DISTRIBUTION OF MULTI-MEDIA CONTENT TO A USER DEVICE
A method begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing module determining, for multi-media content that has not been released, access priority for a user device and selecting a pre-release data distribution protocol and a post-release data distribution protocol. The method continues with the DS processing module distributing a plurality of pre-release sub-sets of a plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the user device in accordance with the selected pre-release data distribution protocol, wherein the multi-media content is dispersed storage error encoded to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices. The method continues with the DS processing module distributing a plurality of second sub-sets of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the user device in accordance with the selected post-release data distribution protocol.
1 . A method comprises:
determining, for multi-media content that has not been released, access priority for a user device;
selecting one of a plurality of pre-release data distribution protocols based on the access priority to produce a selected pre-release data distribution protocol;
selecting one of a plurality of post-release data distribution protocols based on the access priority to produce a selected post-release data distribution protocol;
distributing a plurality of pre-release sub-sets of a plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the user device in accordance with the selected pre-release data distribution protocol, wherein the multi-media content is dispersed storage error encoded to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices and wherein a first pre-release sub-set of the plurality of pre-release sub-sets includes less than a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of a set of encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices; and
subsequent to release of the multi-media content, distributing a plurality of post-release sub-sets of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the user device in accordance with the selected post-release data distribution protocol, wherein a first post-release sub-set of the plurality of post-release sub-sets includes one or more encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices such that the first pre-release sub-set and the first post-release sub-set includes at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the access priority comprises:
interpreting pre-order information of the user device to identify one of a plurality of priority levels of access to the multi-media content.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of priority levels of access comprises two or more of:
a data reliability indication;
a data resolution indication;
an availability indicator;
a distribution cost indicator; and
a storage indicator.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the access priority comprises:
identifying the user device as having a maintenance program for purchased multi-media content, wherein the multi-media content is an update to the purchased multi-media content.
5 . The method of claim 1 further comprises:
the access priority including a pre-release access priority and a post-release access priority;
selecting the one of the plurality of pre-release data distribution protocols based on the pre-release access priority; and
selecting the one of the plurality of post-release data distribution protocols based on the post-release access priority.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of pre-release data distribution protocols comprises two or more of:
a number of encoded data slices to include in the first pre-release sub-set;
a time frame for sending the plurality of pre-release sub-sets to the user device;
a network connection preference to the user device; and
an assurance level of the user device receiving the plurality of pre-release sub-sets prior to the release of the multi-media content.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of post-release data distribution protocols comprises two or more of:
a number of encoded data slices to include in the first post-release sub-set;
a time frame for sending the plurality of post-release sub-sets to the user device;
a network connection preference to the user device; and
an assurance level of the user device receiving the plurality of post-release sub-sets in a given time frame subsequent to the release of the multi-media content.
8 . A dispersed storage (DS) module comprises:
a first module, when operable within a computing device, causes the computing device to:
determine, for multi-media content that has not been released, access priority for a user device;
a second module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
select one of a plurality of pre-release data distribution protocols based on the access priority to produce a selected pre-release data distribution protocol; and
select one of a plurality of post-release data distribution protocols based on the access priority to produce a selected post-release data distribution protocol; and
a third module, when operable within the computing device, causes the computing device to:
distribute a plurality of pre-release sub-sets of a plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the user device in accordance with the selected pre-release data distribution protocol, wherein the multi-media content is dispersed storage error encoded to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices and wherein a first pre-release sub-set of the plurality of pre-release sub-sets includes less than a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of a set of encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices; and
subsequent to release of the multi-media content, distribute a plurality of post-release sub-sets of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices to the user device in accordance with the selected post-release data distribution protocol, wherein a first post-release sub-set of the plurality of post-release sub-sets includes one or more encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices such that the first pre-release sub-set and the first post-release sub-set includes at least a decode threshold number of encoded data slices of the set of encoded data slices.
9 . The DS module of claim 8 , wherein the first module is operable to determine the access priority by:
interpreting pre-order information of the user device to identify one of a plurality of priority levels of access to the multi-media content.
10 . The DS module of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of priority levels of access comprises two or more of:
a data reliability indication;
a data resolution indication;
an availability indicator;
a distribution cost indicator; and
a storage indicator.
11 . The DS module of claim 8 , wherein the first module is operable to determine the access priority by:
identifying the user device as having a maintenance program for purchased multi-media content, wherein the multi-media content is an update to the purchased multi-media content.
12 . The DS module of claim 8 further comprises:
the access priority including a pre-release access priority and a post-release access priority;
the second module is further operable to:
select the one of the plurality of pre-release data distribution protocols based on the pre-release access priority; and
select the one of the plurality of post-release data distribution protocols based on the post-release access priority.
13 . The DS module of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of pre-release data distribution protocols comprises two or more of:
a number of encoded data slices to include in the first pre-release sub-set;
a time frame for sending the plurality of pre-release sub-sets to the user device;
a network connection preference to the user device; and
an assurance level of the user device receiving the plurality of pre-release sub-sets prior to the release of the multi-media content.
14 . The DS module of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of post-release data distribution protocols comprises two or more of:
a number of encoded data slices to include in the first post-release sub-set;
a time frame for sending the plurality of post-release sub-sets to the user device;
a network connection preference to the user device; and
an assurance level of the user device receiving the plurality of post-release sub-sets in a given time frame subsequent to the release of the multi-media content.