Media Guidance Application Network Traffic Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in efficiently transmitting and managing large data sets of media guidance data due to low-bandwidth communication protocols, leading to increased network traffic and performance issues.
Innovation Solution
A media guidance application that optimizes network traffic by retrieving detailed information only for media asset identifiers unique to a second group, utilizing local storage for previously retrieved data, and minimizing transactions with remote servers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If full sets of media guidance data are downloaded from the server, then users receive complete information about all media assets, but network traffic increases significantly and download time becomes excessive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and transmits only the specific media asset identifiers that have changed since the last client-side update, rather than transmitting complete media guidance data sets. This selective extraction dramatically reduces network traffic while ensuring users receive only the new or updated information they need.
Solution Approach 2:
The server performs preliminary processing to identify and isolate only those media asset identifiers that have changed before transmission. By pre-filtering the data on the server side, the system avoids transmitting redundant unchanged data, reducing network load while maintaining data completeness for updated items.
2Speed
If detailed information is stored locally for all media asset identifiers, then access speed improves, but memory constraints prevent storage of complete data sets
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and stores only the specific media asset identifiers that are relevant to current user activity or have been recently accessed, rather than attempting to store complete detailed information for all possible media assets. This selective storage approach fits within memory constraints while maintaining fast access for relevant data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments media guidance data into identifiers (stored locally) and detailed information (retrieved on-demand from server). This segmentation allows the client device to store minimal identifier data locally for quick reference while keeping detailed information on the server, balancing local access speed with remote storage capacity.
3Speed
If the communication protocol bandwidth is increased, then data transmission becomes faster, but the underlying protocol structure remains low-bandwidth and cannot be changed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential minimal data elements (media asset identifiers) for transmission over the existing low-bandwidth protocol, rather than attempting to transmit complete detailed information. This extraction strategy maximizes the effective utilization of limited protocol bandwidth by minimizing the volume of transmitted data.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of data volume being transmitted by sending only identifiers rather than complete detailed information. This parameter change allows the existing low-bandwidth protocol to achieve effective high-speed transmission for the critical identifier data, while detailed information retrieval happens separately when needed.
4Reliability
If requests for detailed information are repeatedly transmitted to the server, then users can access updated data, but network traffic increases and server load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The server performs preliminary identification of changed media asset identifiers and transmits them proactively to clients before clients would need to request them. This preliminary action eliminates the need for repeated client-side requests, reducing network traffic while ensuring clients receive fresh data automatically.
Solution Approach 2:
The system establishes a feedback mechanism where clients report their current state of media asset information to the server, and the server responds by transmitting only the specific identifiers that have changed. This targeted feedback loop ensures data freshness while minimizing redundant network communications.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are presented for reducing network traffic when retrieving media guidance data. For example, a media guidance application receives a first user selection to display a group of media asset identifiers (e.g., video-on-demand listings) and retrieves detailed information from a remote server relating to the media asset identifiers to display to a user. The media guidance application then may receive a user selection to display a second group of media asset identifiers (e.g., purchased media assets). If any of the media asset identifiers are common to both groups, then the media guidance application already obtained the detailed information and the detailed information does not need to be retransmitted in order to be displayed. Thus, the media guidance application only retrieves detailed information for media asset identifiers unique to the second group of media asset identifiers (e.g., they are only on the purchased media asset list).