JP2003348561A - Vod system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] A VOD that can always use the storage capacity of a video server with high efficiency by the system itself monitoring the playback status of the content and automatically changing the storage status of the content according to the status. Providing a system. [Configuration] In a VOD system, a video server
In accordance with a request from the control server, the stored video content can be erased and copied to another video server, and the control server receives a reproduction request from a client and controls a reproduction instruction to the video server. A control unit, a content reproduction information database that manages history information of reproduction control, a storage state of the video content of the video server group is determined based on the content of the content reproduction information database, and erasure and deletion of the video content to the video server. It is composed of a content management adjustment unit that instructs other servers to copy.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a VOD (Video On
The present invention relates to a Demand) system, and more particularly to a video content management system capable of efficiently using the storage capacity of a video server in a VOD system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is a limit to the number of video servers used in a VOD system that can simultaneously provide video playback services due to factors such as the ability to read from a storage medium and the ability to transfer to a network.

Therefore, in order to simultaneously respond to reproduction requests from more clients, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of video servers (602-1 to 602-m) storing the same video content in the system are provided. It is conceivable to provide a control server 604 that collectively manages the reception of a request from a client and the selection of a video server to be reproduced. In this case, assuming that m video servers with n simultaneous access numbers are used, m × n simultaneous accessable numbers can be obtained in the entire system.

[0004] However, since the reproduction frequency of video contents is greatly different for each content as it is, storing rarely reproduced contents in all video servers makes efficient use of the storage capacity of the video servers. There is a problem from the point of view.

[0005] Therefore, instead of storing all video contents in all video servers, the number of video contents to be stored and which video server should be stored are determined in accordance with the reproduction frequency of the video contents and the status of simultaneous access. A method of changing is considered. That is, the video contents having a large number of reproduction requests and expected to be frequently accessed at the same time are stored in all servers, and the video contents expected to have low reproduction requests are stored in only one video server.

The effect of this method will be described with reference to FIG. 7 as an example.

[0007] There are four types of video contents A, B, C, and D, where A is content that is expected to be reproduced frequently,
B and C are contents that are expected to have few playback requests,
Is the content expected to be in the middle. Therefore, the administrator stores the content A in all the video servers, the content D in the video servers 702-1 and 702-2, and the content B / D in the video server 702.
Only 1 is stored.

[0008] The VOD control server 704 has the priority of the video server that reproduces each content. In this case, regarding the content A, "server 3>
Server 2> Server 1 ", content D is" Server 2> Server 1 ", and content BC is only" Server 1 ".

The maximum number of simultaneous accesses to each content in the entire system is as follows: if the simultaneous access number of one video server is n, the content A is n ×
3. The content D is n × 2, and the content B and C are n, but the reproduction frequency of each content and the content with high reproduction frequency are preferentially reproduced from the video server in which other content is not stored much. Considering this, the number of simultaneous accesses of the entire system is almost n
It may be considered to have × 3 performance.

Thus, it is possible to reduce the capacity of the video server while securing the same simultaneous access performance as when all the video contents are stored in all the video servers.

[0011]

However, in the above method, the reproduction request frequency of each content must be determined based on the manager's expectation or statistical data within a limited period, and the actual situation may not be determined. May be different from expected, or the reproduction status of each content may change due to some factor.

For example, in the above-described example, the number of simultaneous accesses of the content B itself is n, and therefore, when the content B is frequently requested to be reproduced, (n +
1) The access is denied from the first access, and it can no longer be said that the simultaneous accessible number of the entire system has the performance of n × 3.

Therefore, it is necessary for the system administrator to change the storage state of the content in accordance with the changed reproduction situation. However, it is easy to manually analyze the reproduction frequency information of the content and change the storage state. is not.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to always increase the storage capacity of the video server by monitoring the content reproduction status by the system itself and automatically changing the storage status of the content according to the status. V available with efficiency
To provide an OD system.

[0015]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to a network for transmitting video signals and control signals, a plurality of video servers, a plurality of reproduction clients, and a reproduction request between a client and a video server. In a VOD system including a control server, the video server can delete stored video content and copy it to another video server in accordance with a request from the control server, and the control server A playback control unit that receives a playback request from a client and controls a playback instruction to the video server, a content playback information database that manages playback control history information, and a video of the video server group based on the contents of the content playback information database. The storage state of the content is determined, and the video server Characterized in that it is constituted from the content management adjustment unit for erasing and instructions replication to other servers Ceiling.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of this embodiment.

