Granted Patent B2

US 12,739,451 · App. 19/031,371 · Granted Sep 15, 2026

Inventor: Michael Gordon (Paradise Valley, AZ)

Assignee: Adela Media Holdings Inc.

H04N21/23439H04L65/612H04L65/75H04L65/752H04L65/80H04N21/2402H04N21/8456

Abstract

Claims (47)

1 . A method of generating index information for adaptive streaming video delivery, comprising:

monitoring, by an index handler, operating characteristics of a plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers, wherein the index handler receives information regarding performance of a given independently managed network of segment file servers from a cluster performance manager of the given independently managed network, wherein the cluster performance manager directly monitors infrastructure components within the given independently managed network;

receiving from a user device, by the index handler, a request for obtaining video content;

generating index information, using the index handler, designating at least two networks from the plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers for retrieval of the video content based upon the monitored operating characteristics, wherein:

the index information comprises separate information for each of the designated at least two networks; and

the separate information for a given network from the designated at least two networks enables the user device to request an index file for the requested video content from the given network; and

issuing to the user device, by the index handler, the index information.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein designation of the at least two networks is further based upon geographic locations of networks in the plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein designation of the at least two networks is further based upon a geographic location of a name server receiving the request for obtaining the video content.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the designated at least two networks are assigned priorities based upon a distribution policy.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the index handler is a member of a cluster of index handlers, and the method further comprising selecting the receiving index handler from the cluster of index handlers to receive the request based on at least one of: the requesting user device, deterministic distribution of requests, the receiving index handler having previously processed requests for the video content, or relative network distance from the receiving index handler to a location of the user device.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising assigning a session ID, and incorporating the session ID in the index information.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each independently managed network is a content delivery network.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitored operating characteristics comprise at least one of: availability, performance, load, network performance, or whether the video content is in memory.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein designation of the at least two networks comprises providing a hostname for a network as part of the index information.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the index information is stored in a first index file, and issuing the index information to the user device comprises transmitting the first index file to the user device.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising requesting, by the user device using the index information, the video content from a first network of the designated at least two networks.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving in response to the requesting, by the user device, an index file from the first network, the index file comprising a plurality of uniform resource locators (URLs) for requesting segments of the video content from one or more segment file servers in the first network.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the segments of the video content are stored within video segment files.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving in response to the requesting, by the user device, an index file from the first network, the index file comprising a plurality of uniform resource locators (URLs) for requesting segments of the video content from one or more segment file server clusters in the first network.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the segments of the video content are stored within video segment files.

16 . A method of generating index information for adaptive streaming video delivery, comprising:

monitoring, by an index handler, operating characteristics of a plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers, wherein the index handler receives information regarding performance of a given independently managed network of segment file servers from a cluster performance manager of the given independently managed network, wherein the cluster performance manager directly monitors infrastructure components within the given independently managed network;

receiving from a user device, by the index handler, a request for obtaining video content;

generating index information, using the index handler, designating at least two networks from the plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers for retrieval of the video content based upon the monitored operating characteristics, where each designated network is assigned a priority, where:

the index information comprises separate information for each of the designated at least two networks; and

the separate information for a given network from the designated at least two networks enables the user device to request an index file for the requested video content from the given network;

issuing to the user device, by the index handler, the index information;

requesting, by the user device using the index information, the video content from a first network of the designated at least two independently managed networks; and

receiving, by the user device, the video content from the first network.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein each independently managed network is a content delivery network.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the index information is stored in an index file, and issuing the index information to the user device comprises transmitting the index file to the user device.

19 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting, by the user device, a network for delivery of the video content from the designated at least two networks.

20 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising selecting, by the user device, the first network from the designated at least two networks.

21 . A method of generating index information for adaptive streaming video delivery, comprising:

monitoring, by an index handler, operating characteristics of a plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers, wherein the index handler receives information regarding performance of a given independently managed network of segment file servers from a cluster performance manager of the given independently managed network, wherein the cluster performance manager directly monitors infrastructure components within the given independently managed network;

receiving from a user device, by the index handler, a request for obtaining a particular video;

generating, using the index handler, index information comprising information designating at least two networks from the plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers for retrieval of the video content based upon the monitored operating characteristics, where the information designating the at least two networks is capable of enabling the user device at a later point in time to select a network from the at least two networks that is determined to be best suited to handle requests for video segment files of the particular video, where:

the index information comprises separate information for each of the designated at least two networks; and

the separate information for a given network from the designated at least two networks enables the user device to request an index file for the requested video content from the given network; and

issuing to the user device, by the index handler, the index information.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein designation of the at least two networks is further based upon a geographic location of networks in the plurality of independently managed networks of segment file servers.

23 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the designated at least two networks are assigned priorities based upon a distribution policy.

24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the index handler is a member of a cluster of index handlers, and the method further comprises selecting the index handler from the cluster of index handlers to receive the request based on at least one of: the requesting user device, deterministic distribution of requests, the receiving index handler having previously processed requests for the video content, or relative network distance to a location of the user device from the receiving index handler.

25 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising assigning a session ID, and incorporating the session ID in the index information.

26 . The method of claim 21 , wherein each independently managed network is a content delivery network, and wherein the monitored operating characteristics comprise at least one of: availability, performance, load, network performance, or whether the video content is in memory.

27 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the index information is stored in a first index file, and issuing the index information to the user device comprises transmitting the first index file to the user device.

Assignments (4)

Continuity (9)

References Cited (393)