Cisco Technology, Inc.

Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Eric Colin Friedrich

Carol Etta Iturralde

Jeffrey Edwin Grubb

Matthew Francis Caulfield

Scott C Labrozzi

Eric Ross Klein

Robert Gerard Colantuoni

Rajiv Asati

Humberto Jose La Roche

Mahesh Viveganandhan

Luis A Cruz

Anne K McCormick

Matt Caulfield

William B May, Jr

Gareth John Bowen

Keith Millar

Joseph S Rice

Joseph A Inzerillo

Mark D McBride

Kevin Scott Kirkup

Christopher J Zucker

Joseph C Hart

Aashish J Shah

Matthew F Caufield

Kevin S Kirkup

Techniques relating to caching a content object are disclosed. These techniques include transmitting, from a requestor to a first server, a revalidation request relating to a content object, and receiving, at the requestor from the first server, a response to the revalidation request indicating that the content object is not modified. The response is received at the requestor based on the first server determining that metadata describing one or more characteristics of the content object is stored in a cache associated with the first server and that the content object is not stored in the cache, and in response determining whether to retrieve content object data from any server based on analyzing a metric relating to retrieving the content object.

Storage efficient content revalidation for multimedia assets

Embodiments herein describe a CDN where anycast routing is used to identify a load balancer for selecting a cache in the CDN to use to deliver a requested object to a user. In one embodiment, the user performs a DNS lookup to identify an anycast IP address for a plurality of load balancers in the CDN. The user can then initiate anycast routing using the anycast IP address to automatically identify a load balancer. Once the identified balancer selects the cache, the load balancer can close the anycast connection with the user device and use a redirect to provide the user device with a unicast path to the selected cache. The user device can then establish a unicast connection with the cache to retrieve (e.g., stream) the object.

Local preference in anycast CDN routing

Techniques relating to caching a content object are disclosed. These techniques include receiving, at a first server from a requestor, a revalidation request relating to a content object. The techniques further include determining that metadata describing one or more characteristics of the content object is stored in a cache associated with the first server and that the content object is not stored in the cache, and in response: determining, at the first server, whether to retrieve content object data from any server based on analyzing a metric relating to retrieving the content object, and transmitting from the first server to the requestor, based on analyzing the metadata, a response to the revalidation request indicating that the content object is not modified.

The embodiments herein describe a CDN that uses revalidation to force edge servers to refresh their cached objects (i.e., download new copies of the objects from the origin data center). Revalidation can be used by edge servers to determine whether an object currently cached at the edge servers has been updated or changed in the origin data center. The embodiments herein leverage revalidation to perform a forced refresh to force the edge servers to refresh their cached object, regardless whether those cached objects match the objects stored in the origin data center. A forced refresh can be used when there is a network connection that may have caused the cached objects to become corrupted. Moreover, the forced refresh can be performed in batches so as not to overwhelm the network and computing resources in the CDN.

Progressive object refreshes in content delivery networks

Embodiments herein describe a CDN where anycast routing is used to identify a load balancer for selecting a cache in the CDN to use to deliver a requested object to a user. In one embodiment, the user performs a DNS lookup to identify an anycast IP address for a plurality of load balancers in the CDN. The user can then initiate anycast routing using the anycast IP address to automatically identify the closest load balancer. Once the identified balancer selects the cache, the load balancer can close the anycast connection with the user device and use an HTTP redirect to provide the user device with a unicast path to the selected cache. The user device can then establish a unicast connection with the cache to retrieve (e.g., stream) the object.

Techniques relating to caching a content object are disclosed. A first server receives a revalidation request, relating to a content object, from a requestor. It is determined that metadata, relating to the content object, is stored in a cache associated with the first server. In response, the first server determines not to retrieve the content object from a second server. The content object is not stored in the cache. A response to the revalidation request, indicating that the content object is not modified, is transmitted from the first server to the requestor, based on analyzing the metadata.

A method is performed at a mobile core, including assigning a first cache servicing a client device in response to a first request for a media content item based at least in part on a first IP address of the client device associated with a first edge location. The method further includes providing a first portion of the media content item from the first cache. The method additionally includes triggering a plurality of caches at edge locations proximate to the first edge location to retrieve a second portion of the media content item. The method also includes receiving a continuation request from the client device with a second IP address associated with a second edge location. The method further includes selecting a second cache from the plurality of caches based at least in part on the second IP address and continuing providing the media content item from the second cache.

Methods and apparatuses for content delivery over mobile networks with multi-access edge computing (MEC) control and user plane separation (CUPS)

Techniques for improved media streaming are provided. A request for a variant list for streaming media content is received from a requesting entity, where the request includes a predefined flag. A set of predefined rules corresponding to the predefined flag is identified. The variant list is pruned based on the set of predefined rules, and the pruned variant list is transmitted to the requesting entity.

Dynamic variant list modification to achieve bitrate reduction

In one embodiment, a method, system and apparatus are described, the method including receiving an initial request from a client device, being a request to establish a connection, including an initial connection IP address of the client device, recording the initial connection IP address, receiving an additional request at the network interface, the additional request comprising a URL, an actual client IP address of the client device, and a request for streaming content, comparing the initial connection IP address with the actual client IP address, performing one of providing the streaming content in response to the additional request if the initial connection IP address and the actual client IP address are the same, or providing a response to the additional request comprising a redirect instruction if the initial connection IP address and the actual client IP address are different. Related methods, apparatus, and systems are also described.

Reanchoring devices on servers

A system can include a reconciliation engine configured to evaluate metadata in a given manifest file of a plurality of manifest files generated for redundant copies of a given media asset. The metadata describes a condition of a given chunk of media content in one of the redundant copies of the given media asset. The system can also include a manifest modification function configured to modify the given manifest file for the given chunk of media content in response to the reconciliation engine detecting that the given chunk of media content is damaged based on the evaluation of the metadata associated with the given chunk of media content in the given manifest file.

Reconciling redundant copies of media content

Content delivery network storage may be provided. A first proxy module may receive a first content object request from a first user device. The first content object request may correspond to a content object. Next, the first proxy module may send the first content object request to a first cache module. The first cache module may then obtain the content object corresponding to the first content object request from an object store. The object store may be shared by a plurality of cache modules including the first cache module. The first proxy module may then receive, from the first cache module, the obtained content object. The first proxy module may send the content object to the first user device.

Video and media content delivery network storage in elastic clouds

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes generating a key associated with a virtual asset associated with content to be provided to a client device, where the key indicates at least one parameter for accessing the content; generating the virtual asset; receiving a request for the content; identifying a format being requested for the content; using the virtual asset to identify common format content to be retrieved and to identify the key; using the key to retrieve the common format content; and transforming the common format content such that it can be delivered to the client device in the format that was requested.

Virtual assets for on-demand content generation

In one embodiment of the present invention, an HLS transcoder inserts a plurality of encoder boundary points (EBPs) into an HLS formatted content item, a processor places hints about locations of the inserted EBPs, and an inputter inputs the HLS formatted content item into an on-demand encapsulation process. Related systems, apparatus and methods are also described.

Growing community of inventors

North Easton, MA, United States of America

Eric Colin Friedrich