VIRTUAL SLICER APPLIANCE

Number: 20180241793
Published: 2018-08-23
Filed: 2017-02-17
Assignee: Disney Enterprises, Inc.
Inventors: DELLOSA; Robert
CPC: H04L65/611; H04L65/765; H04L65/70; G06F9/45558
Verdict: Set aside virtual-machine/cloud infra (virtual slicer appliance)
Source: Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline

Abstract

The disclosure provides an approach for virtualizing a slicer server. A slicer program running in a virtual machine receives a multicast Internet Protocol (IP) signal, re-encodes the signal to a streaming-friendly format, and pushes the re-encoded signal to a content distribution network that distributes the video signal to clients either live or on demand. In one embodiment, a new virtual machine including the slicer is cloned from a template for each broadcast channel that is created, with the newly-cloned VM being used to process IP signals for the corresponding broadcast channel. In addition, the slicer running in the VM may transmit to the content delivery network a time sequence indicating when content in the re-encoded signal should be streamed for play out, and the time sequence may be based on a time that is synchronized to an external server.

Background

BACKGROUNDField of the Invention

Embodiments of the disclosure presented herein relate to broadcast delivery systems and, more specifically, to a slicer program deployed in a virtual machine.Description of the Related Art

Traditional on-air broadcast delivery systems rely on hardware-based appliance solutions. For example, a server for providing streaming content of a broadcast channel may consist of two physical rack-mounted server computers, two decklink cards for video capture over serial digital interface (SDI), and two timecode cards. Two physical servers are required per channel so that, if one server goes down, the other can take over.

Such traditional physical servers are expensive, not portable, and do not share server or storage architectures. For example, two physical rack-mounted servers can cost $8,000 to $10,000, and this figure doubles when another two physical servers are deployed at a secondary location for disaster recovery purposes. Further, physical servers cannot be easily moved (e.g., from one datacenter to another), limit the broadcast delivery system to particular server hardware, and do not decrease datacenter footprint or energy by taking advantage of a shared server or storage architecture.SUMMARY

One embodiment of this disclosure provides a computer-implemented method for uploading content to a content delivery network. The method includes cloning, for a first channel, a first virtual machine (VM) including a slicer program

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for uploading content to a content delivery network, comprising: for a first channel, cloning a first virtual machine (VM) including a slicer program from a predefined template; and executing the first VM, wherein, during the execution of the first VM, the slicer performs operations including: receiving an internet protocol (IP) signal of a broadcast channel, re-encoding the IP signal of the broadcast channel to a re-encoded signal, and transmitting the re-encoded signal to the content delivery network for distribution to one or more clients. 9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, which, when executed by a processor performs operations for uploading content to a content delivery network, the operations comprising: for a first channel, cloning a first virtual machine (VM) including a slicer program from a predefined template; and executing the first VM, wherein, during the execution of the first VM, the slicer performs steps including: receiving an internet protocol (IP) signal of a broadcast channel, re-encoding the IP signal of the broadcast channel to a re-encoded signal, and transmitting the re-encoded signal to the content delivery network for distribution to one or more clients. 17. A system, comprising: a processor; and a memory, wherein the memory includes a program configured to perform operations for uploading content to a content delivery network, the operations comprising: for a first channel, cloning a first virtual machine (VM) including a slicer program from a predefined template, and executing the first VM, wherein, during the execution of the first VM, the slicer performs steps including: receiving an internet protocol (IP) signal of a broadcast channel; re-encoding the IP signal of the broadcast channel to a re-encoded signal; and transmitting the re-encoded signal to the content delivery network for distribution to one or more clients.