device, extended content delivery network information in response to the receiving, wherein the extended content delivery network information indicates customer premises devices via which the user devices receive the program service and having the functionality of the server device of the content delivery network and residing in user networks, wherein the customer premises devices form an extended content delivery network and store one or more of the programs, in a same format as the programs stored in the content delivery network, and each customer premises device provides the program service for each program stored by the customer premises device;
determining, by the server device, whether one of the customer premises devices stores the program based on the searching of the extended content delivery network information;
transmitting, by the server device, a response to the user device in response to determining that the one of the customer premises devices stores the program, wherein the response indicates that the one of the customer premises devices stores the program; and
downloading or streaming, by the server device and to the user device, the beginning of the program in response to determining that none of the customer premises devices store the program.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the extended content delivery network information includes, for each customer premises device, an extended content delivery network identifier, which uniquely identifies the customer premises device as an extended content delivery network device, geographic location information that indicates a geographic location of the customer premises device, a public network address associated with the customer premises device, and a program identifier for each program stored by the customer premises device, and wherein the request includes geographic information that indicates a geographic location of the user device, and wherein the searching comprises:
using the geographic location of the user device as a key to search the extended content delivery network information; and
selecting the one of the customer premises devices based on a distance between the user device and the one of the customer premises devices.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the response includes a network address of the one of the customer premises devices and a program identifier of the program, and the method further comprises:
receiving, by the user device, the response;
generating, by the user device, a uniform resource locator (URL) based on the network address and the program identifier;
establishing, by the user device, a session with the one of the customer premises devices based on the URL, wherein the session includes downloading or streaming the program from the one of the customer premises devices; and
obtaining, by the user device, licensing and encryption keys from the content delivery network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
tracking, by the one of the customer premises devices, at least one of a number of programs downloaded or streamed to one or more user devices or a length of time for which each download or stream to a user device is provided.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
generating a credit, for a user associated with the one of the customer premises devices, based on the tracking.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing a user preference on behalf of a user of the one of the user devices, wherein the user preference indicates a preference for one or more customer premises devices when selecting a customer premises device to service the request, wherein the one or more customer premises devices are associated with at least one of one or more friends or one or more family members of the user; and
selecting the one of the customer premises devices to service the request based on the user preference.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying, to another user of the one of the customer premises devices, a message that indicates the request for the program is received and an identifier of the program.

8. A network device comprising:
a communication interface;
a memory, wherein the memory stores instructions; and
a processor, wherein the processor executes the instructions to:
provide to user devices a program service that includes at least one of downloading or streaming of programs to the user devices, wherein the network device is a part of a content delivery network of a program service provider and is not a customer premises device;
receive, via the communication interface and from one of the user devices, a request to download or stream a beginning of a program from the network device, wherein the program is one of the programs;
search extended content delivery network information in response to the receipt of the request, wherein the extended content delivery network information indicates customer premises devices of user networks receiving the program service and having the functionality of the network device of the content delivery network and residing in user networks, wherein the customer premises devices form an extended content delivery network and store one or more of the programs, in a same format as the programs stored in the content delivery network, and each customer premises device provides the program service for each program stored by the customer premises device;
determine whether one of the customer premises devices stores the program based on a search;
transmit, via the communication interface, a response to the user device in response to a determination that the one of the customer premises devices stores the program, wherein the response indicates that the one of the customer premises devices stores the program and
download or stream, via the communication interface, the beginning of the program to the user device in response to a determination that none of the customer premises devices store the program.

9. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the extended content delivery network information includes, for each customer premises device, an extended content delivery network identifier, which uniquely identifies the customer premises device as an extended content delivery network device, geographic location information that indicates a geographic location of the customer premises device, a public network address associated with the customer premises device, and a program identifier for each program stored by the customer premises device, and wherein the request includes geographic information that indicates a geographic location of the user device, and wherein, when searching, the processor further executes the instructions to:
use the geographic location of the user device as a key to search the extended content delivery network information; and
select the one of the customer premises devices based on a distance between the user device and the one of the customer premises devices.

10. The network device of claim 8 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions to:
store a user preference on behalf of a user of the one of the user devices, wherein the user preference indica

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Hao Jianxiu
• Huang Jian
• Busse Martin A
• Ruffini Michael P
• Mehta Gaurav D

Classifications

• H04N21/25841

  involving the geographical location of the client (retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00) · CPC title

• H04N21/41407

  embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop (constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57) · CPC title

• H04N21/64776

  for requesting retransmission, e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from server (ARQ protocols H04L1/18; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16) · CPC title

• H04N21/4781

  Games · CPC title

• H04N21/4147

  PVR [Personal Video Recorder] (H04N5/76 takes precedence {; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40}) · CPC title