Method and system for media object streaming

Abstract

A method, system, and computer readable medium for delivering media object to a user over a computer network. Media object is divided into first portions and remaining portions, and the first portions are stored on edge server computers in communication with client computers. Upon receiving a request for delivery from a user, the edge server computer transmits the first portion of the media object to the client computer. The edge server computer then requests delivery of the remaining portion of the media object from the origin server computer. Upon receipt of the remaining portion of the media object from the origin server computer, the edge server computer transmits the remaining portion of the media object to the user such that delivery of both portions of the media object to the client computer is continuous and uninterrupted.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a divisional of and claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 120 to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 774,204 filed 29 Jan. 2001 entitled Prefix Caching For Media Objects, which application is hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates broadly to computer networks and streaming media objects delivered over computer networks. Specifically, the present invention relates to caching portions of a video stream at various locations on a computer network, transmitting remaining portions once the cached segment is requested by a user, and delivering video data according to strict timing requirements. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Broadband Internet network infrastructure is developing at rates that exceed the most aggressive analyst predictions. In the consumer market sector, telecommunications, cable and wireless companies have accelerated deployment of broadband capability to the...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0021] The present invention solves the problems described above by providing high quality media content distribution over global computer networks based on admission control in a prefix caching system. In an embodiment of the present invention, a relatively small portion of a media object (prefix) is stored at a server located proximate to a user. When the user requests the media object to be played, the prefix is streamed to the user while the remaining portion of the media object is fetched as quickly as possible from another location and delivered to the user while maintaining the timing requirements of audio and / or video, thus without interrupting or delaying the delivery to the user. This method eliminates the latency experienced in prior caching solutions.

Problems solved by technology

Due to its sheer size, video is one of the most difficult data types to manage on the Internet.

A frame arriving past its presentation time ({fraction (1 / 30)} sec in the case of a 30 fps video) is useless and the user experiences jerky playback.

Given these stringent requirements, delivering quality video over broadband is a challenging problem.

While deployment of the broadband infrastructure is an important step in enabling streaming video over the Internet, upgrades to connectivity and bandwidth alone do not assure the delivery of quality video to large audiences with minimal start-up latencies.

When video is streamed to the end user via the Internet backbone, video quality is often impacted by problems.

When the source of the video is not close enough to the end user, packet losses can severely compromise video quality.

Packet losses result from congestion buffering introduced by network switches and routers between the video source and the end user.

Current bandwidth costs (satellite and terrestrial) make it impractical to stream high-quality video from a server to the end user on a point-to-point basis.

The current methods for content delivery and caching are not optimal for the delivery of high-quality video.

From hardware cost perspective, it is impractical to store all of the data inside the edge networks.

Storage issues involve more than just disk space.

To serve more users, the data need to be replicated appropriately, adding—to the storage costs significantly.

Networks that use pure caching solutions also suffer from problems due to the sheer size of the objects they are required to cache.

To most users, this latency is unacceptable.

However, for any reasonable size cache, the number of objects that can be cached is fairly small leading to high rate of cache misses.

The current popular solutions have been designed for delivering static images and streaming audio over the Internet and are unable to meet streaming video requirements.

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