Adaptive client-driven push of resources by a server device

Abstract

At least one embodiment of a method of transmitting data between a server device and a client device includes receiving, from the client device, an HTTP request to obtain first data, wherein the HTTP request includes first data identifying information allowing identification of the first data on the server device and includes one or more additional header fields, retrieving and sending the first data to the client device, identifying a set of second data that can be pushed to the client device, as a function of a first indication contained within the one or more additional fields, identifying a subset of the set of second data, as a function of a second indication that is not derived from the received HTTP request, and pushing data of the identified subset of second data to the client device.

Description

[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a)-(d) of United Kingdom Patent Application No. 1602333.5, filed on Feb. 9, 2016 and entitled “Adaptive client-driven push of resources by a server device”. The above cited patent application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to data transmission over HTTP (standing for HyperText Transfer Protocol) communication networks, for instance data streaming, and more precisely to adaptive client-driven push of resources by a server device.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In communications over HTTP, such as DASH (acronym for Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) media content streaming, a high amount of data may be requested by a client device to a server device. To do so, the client device usually sends HTTP requests that each includes a request line made of a method (for instance “GET”) and a uniform resource identifiers, URI, identifying and locating,...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a solution for optimizing data exchanges between a client and a server. The method allows for adapting the behavior of both the client and server to optimize the use of bandwidth and reduce latency between requesting data and receiving the requested data. The invention also allows for efficient control of the push mechanism by the server device while maintaining backward compatibility. This reduces mismatch between the push data and the client's needs.

Problems solved by technology

This incremental discovery may lead to a slow display of a web page, especially on high latency networks such as mobile networks.

This is because, in conventional mechanisms, the client and server devices may not know if the promised data will be transmitted and received at the desired time: the client device may not know when and in which order the video segments will be sent.

Also, the promised data pushed or announced by the server device may mismatch the client device's needs (which may evolve over time), thus leading to resource wasting in particular at the server end.

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