Intelligent Cache for Content Asset Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Content management systems experience delays in playback of content assets due to the process of requesting and receiving portions of content assets from storage devices in response to trickplay commands, leading to a poor user experience.
Innovation Solution
Prefetching portions of content assets before they are requested and storing them in an intelligent cache, which adjusts based on trickplay commands by adjusting the time to live (TTL), evicting parts of the cache, and predictively fetching and positioning other portions, thereby reducing delays in playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If content assets are stored on multiple storage devices and requested in response to trickplay commands, then content delivery is enabled, but playback delays occur resulting in poor user experience
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by prefetching content segments before they are actually requested by the user device. The content management system predicts which segments will be needed based on current playback position and trickplay commands, and pre-loads them into cache memory, eliminating the delay between request and delivery
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary caching layer between the storage devices and the user device. This cache acts as a buffer that stores frequently accessed content segments, allowing the user device to retrieve content from the fast cache rather than from slower storage devices, thus reducing playback delays
2Loss of time
If an intelligent cache is used to store prefetched content, then playback delays are reduced, but system complexity increases due to cache management requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The intelligent cache employs self-service mechanisms through automated algorithms that monitor playback behavior, predict future content needs, and dynamically manage cache contents. The system automatically determines which segments to prefetch, when to evict segments, and how to allocate cache space, eliminating the need for manual cache management while maintaining performance
Solution Approach 2:
The cache management system uses feedback from trickplay commands and playback patterns to continuously optimize its behavior. By monitoring user interactions with the content (fast forward, rewind, pause commands), the system adjusts its prefetching strategy and cache eviction policies in real-time, improving efficiency while managing complexity through adaptive control
Data Source
AI summary
Delay in delivery of a content asset to a user device may be reduced by fetching a portion of the content asset and storing it in a cache. From the cache, segments of the portion of the content asset may be sent to the user device. An indication of a trickplay command associated with playback of the content asset on the user device may be received, such as a fast forward command, a rewind command, or a play command. Based on a type of the trickplay command, the portion of the content asset in the cache may be adjusted, such as by adjusting a time to live (TTL) of a segment of the content asset in the cache, by evicting a segment of the content asset in the cache, or by predictively pre-fetching and storing other segments to the cache.