Hybrid video selection, delivery, and caching

摘要

One or more devices, in a video content delivery network, store video content for one or more customer premise devices in a hierarchical storage, and provide real time video content from the hierarchical storage, via multicast or unicast, to the one or more customer premise devices. The one or more devices also provide non-real time video content from the hierarchical storage to the one or more customer premise devices during idle time periods associated with the network. The one or more devices further establish a license with the one or more customer premise devices to view video content in multiple formats, and establish a license with the one or more customer premise devices to view video content via multiple customer premise devices.

主权项

1. A method implemented by one or more computing devices in a network that delivers media content, the method comprising:
storing, in a set of queues of the one or more computing devices, multiple types of video content for delivery to one or more customer devices associated with a subscriber, in a hierarchical storage, the video content corresponding to a highest level of relative popularity in a video serving office (VSO), the video content corresponding to an intermediary level of relative popularity in a video hub office (VHO), and the video content corresponding to a lowest level of relative popularity in customer premises equipment (CPE) of the network, based on corresponding priorities; receiving, by a first scheduler of the one or more computing devices, real time video content from the hierarchical storage corresponding to the subscriber based on the corresponding priorities, and scheduling delivery of the real time video content to the one or more customer devices; retrieving, by the first scheduler of the one or more computing devices, non-real time video content from the hierarchical storage corresponding to the subscriber based on the corresponding priorities, and scheduling delivery of the non-real time video content to the one or more customer devices during idle time periods associated with the network; forwarding, by a second scheduler of the one or more computing devices, each of the scheduled video content from the first scheduler to the one or more customer devices, and other scheduled video content from another hierarchical storage corresponding to another subscriber, based on a schedule determined by the second scheduler; exchanging, between at least one of the one or more computing devices and the one or more customer devices, a license related to the delivery of a particular video content of the stored video content in multiple formats or via multiple customer devices associated with the subscriber; receiving, from a particular customer device of the one or more customer devices, a request for switching the delivery of the particular video content from:
a first one of the multiple formats to a second one of the multiple formats, orthe particular customer device to another customer device of the one or more customer devices; and delivering, responsive to the request and based on the exchanged license, the particular video content to the particular customer device in the second format or to the other customer device, wherein delivering the particular video content comprises the delivery of the non-real time video content and includes:
receiving congestion feedback information associated with the network,determining a schedule for the delivery of the non-real time video content based on the congestion feedback information, anddelivering the non-real time video content to the one or more customer devices based on the determined schedule.