ISP Content Delivery Routing with User Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Internet service providers face challenges in managing bandwidth demands due to high costs associated with delivering high-bandwidth content, which are often passed on to customers, while adhering to net neutrality regulations, limiting their flexibility in content delivery options.
Innovation Solution
Implementing tools and techniques that allow customers to select content delivery sources between the Internet and lower-cost alternatives like metropolitan content delivery networks (CDNs) or private peering connections, enabling ISPs to modify routing records and quality of service markings based on customer preferences, thereby reducing delivery costs and enhancing user control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ISPs deliver high bandwidth content through the Internet, then customer satisfaction is improved, but delivery costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments content delivery into multiple paths: Internet delivery for standard content and private peering/CDN delivery for high-bandwidth content. This segmentation allows ISPs to optimize costs by routing traffic through the most efficient path while maintaining customer satisfaction through uninterrupted high-quality content delivery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces private peering connections and CDN networks as intermediary delivery mechanisms. These intermediaries handle high-bandwidth content delivery, reducing the burden on public Internet infrastructure and lowering delivery costs while maintaining or improving service quality.
2Loss of energy
If ISPs implement differential pricing based on bandwidth usage, then delivery costs are reduced, but compliance with net neutrality obligations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables customers to self-determine their content delivery preferences through user interfaces. Customers can select whether to receive content from the Internet or from lower-cost private peering/CDN sources, and the system automatically routes content accordingly. This self-service approach allows cost optimization without imposing differential pricing, as customers make their own choices based on their needs and preferences.
3Adaptability or versatility
If ISPs provide more content delivery options, then customer flexibility is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements automated systems that handle the complexity of multi-path content delivery. The system automatically monitors content availability, determines optimal delivery paths, and routes traffic without requiring customers to manually configure complex settings. This automation maintains customer flexibility while managing system complexity through intelligent algorithms and automated decision-making.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms where the system monitors content delivery performance, customer preferences, and source availability. Based on this feedback, the system dynamically adjusts routing decisions to optimize both customer flexibility and operational efficiency, managing complexity through continuous adaptation rather than static complex configurations.
Data Source
AI summary
Novel tools and techniques for Internet service providers to enable enhanced user control over content delivery. In an aspect of certain embodiments, these tools can allow the customer to select, on a variety of different bases, whether content should be obtained from the Internet or from a lower-cost source, such as a metropolitan content delivery network (“CDN”) operated by the ISP or a private peering connection with a content source. Both of these options can, for example, avoid accessing content over the Internet and thus can reduce ISP delivery costs. In some embodiments, these cost reductions can be passed to the consumer in the way the ISP accounts for the content delivery.