Subscriber-Driven Content Substitution for Bandwidth Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Communications service providers face challenges in managing increasing bandwidth demands from users accessing media content, often leading to network overload, which can be addressed by optimizing resource utilization through time- and demand-shifting techniques.
Innovation Solution
The system identifies 'watch-nowable' content objects and offers alternate content objects with similar engagement relationships to the requested content, allowing subscribers to opt for these alternatives at a discount, thereby reducing network resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If real-time content delivery is provided to satisfy user demand, then user satisfaction and content access are improved, but network bandwidth resources are overwhelmed and resource utilization deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-calculating engagement relationships between content objects and pre-identifying alternate content that can be delivered in real-time. When a user requests content that cannot be delivered immediately, the system has already prepared alternative options with similar engagement characteristics, enabling rapid substitution without real-time computation overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary layer of alternate content objects that mediate between user content requests and actual delivery capabilities. When the requested content is unavailable, these intermediary alternates serve as substitutes with comparable engagement value, allowing the system to maintain user satisfaction while managing bandwidth constraints.
2Quantity of substance
If network resource utilization is optimized through content substitution, then bandwidth consumption is reduced, but user engagement and content satisfaction may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameter of content selection by substituting one content object with another that has different delivery characteristics but similar engagement relationships. The substitution is based on calculated engagement metrics rather than arbitrary replacement, ensuring that bandwidth consumption is reduced while user engagement remains comparable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms by calculating engagement relationships between content objects and using this information to guide substitution decisions. The engagement relationship calculations provide feedback on which alternates are most likely to satisfy users, enabling informed content substitution that preserves user engagement while optimizing resource usage.
3Adaptability or versatility
If alternate content objects are calculated and presented to users, then content delivery flexibility is improved, but system complexity and processing requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations of engagement relationships between content objects before actual content requests occur. This pre-computation stores engagement data that can be rapidly retrieved and used for substitution decisions, avoiding complex real-time calculations when content requests are made.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements dynamic content substitution where the set of alternate content objects and their engagement relationships can change based on network conditions, user preferences, and content availability. This dynamic approach allows flexibility in content delivery while using pre-established engagement frameworks to manage complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described for subscriber-driven resource shifting in an attempt to maximize delivery of desirable content to subscribers while minimizing the impact of that content delivery to network infrastructure resources. When a media plan subscriber requests access to media content, and the requested object is determined not to be “watch-nowable” (e.g., it would be undesirable to deliver the object in substantially real time to the subscriber given present communications resource availability) embodiments identify a number of content objects that are presently watch-nowable content objects with respect to the requesting subscriber. Of those watch-nowable content objects, various techniques are presented for determining a set of alternate content objects, including those most likely to provide the subscriber with a similar level of engagement. Embodiments present those alternate content objects to the requesting subscriber as alternatives to the requested content object in exchange for a discount.