System and method for optimizing real-time video-on-demand recording in a content delivery network

1. A method in a content delivery network, the method comprising:

delivering, with a multicast server, a content offering to an edge server beginning at a predetermined time, the delivering comprising delivering portions of content in succession, wherein each portion of content accompanied by an index fact datagram to be included in an index file stored at the edge server;

receiving, at a central server operable with the multicast server, a request for the content offering at a request time occurring after the predetermined time;

also delivering, with the central server, in response to the receiving:

one or more portions of the content offering;

an index file portion comprising all index fact datagrams delivered by the multicast server between the predetermined time and the request time; and

an instruction to the edge server to, when reaching a last index fact datagram of the index file portion, obtain any additional index fact datagrams corresponding to any additional portions of the content offering from the index file stored at the edge server.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each index fact datagram comprises a sequence number.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the sequence number is zero at the predetermined time.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the each index fact datagram comprises a content offering identifier.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the each index fact datagram comprises a byte offset in the content offering.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the each index fact datagram comprises a byte offset in one or more trick files corresponding to the content offering.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising also receiving a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) GET request for at least a portion of the content offering.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the delivering the content is in response to the also receiving the HTTP GET request.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising delivering trick content that is a function of data in the index fact datagram.

10. A method in a content delivery network, the method comprising:

transmitting, with an edge server, a request for a content offering beginning at a predetermined time, the transmitting occurring at a request time occurring after the predetermined time;

receiving, at the edge server, in response to the transmitting:

one or more portions of the content offering;

an index file corresponding to the one or more portions of the content offering; and

an instruction to, when reaching a portion of the content offering occurring at the request time, obtain index fact datagrams corresponding to any additional portions of the content from a multicast server; and

amending the index file with the index fact datagrams.

11. The method of claim 10 , the transmitting comprising sending an HTTP GET Request.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising delivering, with the edge server, trick content to a subscriber device that is a function of data in the index file.

13. The method of claim 10 , the index fact datagrams comprising a byte offset in the content offering.

14. The method of claim 10 , the index fact datagrams comprising a byte offset in one or more trick files corresponding to the content offering.

15. A server complex in a content delivery network, comprising:

a central server;

a multicast server; and

an edge server;

the central server comprising one or more processors to deliver, with the multicast server, a content offering to the edge server beginning at a predetermined time by transmitting, across a network, portions of content in succession, wherein each portion of content accompanied by an index fact datagram;

the edge server comprising another one or more processors to store, in a memory device at the edge server, each index fact datagram in an index file;

the one or more processors of the central server to receive a request for the content offering at a request time occurring after the predetermined time and to deliver one or more portions of the content offering, an index file portion comprising all index fact datagrams delivered by the multicast server between the predetermined time and the request time, and an instruction to the edge server to, when reaching a last index fact datagram of the index file portion, obtain any additional index fact datagrams corresponding to any additional portions of the content offering from the index file stored at the edge server.

16. The server complex of claim 15 , the another one or more processors to deliver trick content to a client device as a function of data in one or more of the additional index fact datagrams.

17. The server complex of claim 16 , the request comprising an HTTP GET request.

18. The server complex of claim 17 , the index fact datagram comprising a byte offset in the content offering.

19. The server complex of claim 17 , the index fact datagram comprising a byte offset in one or more trick files corresponding to the content offering.

20. The server complex of claim 17 , the index fact datagram comprising a sequence number, the sequence number set to zero at the predetermined time.