Terminal Caching for Mobile Content Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing content delivery networks (CDNs) are limited in their ability to provide reliable video-on-demand services to mobile users due to transient signal degradation and lack of support for IP multicast, leading to network congestion and reduced user experience.
Innovation Solution
Implementing terminal caching that predicts and preloads content, allowing users to access cached content even when out of range and reducing network load by using wireless broadcast to fill device-level caches and separate storage for CDN content.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If content is delivered via unicast to each user individually, then each user receives dedicated content transmission, but network bandwidth consumption increases significantly when multiple users request the same content simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by predicting which content users are likely to request and pre-loading it into terminal caches before the actual requests occur. This allows content to be delivered via wireless broadcast to multiple terminals simultaneously, reducing the need for repeated unicast transmissions and lowering network bandwidth consumption during peak demand periods
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces terminal caches as intermediary storage between the content delivery network and end users. These caches act as mediators that store predicted content locally, allowing users to access content without continuous network connectivity and reducing the load on the core network by serving content from the edge
2Loss of energy
If CDN caches are used to store content closer to users, then network load is reduced, but mobile users experience service disruption when moving between cell sites or experiencing signal degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extends the CDN architecture from traditional network-edge caching to device-level caching, adding a new dimension of storage capacity at the terminal. This allows content to be cached directly on mobile devices, providing service continuity even when users move between cell sites or experience signal degradation, as content can be retrieved from local device storage rather than requiring continuous network connectivity
Solution Approach 2:
The system predicts content that mobile users are likely to request and pre-loads it into their terminal caches before they need it. This preliminary action ensures that content is available locally even when users experience transient signal degradation or move outside the coverage area of the cell site where the CDN cache is located
3Loss of energy
If wireless broadcast is used to deliver content to multiple users, then network efficiency is improved, but IP multicast support is required which is not available in all cellular networks
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of relying on IP multicast copying mechanisms that require specific network support, the patent uses predictive content copying to terminal caches. The system copies predicted content to individual terminal caches based on usage patterns, then delivers it via standard wireless broadcast or unicast mechanisms that are universally supported across all cellular networks, eliminating the need for specialized IP multicast infrastructure
4Reliability
If terminal caches are filled with predicted content, then users can access content offline, but cache storage space is limited and must be managed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by customizing cache content for each terminal based on individual user behavior patterns, device characteristics, and local context. Instead of uniformly caching the same content across all terminals, the system predicts and caches different content for different users based on their specific needs and usage patterns, maximizing the utility of limited cache storage space at each terminal
Data Source
AI summary
A telecommunication system can include a control device and a network gateway. The control device can determine cache-update instructions by operating trained computational models. The network gateway can receive cache-update instructions from the control device and transmit corresponding items of content to network terminals. In some examples, the network terminals can receive the items of content and store them in respective content caches at the at the network terminals. In some examples, the control device can determine respective content scores for at least two items of content; cluster the at least two items of content based at least in part on usage data associated with the network terminals to determine respective cluster labels for the at least two items of content; and determine the cache-update instructions based at least in part on the content scores, the cluster labels, and network-resource information.