METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM CONTENT DISTRIBUTION POINTS

摘要

The invention includes a method and apparatus for controlling information available at a network element (112,...112₇) located at a first hierarchical level in a content distribution network. A method includes determining a subset of content using content forecast information, comparing the determined subset of content to a subset of content available to the network element located at the first hierarchical level, generating a request adapted for modifying the available subset of content in response to a difference between the determined and available subsets of content, and propagating the request toward a network element at a second hierarchical level in the content distribution network, where the first and second hierarchical levels are different. The content may include any information adapted for being distributed from a server (102) to a subscriber terminal (12O₁...12O_N) (e.g., broadcast multimedia content, content-on-demand, non-streaming content such as files and software patches, and the like, as well as various combinations thereof).