Media Flow Director Adaptive Bit Rate Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current content delivery systems face challenges in efficiently managing bandwidth allocation and adapting to changing network conditions, leading to buffering and poor viewing experiences for clients, especially when dealing with high-demand video content.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a Media Flow Director (MFD) that dynamically adjusts bit rates based on client bandwidth and network conditions, using a scheduler and disk manager to optimize content delivery and caching strategies, ensuring smooth video playback without buffering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If content is mirrored across multiple servers to handle increased traffic, then the system capacity increases, but the cost to content providers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates copies of content in the form of cache objects distributed across CDN servers. Instead of maintaining full mirror servers, the system creates cached copies that can be served to multiple clients, reducing the need for expensive full mirroring while maintaining system capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The CDN acts as an intermediary between content providers and clients. The CDN provider operates caching servers that mediate content delivery, allowing content providers to avoid the cost of maintaining their own mirror servers while still achieving high system capacity through distributed caching
2Reliability
If bandwidth is allocated to meet target flow rates for multiple clients, then viewing quality improves, but the system becomes overloaded when traffic demand exceeds capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic bandwidth allocation where the system continuously monitors network conditions and client buffer states, adjusting flow rates in real-time. This allows the system to maintain high viewing quality when capacity is available while gracefully degrading service when overloaded, rather than using static allocation that cannot adapt to changing conditions
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs feedback mechanisms where client buffer states and network conditions are monitored and fed back to the bandwidth allocation algorithm. This feedback loop enables the system to adjust target flow rates dynamically, maintaining reliable viewing quality during normal operation and preventing overload during high-demand periods
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and apparatus stores media content in a variety of storage devices, with at least a portion of the storage devices having different performance characteristics. The system can deliver media to a large number of clients while maintaining a high level of viewing experience for each client by automatically adapting the bit rate of a media being delivered to a client using the client's last mile bit rate variation. The system provides clients with smooth viewing of video without buffering stops. The client does not need a custom video content player to communicate with the system.