Managed Wireless Content Distribution via Device Caching
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Solution Overview
Problem
The transfer of large digital content files, such as complex video games and high-resolution movies, across networks is time-consuming and bandwidth-intensive, leading to user frustration due to the significant delays in accessing such content.
Innovation Solution
A managed wireless distribution network is established, allowing devices to share and transfer portions of protected content via multiple wireless networks, enabling faster and more efficient content delivery by bypassing traditional internet connections and reducing data usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If content is transferred via traditional internet networks, then content can be delivered to users, but the transfer takes significant time and consumes large bandwidth
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by having devices pre-download and store content portions in content stores before they are needed. When a user requests content, the system checks the content store for already-downloaded portions and transfers them immediately, avoiding the need to download from the internet at the moment of use. This resolves the contradiction by preparing content in advance, making future access fast while the initial download can be distributed across multiple devices over time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments content into multiple portions and distributes them across different devices in the network. Instead of transferring entire large files through a single internet connection, content is divided into smaller chunks that can be stored on multiple devices. When needed, these segments are quickly assembled and transferred, significantly reducing access time and bandwidth requirements for the critical path transfer.
2Quantity of substance
If content is transferred via traditional internet networks, then content delivery is achieved, but bandwidth consumption is excessive
Solution Approach 1:
Content is segmented into multiple portions distributed across different devices. When a user needs content, the system retrieves segments from local content stores on devices within the wireless network rather than downloading the entire content volume through the internet. This dramatically reduces the bandwidth consumption for content delivery while still providing full content access.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces content stores on user devices as intermediaries between the internet and the content consumption point. These intermediaries cache content portions locally, so subsequent content delivery requests are fulfilled from the local content store rather than requiring internet bandwidth. This intermediary layer reduces the volume of data that needs to traverse the internet connection.
3Speed
If peer-to-peer content sharing is implemented, then content transfer speed improves, but network management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network management service as an intermediary that coordinates peer-to-peer content sharing. This service maintains information about which content portions are stored on which devices, receives content requests, and orchestrates the transfer by identifying optimal source devices and routing content through appropriate wireless networks. This intermediary layer simplifies the complexity by centralizing the management logic while still leveraging the speed benefits of direct device-to-device transfers.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of having devices independently manage complex peer-to-peer sharing protocols, the system inverts the approach by having a central service manage the coordination while devices perform simple local operations. The network management service handles the complex routing and device selection, while individual devices only need to respond to simple requests and serve content from their local content stores, reducing the complexity burden on individual devices.
Data Source
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AI summary
A content store is maintained in a device, the device being one of multiple devices in a managed wireless distribution network that allows portions of protected content to be transferred among the multiple devices via multiple wireless networks hosted by various ones of the multiple devices. The content store is configured to maintain portions of protected content that can be consumed by a user of the device only if the user of the device is licensed to consume the protected content. An indication of portions of protected content stored in the content store is provided to each of a set of the multiple devices or to a network management service. Routes to portions of content in the managed wireless distribution network can be identified by the network management service or the multiple devices.