Multicast assisted delivery
View Patent ↗Described is a method of delivering content over network using an approach referred to here as “Multicast Assisted Unicast Delivery” (MAUD), as a multicast network is used to assist, rather than substituting for, an otherwise unicast path. Content is requested by client devices from a content server over unicast. These unicast requests are sent via a first and a second proxy, before being sent by the second proxy to the content server, all over unicast. The responses containing the requested content is sent back to the second proxy over unicast from the content server. The second proxy processes the received unicast responses and sends the responses over a multicast stream to the first proxy. The first proxy processes the received responses and sends them onto the requesting client devices over unicast.
1 . A method of delivering content to a client device in a network comprising a plurality of client devices, said method comprising:
i) receiving at a first network node a request for content from one of the client devices over unicast, and sending that request to a second network node over unicast;
ii) receiving the request for content at the second network node from the first network node, and then sending a corresponding request onto a content server over unicast;
iii) receiving the content that has been requested by the request for content at the second network node from the content server over unicast, and in response sending the content that has been received by the second network node to the first network node over multicast; and
iv) receiving the content from the second network node at the first network node, and sending the content to the client device, that sent the request for content received at the first network node, over unicast.
2 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the request from one of the client devices is a HTTP GET request.
3 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the corresponding request is a HTTP GET request.
4 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the corresponding request is a HTTP HEAD request.
5 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the content received at the second network node is cached.
6 . A method according to claim 5 , wherein the cached content is provided to other client devices requesting that content.
7 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the requested content received at the second network node is reformatted and pushed over multicast to the first network node.
8 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the content is media content.
9 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein the media content comprises a video sequence.
10 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second network nodes are proxy servers.
11 . A system for delivering content to a client device in a network comprising a plurality of client devices, said system comprising a first network node and a second network node, wherein
the first network node is adapted to receive a request for content from one of the client devices over unicast, and to send that request to the second network node over unicast;
the second network node is adapted to receive the request for content from the first network node, and to then send a corresponding request onto a content server over unicast;
the second network node is further adapted to receive the content that has been requested by the request for content at the second network node from the content server over unicast, and in response to send the content that has been received by the second network node to the first network node over multicast; and
the first network node is further adapted to receive the content from the second network node, and to send the content to the client device, that sent the request for content received by the first network node, over unicast.
12 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first network node is configured to send a consumption report including information on a uniform resource locator (URL) of a HTTP request.
13 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first network node and the second network node are configured for multicast assisted delivery when a certain number of client devices request a same content.
14 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first network node is configured to receive a matching pattern, and redirect any URL request at least partially matching the matching pattern to the second network node.
15 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein both unicast and multicast paths are established between the first network node and the second network node, but only unicast paths are established between the client device and the first network node, and only unicast paths are established between the second network node and the content server.
16 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first network node sends a consumption report including information on a uniform resource locator (URL) of a HTTP request.
17 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the first network node and the second network node for multicast assisted delivery when a certain number of client devices request a same content.
18 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first network node receives a matching pattern, and redirects any URL request at least partially matching the matching pattern to the second network node.
19 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein both unicast and multicast paths are established between the first network node and the second network node, but only unicast paths are established between the client device and the first network node, and only unicast paths are established between the second network node and the content server.
20 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first and second network nodes are proxy servers.