Dynamic Publishing Point Management in CDN Edge Servers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Heavily loaded media servers face difficulties in efficiently mapping and delivering large numbers of content objects without sacrificing performance, as existing systems struggle to manage scalability and overhead in content delivery networks (CDNs).
Innovation Solution
A system and method for dynamically serving content objects over the Internet using a content delivery network (CDN) that involves loading and reconfiguring publishing points upon user request, employing a peer-discovery algorithm to determine content sources and stream content objects to end users, while managing publishing points to avoid performance degradations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the CDN tracks and manages more publication points to increase content delivery capability, then the quantity of content objects that can be served increases, but the overhead and resource consumption on edge servers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the publication point management by separating static publishing points (pre-configured mappings) from dynamic publishing points (request-specific mappings). This segmentation allows the system to handle large numbers of content objects while minimizing the overhead on edge servers, as only necessary dynamic points are created on-demand rather than managing all possible mappings simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic creation and deletion of publishing points based on actual content requests. Publishing points are created only when needed and automatically deleted after use, transforming the static management model into a dynamic one. This reduces the persistent overhead on edge servers while maintaining the ability to serve a large quantity of content objects.
2Reliability
If the CDN uses a distributed network of POPs to improve quality of service, then the quality of service improves, but the complexity of managing publishing points across multiple locations increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a publishing point manager as an intermediary component that centralizes the management of publishing points across the distributed POPs. This manager handles the complexity of creating, updating, and deleting publishing points consistently across multiple locations, allowing each POP to maintain its quality of service benefits while reducing the operational complexity through centralized coordination.
3Speed
If the CDN pre-loads all possible publishing points to ensure fast content delivery, then the speed of content delivery improves, but the memory consumption and resource usage on edge servers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial action by pre-loading only a subset of publishing points (static publishing points for commonly accessed content) rather than all possible publishing points. This partial pre-loading strategy ensures fast delivery for frequent content while avoiding the excessive memory consumption that would result from loading every possible content mapping in advance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action through the pre-configuration of static publishing points before content requests arrive. This allows the edge servers to have ready-made mappings for frequently accessed content, enabling fast delivery without requiring all possible publishing points to be loaded in advance, thus balancing speed with memory consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for delivering content objects over the Internet to an end user system with a content delivery network (CDN) is disclosed. The system and method allow for dynamically serving content objects by loading and/or reconfiguring publishing points upon receipt of an end user request. When a content object is requested by an end user media player, the request is assigned to an edge server within a particular POP of the CDN. An optional peer-discovery algorithm is used to determine a content source for the requested content object within the CDN. The peer-discovery algorithm first determines whether the publishing point associated with the requested content object is loaded into the edge server. Alternatively, the peer-discovery algorithm queries other edge servers within or remote from the particular POP to determine whether the request for content object is mapped by other edge servers to a content source using their respective publishing points. Once the content source for the requested content object is determined, the edge server reconfigures its publishing point toward the content source. Ultimately, the content object is streamed to the end user media player. Management of the publishing points avoids performance degradations on the edge server in some embodiments.