DISTRIBUTED SECURE DATA STORAGE AND TRANSMISSION OF STREAMING MEDIA CONTENT
Disclosed is a method for the distributed storage and distribution of data. Original data is divided into fragments and erasure encoding is performed on it. The divided fragments are dispersedly stored on a plurality of storage mediums, preferably that are geographically remote from one another. When access to the data is requested, the fragments are transmitted through a network and reconstructed into the original data. In certain embodiments, the original data is media content which is steamed to a user from the distributed storage.
1 . A method of processing media content, comprising the steps of:
separating the media content into a plurality of file slices;
generating metadata for the reassembly of media content from the file slices;
erasure coding the file slices, wherein the slices are divided into discrete file slice fragments;
generating metadata for the reassembly of the file slices from the file slice fragments; and
sending the file slice fragments to a plurality of dispersed networked storage nodes, wherefrom the media content may be retrieved and reconstructed using the metadata.
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the media content is not recognizable from the erasure-coded file slice fragments.
3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the step of erasure coding is performed across a plurality of data processors.
4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising the steps of:
receiving at a client decoder the file slice fragments from the networked storage nodes; and
reconstructing the media content according to the metadata.
5 . The method of claim 4 wherein the media content is one of streaming video and audio content, and wherein the step of reconstructing the media content is performed contemporaneously during playback of the media content.
6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the steps of receiving and reconstructing are performed in response to a client request for the media content; and/or wherein each file slice fragment is assigned a unique identifier and the metadata indicates the location of each file slice fragment in the plurality of dispersed networked storage nodes based on its unique identifier; and/or wherein the step of erasure coding results in at least a thirty percent data redundancy level.
7 . The method of claim 6 , third alternative, wherein the number and identify of the storage nodes are selected by a content provider to reduce the latency of the storage node network.
8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the storage nodes are located in physically separated devices.
9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the physically separated devices are geographically dispersed.
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein no one storage node has sufficient information to allow reconstruction of the media content.
11 . A method of receiving media content, comprising the steps of:
requesting media content stored across a plurality of dispersed networked storage nodes as erasure-coded file slice fragments;
receiving at a client decoder the erasure-coded file slice fragments and metadata containing information for reconstruction of the media content from the file slice fragments; and
reconstructing the media content at the client decoder from the file slice fragments based on the metadata.
12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the media content is one of streaming video and audio content.
13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the media content is unrecognizable from the file slice fragments.
14 . The method of claim 11 wherein each file slice fragment is assigned a unique identifier that indicates the location of the file slice fragment in the plurality of dispersed networked storage nodes; and/or wherein the number and identify of the storage nodes are selected by a content provider to reduce the latency of the storage node network.
15 . (canceled)
16 . A method for distributed processing and storage of data, comprising the steps of:
dividing a data file into a plurality of file slices;
providing a plurality of data processors for receiving the file slices, each data processor erasure coding at least one of the file slices to generate a plurality of unrecognizable file slice fragments;
storing the file slice fragments in a network of storage nodes, wherein no one storage node has sufficient information to allow reconstruction of the data file.
17 . The method of claim 16 wherein the step of erasure coding divides a file slice having m segments into a plurality of n unrecognizable file slice fragments, where n>m, by using a data mixer algorithm that permits reconstruction of the n file slice fragments from any m file slice fragments.
18 . The method of claim 17 wherein the data mixer algorithm uses a Cauchy matrix as a generator matrix; or wherein the data mixer algorithm uses a Vandermonde matrix as a generator matrix.
19 . The method of claim 5 wherein the steps of receiving and reconstructing are performed in response to a client request for the media content.
20 . The method of claim 5 wherein each file slice fragment is assigned a unique identifier and the metadata indicates the location of each file slice fragment in the plurality of dispersed networked storage nodes based on its unique identifier.
21 - 29 . (canceled)