Policy based content service
View Patent ↗Serving user selected content in accordance with a service policy is disclosed. The user may select content from a content source to be accessed at a mobile device. The desired content is modified as necessary such that transmission of the content complies with a policy. Alternatively, only content that complies with the policy may be made available for selection. The manner in which a policy is defined and the content provided may be determined by various factors including mobile device capabilities, user preferences, and network conditions.
1. A method comprising:
forwarding, by a content server, a request for content initiated by a mobile device to content source,
wherein the content is located at the content source;
processing, by the content server, metadata associated with requested content to determine if whether the requested content complies with a policy, responsive to forwarding the request to the content source, the metadata associated with the requested content is received from the content source without the requested content, and
wherein the policy includes a service provider policy to enforce service policy on the mobile device;
instructing the content source to modify the requested response content by changing an image file or video file from a first size to a second size to comply with the policy, and
instructing the content source to transfer the content to the mobile device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device from the content source via the content server.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device directly from the content source.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device via a proxy.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy specifies at least one of a file format and file size.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy is further based, at least in part, on at least one of a mobile device capability and a user preference.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
instructing the content source to modify the requested content by reformatting the content from a video file having a first frame rate to a video file having a second frame rate.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
instructing the content source to modify the requested content by reformatting an image file or video file from a first file format to a second file format to comply with the policy.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy specifies a bit rate.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy specifies a DRM limitation.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request for content comprises a selection of video content from a user of the mobile device, the selection indicating the video from the list of content located at a content source.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein instructing the content source to transfer the content to the mobile device if the requested content complies with the policy comprises sending instructions to the content source directing the content source to transfer the video content to the content server.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
in response to determining that video content does not comply with the policy specifying a particular video file format, converting the file format of the video content to comply with the policy,
wherein, the policy specifies the particular video file format, and
wherein, the policy is, at least in part, specified by a service provider.
14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having programming instructions stored thereon that when executed by one or more computer processors of a content server, cause the content server to:
forward a request for content initiated by a mobile device to a content source, the request initiated by a mobile device;
process metadata associated with requested content to determine whether transfer of the requested content complies with a policy,
responsive to forwarding the request to the content source, the metadata associated with the requested content is received from the content source without the requested content, and
wherein the policy specifies a bandwidth at which transfer occurs and is, at least in part, specified by a service provider;
instructing the content source to modify the requested response content by changing an image file or video file from a first size to a second size to comply with the policy, and
instruct the content source to transfer the content to the mobile device.
15. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device via the content server.
16. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device directly from the content source.
17. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device via a proxy.
18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the policy specifies at least one of a file format and file size.
19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the policy is further based, at least in part, on mobile device capability.
20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the policy is based on user preferences.
21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the policy specifies a bit rate.
22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the policy specifies a DRM limitation.
23. A system comprising:
one or more processors;
a memory unit having programming instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
forward a request for content initiated by a mobile device to a content source, wherein the content is located at the content source;
process metadata associated with requested content to determine if the requested content complies with a policy,
responsive to forwarding the request to the content source, the metadata associated with the requested content is received from the content source without the requested content, and
wherein the policy includes a service provider policy to enforce service policy on the mobile device;
instructing the content source to modify the requested response content by changing an image file or video file from a first size to a second size to comply with the policy, and
instructing the content source to transfer the content to the mobile device.
24. The system of claim 23 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device from the content source via the content server.
25. The system of claim 23 , wherein the requested content is transferred to the mobile device directly from the content source or via a proxy.
26. The system of claim 23 , wherein the policy specifies a file format and file size.
27. The system of claim 23 , wherein the policy is based, at least in part, on at least one of a mobile device capability and a user preference.