Multi-CDN Selector for Video Playback Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Content delivery networks (CDNs) often experience playback issues such as failure and rebuffering during video streaming, leading to interruptions and poor user experience, as clients wait for issues to be resolved at the CDN level.
Innovation Solution
A client-side system that predicts playback issues and switches to a different CDN during a playback session using an in-session multi-CDN selector, which analyzes playback conditions and historical rankings to select a more reliable CDN, reducing the likelihood of playback failure and rebuffering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a single content delivery network is used for video streaming, then the system complexity is reduced, but playback reliability deteriorates due to failures and rebuffering issues
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple content delivery networks into a unified playback system, where the client device can access and switch between multiple CDN sources. This merging approach maintains playback reliability by having backup sources while managing complexity through a single client-side implementation that handles CDN selection and switching.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes the CDN selection parameter during playback based on real-time conditions. The client monitors playback status and automatically switches between different CDN sources when issues are detected, altering the delivery source parameter to maintain reliable playback without requiring complex pre-configuration.
2Loss of time
If the client waits for CDN issues to be resolved, then system complexity remains low, but loss of time increases due to playback interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by proactively switching to alternative CDN sources before playback failures occur. The client monitors indicators of potential issues and pre-switches to backup CDNs, preventing playback interruptions rather than reacting after failures occur, thus reducing time loss while managing complexity through predictive switching logic.
Solution Approach 2:
The implementation uses feedback mechanisms where the client continuously monitors playback status and CDN performance metrics. This feedback loop enables automatic detection of issues and triggers switching to alternative sources, reducing playback interruption time while keeping client-side complexity manageable through automated decision-making algorithms.
3Reliability
If multiple content delivery networks are implemented with switching capability, then playback reliability improves, but device complexity increases due to CDN selection and switching mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service by enabling the client device to autonomously monitor playback conditions and automatically switch between CDN sources without requiring complex external management. The client independently handles CDN selection, monitoring, and switching based on real-time playback status, maintaining high reliability while managing complexity through decentralized autonomous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The implementation applies dynamics by making the CDN selection flexible and adaptive rather than static. The system dynamically adjusts which CDN source is used based on real-time playback conditions, allowing the configuration to change automatically during operation. This dynamic approach maintains playback continuity while managing complexity through adaptive rather than rigid multi-CDN management.
Data Source
AI summary
In some embodiments, a method receives one or more segments for content from a first content delivery network during a playback session for the content. The content includes a number of segments. The method evaluates buffer occupancy of a buffer configured to store segments of the content for playback and evaluates a number of times of a failure to download a segment for the content. The buffer occupancy is compared to a first threshold and the number of times of the failure to a second threshold. The method determines a switch from the first content delivery network to a second content delivery network during the playback session based on the comparing.