Storage efficient content revalidation for multimedia assets

Number: 11563824
Published: 2023-01-24
Filed: 2020-11-09
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: Friedrich; Eric C. et al.
CPC: H04L67/568; G06F12/0802; G06F16/41; G06F16/48; G06F16/9574; H04L67/02
Verdict: Set aside CDN/storage caching, plumbing
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

Abstract

Techniques relating to caching a content object are disclosed. A first server receives a revalidation request, relating to a content object, from a requestor. It is determined that metadata, relating to the content object, is stored in a cache associated with the first server. In response, the first server determines not to retrieve the content object from a second server. The content object is not stored in the cache. A response to the revalidation request, indicating that the content object is not modified, is transmitted from the first server to the requestor, based on analyzing the metadata.

Background

BACKGROUND (1) Content libraries for modern media streaming services can be extremely large. For example, a content library may be larger than the storage capacity of a single cache cluster. In this circumstance, the cache cluster can keep a selected portion of the content library assets in cache. Choosing what content to store in cache, and what to evict, is a challenging problem. A poorly designed cache system can lead to voluminous cache requests (e.g., network requests to a networked cache), which can be highly inefficient and swamp computing and network resources. (2) For example, a content delivery network (CDN) can include multiple levels of caching. One or more origin servers (also referred to as “origins” or “origin” herein) can be located at the center of a network and can maintain complete copies of the content library. One or more CDNs can be located at the network edge, in communication with users, and can include a cache that services a large percentage of requests from users (e.g., for the most popular content). One or more mid-tier servers, located in the middle between the origin server and the CDNs, can include additional caching to service most of the remaining requests from users (e.g., for less popular but still somewhat popular content). (3) CDNs can be instructed to perform frequent revalidation requests (e.g., requests to ensure that cached content has not changed or expired) on content objects (e.g. segments of streaming media) cached at the CDNs. The

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method, comprising: receiving, at a first server from a requestor, a revalidation request relating to a content object; determining that metadata describing one or more characteristics of the content object is stored in a cache associated with the first server and that the content object is not stored in the cache, and in response: determining, at the first server, not to retrieve the content object from any source based on a hit-count relating to requests for the content, wherein the content object remains not stored in the cache after the determining; and transmitting from the first server to the requestor, based on analyzing the metadata, a response to the revalidation request indicating that the content object is not modified. || 11. A system, comprising: a processor; a memory storing a program, which, when executed on the processor, performs an operation, the operation comprising: receiving, at a first server from a requestor, a revalidation request relating to a content object; determining that metadata describing one or more characteristics of the content object is stored in a cache associated with the first server and that the content object is not stored in the cache, and in response: determining, at the first server, not to retrieve the content object from any source based on a hit-count relating to requests for the content, wherein the content object remains not stored in the cache after the determining; and transmitting from the first server to the requestor, based on analyzing the metadata, a response to the revalidation request indicating that the content object is not modified. || 18. A method comprising: receiving, at a mid-tier cluster from a content delivery network (CDN), a revalidation request relating to a content object; determining that metadata relating to describing one or more characteristics of the content object is not stored in a cache associated with the mid-tier cluster, and in response: determining not to retrieve the content object from any source based on a hit-count relating to requests for the content; sending a request to fetch the metadata from an origin server without requesting a content body of the content object; receiving the metadata from the origin server; and storing the metadata in the cache associated with the mid-tier cluster, without storing the content body of the content object in the cache.