Method and system for federated over-the-top content delivery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9774673-B2
Application number	US-201414546015-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 18, 2014
Priority date	Mar 16, 2011
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

A method is provided for managing over-the-top delivery of content through a plurality of content delivery networks (CDN). The method provided works transparently with standard HTTP servers supporting an initial request for content from a client to a first preferred CDN. If the first CDN does not have the content, the method includes provisions for the first CDN to acquire the content from a second CDN, or for the client to request the content from a second CDN directly. A system is also specified for implementing a client and server infrastructure in accordance with the provisions of the method.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for distributing content to a plurality of client devices, comprising:
receiving, at a server, a playback request from a client device among the plurality of client devices for content;
prioritizing, using the server, a plurality of content delivery networks for delivering content to the client among the plurality of client devices;
selecting, using the server, a preferred content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks and an alternate content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks based on the prioritizing;
providing, using the server, identifications of the preferred content delivery network and the alternative content delivery network to the client to enable the client to retrieve the content therefrom.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
acquiring content at the server;
transforming, using the server, the content into transformed content having a form suitable for rendering on a plurality of client devices; and
writing, using the server, the transformed content to a plurality of content delivery networks.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the writing further comprises:
writing, using the server, the transformed content to each content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the writing further comprises:
writing, using the server, the transformed content to a selected content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the writing further comprises:
writing, using the server, the transformed content to a subset of content delivery networks among the plurality of content delivery networks.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the prioritizing further comprises:
prioritizing, using the server, based on feedback from at least one prior client that has requested and retrieved the content, the plurality of content delivery networks.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the prioritizing further comprises:
prioritizing, using the server, based on geo-location information provided by the client, the plurality of content delivery networks.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the prioritizing further comprises:
prioritizing, using the server, based on measured throughput of the content delivery networks, the plurality of content delivery networks.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a first segment of the content is provided from a highest priority content delivery network and a second segment of the content is provided from a second highest priority content delivery network.

10. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
utilizing, using the user, user information provided by the client to filter content lookup to prevent the client from viewing content for which the user does not have rights.

11. A system for distributing content to a plurality of client devices, comprising:
at least one processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores computer-readable instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, are configured to:
receive a playback request from a client device among the plurality of client devices for content;
prioritize a plurality of content delivery networks for delivering content to a client among the plurality of client devices,
select a preferred content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks and an alternate content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks based on the prioritizing, and
provide identifications of the preferred content delivery network and the alternative content delivery network to the client to enable the client to retrieve the content therefrom.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to:
acquire content;
transform the content into transformed content having a form suitable for rendering on a plurality of client devices; and
write the transformed content to a plurality of content delivery networks.

13. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to write the transformed content to each content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks.

14. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to write the transformed content to a selected content delivery network among the plurality of content delivery networks.

15. The system according to claim 12 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to write the transformed content to a subset of content delivery networks among the plurality of content delivery networks.

16. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to prioritize, based on feedback from at least one prior client that has requested and retrieved the content, the plurality of content delivery networks.

17. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to prioritize, based on geo-location information provided by the client, the plurality of content delivery networks.

18. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to prioritize, based on measured throughput of the content delivery networks, the plurality of content delivery networks.

19. The system according to claim 11 , wherein a first segment of the content is provided from a highest priority content delivery network and a second segment of the content is provided from a second highest priority content delivery network.

20. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to utilize user information provided by the client to filter content lookup to prevent the client from viewing content from which the user does not have rights.

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M
• ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M (publ)

Inventors

• Ma Kevin J
• Nair Raj
• Hickey Rob
• Biagini Daniel
• Wu Chin-Cheng

Classifications

• H04L67/1095 Primary

  Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes · CPC title

• H04N21/23103

  using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers (storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001) · CPC title

• H04N21/23106

  involving caching operations (prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568) · 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

• H04N21/2347

  involving video stream encryption · CPC title