Advert Placement Load Balancing for Live TV
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Solution Overview
Problem
The delivery of live linear TV channels over IP faces challenges such as CDN capacity issues, bandwidth overuse in HFC networks, and sudden spikes in requests for targeted adverts, leading to unicast storms that overload backend services.
Innovation Solution
A load balancing system that allows client devices to send advert placement requests at different times during the pre-trigger part of the active break window, spreading requests over time to reduce the load on advertisement servers and allowing for advanced signaling of breaks to client devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If all clients send advert placement requests simultaneously at break points, then targeted advertising can be delivered to each client, but the advertisement server experiences sudden load spikes and unicast storms that overload backend services
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having clients send break requests before the actual break point occurs. The server receives these advance requests and prepares advertising content in advance, so when the actual break occurs, the content is already ready for immediate delivery without causing server overload.
Solution Approach 2:
The advertising delivery process is segmented into distinct phases: break request phase (before break), content preparation phase (server processing), and content delivery phase (at break). This segmentation distributes the load over time rather than concentrating all processing at the break moment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the system uses unicast delivery for live linear TV channels, then each client receives customized content, but CDN capacity is overwhelmed and bandwidth is overused on HFC networks
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the benefits of unicast (customization) and multicast (efficiency) by using unicast for control signaling and break requests, while delivering the actual advertising content through efficient content delivery mechanisms that reduce redundant transmissions across the network.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of delivering full content through unicast to each client, the system uses copying mechanisms where the advertising content is prepared once on the server and then efficiently distributed, reducing the bandwidth burden on HFC networks while still providing customized content to each client.
3Measurement precision
If the system waits for break requests at the exact break point, then advertising delivery is synchronized with content, but the server experiences sudden spikes in requests all at once
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements preliminary action by having clients send break requests in advance of the actual break point. This allows the server to receive and process requests gradually over time rather than all simultaneously, improving request handling capacity while maintaining synchronization through careful timing management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces dynamic timing where clients can send break requests at different times within a window before the break occurs. This dynamic approach spreads the request load over time while the server dynamically manages content preparation and delivery to ensure synchronization with the actual break point.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method for a server device and client for hybrid manifest manipulation, the method comprising receiving, from a client device by a communication unit, an advertisement placement request including break information and client device information, receiving, from the advertisement server by the communication unit, information of one or more targeted adverts to be replaced or added, receiving, from an advertisement media server by the communication unit, a manifest of each advert to be replaced or added, manipulating, by a processor, the received manifest of each advert to be replaced or added based on the client device information; and transmitting, to the client device by the communication unit, the manipulated manifest