Unified Content File Packaging for Edge Cache Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems divide content representations into multiple segments and store them as separate files across various network levels, leading to inefficiencies in storage and management, as well as increased complexity in accessing and delivering content to user devices.
Innovation Solution
Content is packaged into files containing multiple representations, allowing user devices to request and receive different content representations within a single communication session, with edge caches storing segments locally to reduce network load and improve delivery efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If content representations are divided into multiple segments and stored as separate files across network levels, then content can be accessed by networking devices and user devices, but storage complexity and management difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple content representations into a single file format that contains both the content data and representation metadata. This merging eliminates the need to manage separate files for each representation, reducing storage complexity while maintaining the ability to access different content representations through a unified interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified file format serves multiple functions: it stores content data, embeds representation metadata, and provides a single access point for retrieving different representations. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction by making the storage system universally applicable to all representation types without requiring separate management mechanisms.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple separate files are stored at multiple network levels for each content item, then content delivery can be customized to user device capabilities, but the number of files to be managed and transmitted increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple representation files into a single unified file that contains all representation data. This reduces the quantity of files from multiple separate files to just one file per content item, while the embedded metadata enables continued customization of content delivery based on user device capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
While merging files, the patent segments the content within the unified file into distinct representation portions using metadata markers. This allows the system to deliver specific representations by referencing segments within the single file, maintaining adaptability without requiring multiple separate files.
3Adaptability or versatility
If content is delivered in multiple representations through separate file transfers, then user devices can receive appropriate content versions, but communication session complexity and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple representation deliveries into a single communication session by embedding all representations in one file. This eliminates the need for multiple separate file transfers, reducing communication latency while maintaining the ability to deliver appropriate representations based on user device capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary organization of all content representations into a single unified file structure before transmission. This preliminary action enables the server to deliver all representations in one go during a single communication session, avoiding the latency of multiple sequential transfers while still allowing selective delivery of appropriate representations.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing device may receive, in a communication session, a request for a first portion of content (e.g., video, audio, audio/video, web-based content, games, applications, data, etc.) at a first representation. The first representation may be associated with a first video resolution. The computing device may send the first portion of the content to the user device at the first representation. The computing device may receive, in the communication session, a second request for a second portion of the content at a second representation. The second representation may be associated with a second video resolution that is different from the first video resolution. The computing device may send, in the communication session, the second portion of the content to the user device at the second representation.