Dynamic Priority Storage for Secondary Content Subsets

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing content delivery systems face computational inefficiencies due to the practice of writing all received content items into both primary and secondary storage devices, leading to delayed client content receipt and unnecessary resource waste, especially when secondary storage devices like HDDs or SSDs are overwhelmed by high write rates, causing degradation and frequent replacements.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a method where only a subset of content items deemed 'worthy' for long-term storage is written to secondary storage independently from primary storage, using a dynamic priority list based on factors like request frequency, cost, and storage degradation to optimize storage and retrieval efficiency.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If all received content items are written to both primary and secondary storage devices, then content availability is improved, but computational efficiency deteriorates and storage device degradation increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent availabilityVSAvoidcomputational efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the necessary content items from the set of all received content items. Instead of writing all content items to secondary storage, the system evaluates each content item's worthiness based on request frequency and other factors, then writes only the worthy subset to secondary storage. This reduces the write workload while maintaining content availability for frequently requested items.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies partial action by writing only a portion of content items to secondary storage rather than all content items. The system determines a subset of content items that are worthy of long-term storage based on evaluation criteria, and writes only this partial set to secondary storage, thereby reducing computational overhead while maintaining sufficient content availability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

2Reliability

If all received content items are written to secondary storage, then content availability is improved, but storage device lifespan deteriorates due to degradation from frequent writes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent availabilityVSAvoidstorage device lifespan
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDuration of action of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the necessary content items from the set of all received content items. Instead of writing all content items to secondary storage, the system evaluates each content item's worthiness based on request frequency and other factors, then writes only the worthy subset to secondary storage. This reduces the write workload while maintaining content availability for frequently requested items.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent discards the practice of writing all content items to secondary storage and recovers only the worthy subset. By evaluating content items and selecting only those that meet certain criteria for long-term storage, the system reduces unnecessary writes to secondary storage, thereby reducing degradation and extending storage device lifespan while maintaining content availability for important items.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #34Discarding and recovering

3Quantity of substance

If high write rates are applied to secondary storage devices like HDDs or SSDs, then content storage capacity is improved, but device degradation increases leading to frequent replacements

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecontent storage capacityVSAvoiddevice lifespan
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSDuration of action of stationary object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies partial action by writing only a portion of content items to secondary storage rather than all content items. The system determines a subset of content items that are worthy of long-term storage based on evaluation criteria, and writes only this partial set to secondary storage, thereby reducing computational overhead while maintaining sufficient content availability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent discards the practice of writing all content items to secondary storage and recovers only the worthy subset. By evaluating content items and selecting only those that meet certain criteria for long-term storage, the system reduces unnecessary writes to secondary storage, thereby reducing degradation and extending storage device lifespan while maintaining content availability for important items.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #34Discarding and recovering

4Productivity

If content items are stored in secondary storage based on content popularity, then storage efficiency is improved, but adaptability deteriorates when content popularity changes

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvestorage efficiencyVSAvoidadaptability to content popularity changes
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a dynamic evaluation system that continuously assesses content item worthiness based on current request frequency and other factors. Rather than using static popularity-based caching, the system dynamically determines which content items should be written to secondary storage, allowing it to adapt to changing content popularity patterns while maintaining storage efficiency.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms that monitor content item request patterns and use this information to evaluate worthiness for long-term storage. The system continuously receives feedback about content access patterns and adjusts its selection of content items to write to secondary storage accordingly, thereby adapting to changing popularity while maintaining efficient storage utilization.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP4085594B1System and method for storing content items in secondary storage
Publication Date: 2024.09.18 SANDPIPER CDN LLC
  • EP4085594B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4085594B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4085594B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Examples described herein relate to systems and methods for storing content items. The methods may be implemented by a computer comprising a processor, primary storage device, secondary storage, device and network interface. The primary storage device may receive, via the network interface, a plurality of content items responsive to respective requests from clients. The plurality of content items may be distributed, via the network interface, from the primary storage device to clients responsive to the respective requests from the clients. The processor may generate a dynamic priority list for the content items based on the respective requests from the clients over time, and may write, based on the dynamic priority list, only a subset of the content items to the secondary storage device.