Content Designation in Content Delivery Networks

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Solution Overview

Problem

Telecommunications operators face challenges in guaranteeing consistent quality for the delivery of emerging content, especially across intercontinental links, due to increasing internet traffic driven by online video content and non-PC devices, which existing Content Distribution Networks (CDNs) struggle to address effectively.

Innovation Solution

A method for selecting content designation options within a CDN to optimize content delivery through interconnected CDNs, involving transport, caching, and hybrid designation options, using a system with a processor and memory to determine the most resource-efficient and performance-oriented delivery paths and storage strategies based on consumer footprints and resource consumption analysis.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Speed

If content is pre-positioned in CDNs through interconnection, then delivery performance is improved, but resource consumption and complexity of determining designation increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent delivery speedVSAvoidcomplexity of content designation system
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables CDNs to autonomously determine content designation options by evaluating their own resource requirements and consumer footprints. Each CDN independently analyzes its capacity, current content distribution, and target consumer locations to self-determine optimal pre-positioning strategies without requiring complex centralized coordination, thus improving delivery speed while managing system complexity through decentralized decision-making

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary analysis of content designation options by evaluating resource requirements and consumer footprints before actual content delivery. This advance planning allows CDNs to pre-position content strategically in interconnected nodes based on predicted demand patterns, ensuring fast delivery performance while the preliminary computation is performed offline or in advance of peak demand periods

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If content is transported via interconnected CDNs, then delivery flexibility is improved, but resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent delivery flexibilityVSAvoidnetwork resource consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system optimizes content designation by evaluating local resource requirements and consumer footprints at each CDN node. Instead of uniform content distribution, the system identifies specific local conditions such as regional consumer density, network capacity, and storage availability to determine where content should be pre-positioned. This localized optimization enables flexible content routing while minimizing unnecessary network resource consumption by transporting content only to nodes with demonstrated local demand

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts content designation parameters including transport vs. cache options based on changing network conditions, resource availability, and consumer footprint data. By continuously monitoring and adjusting these parameters, the system maintains delivery flexibility to adapt to varying demands while optimizing resource consumption by selecting the most efficient designation option (transport or cache) for each content item based on current system state

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP3382975B1Content designation for a content delivery network
Publication Date: 2019.10.23 BRITISH TELECOM PLC
  • EP3382975B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3382975B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3382975B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

A method for designating a class of data content for determining how the content will be handled by a content delivery network (CDN) into one of: a transport designation by which content is transported from an entrance node to one or more edge nodes; a caching designation by which the content is stored at one or more edge nodes; and a hybrid designation by which content is stored at a node in the CDN for subsequent transport to one or more edge nodes in the CDN, the method comprising: determining a set of one or more transport designation options; determining a set of one or more caching designation options; determining a set of one or more hybrid designation options; determining a normalised measure resource requirement for each of the transport, caching and hybrid designation options; and selecting one designation option for the class of content from all of the transport, caching and hybrid designation options by an optimisation function for selecting the designation option based on the determined normalised resource requirement for each option.