Reference numeral 101 denotes a network, which is a video signal,
Control signal between client and control server, video server
A control signal is transmitted between the control servers. In this example, a case is considered in which the video signal and the control signal are transmitted on the same network, but a configuration in which the video signal and the control signal are transmitted on different networks may be used.

Reference numerals 102-1 to 102-S denote S video servers, which function to transmit a video signal of a specified video content to a specified playback client via the network 101 in accordance with an instruction from the VOD control server 104. And a function of deleting the video content specified according to the instruction from the VOD control server, and a function of copying the video content specified according to the instruction from the VOD control server to another specified video server. In addition, the number of simultaneously accessible devices is n.

Reference numerals 103-1 to 103-C denote C playback clients, which have a function of sending a playback request for a designated video content to the VOD control server and a function of receiving a video signal transmitted from the video server. It has the function of decrypting and displaying it on the screen.

Reference numeral 104 denotes a VOD control server, which includes a playback control unit 105, a content playback history database 106,
The content management / adjustment unit 107 includes a timer 108.

Reference numeral 105 denotes a reproduction control unit, which receives a video content reproduction request from a reproduction client;
It has a function to issue a playback instruction to the video server and a function to register the playback history in the content playback history database. Also, a content management table as shown in FIG. 2 is held therein, and information such as which video content is stored in which video server and information which video content is currently being reproduced from which video server are stored. Managing.

Reference numeral 106 denotes a content reproduction history database, which stores the number of times of reproduction of each video content per unit time, the frequency of simultaneous reproduction of video contents, the number of refusal of reproduction of each video content, and the like, as shown in FIG. The content is updated according to an instruction from the reproduction control unit 105.

Reference numeral 107 denotes a content management adjustment unit having a function of starting content management adjustment processing in response to an instruction from the timer 108. Details of the content management adjustment process will be described later.

Reference numeral 108 denotes a timer having a function of instructing the content management adjustment unit 107 to start content management adjustment processing at a predetermined cycle.

The details of the content management adjustment process in the content management adjustment section 107 will be described below.

The content management adjustment unit 107 has a timer 1
When there is an instruction to start processing from step 08, the content reproduction history database 106 is referred to, and according to a predetermined video content storage state determination algorithm, each video content is stored in any video server in the latest reproduction request occurrence situation. And derive what is optimal.

As the simplest example of the video content storage state determination algorithm, a method of determining the storage number of contents in the entire system from the number of reproduction times using a predetermined table as shown in FIG. 4 is considered. Can be

Next, when the storage state is derived, it is compared with the current storage state of the content management table held by the reproduction control unit 105, and each of the video servers 102-1 to 102-S is adjusted to match the derived storage state. In response to this, an instruction to delete the video content or to copy the video content to another video server is issued to actually reflect the instruction.

Finally, the content management table of the reproduction control unit 105 is updated to a newly derived and reflected storage state, and the processing is terminated.

Although depending on the operation mode of the system, the period in which the timer instructs the start of the content management adjustment process is set to 24 hours, and the storage state of the video content is reviewed at night when there is no reproduction request. That operation is conceivable.

In the present embodiment, the simplest example using the table shown in FIG. 4 as the video content storage state determination algorithm has been described. However, the operation status of the system (the number of video servers, the number of playback clients, Depending on the number of contents, etc.)
In some cases, it is necessary to derive using a more complicated algorithm.

In the present embodiment, the start of the content management adjustment process is instructed by the timer 108. However, as shown in FIG. 5, an external input device 508 is provided instead of the timer to control the content management adjustment. A method of manually inputting a processing start instruction from outside may be considered.

[0034]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, the system itself monitors the reproduction status of the content and automatically changes the storage state of the content in accordance with the status, whereby the video is always displayed. It has become possible to provide a VOD system that can use the storage capacity of the server with high efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a content management table of a reproduction control unit.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a content reproduction history database.

FIG. 4 is a table for determining the number of stored contents in the content management adjustment process.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a system configuration according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional system configuration.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a conventional system configuration.

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 501, 601, 701 Network 102-1 to 102-S, 502-1 to 502-S Video Servers 602-1 to 602-S, 702-1 to 702-S Video Servers 103-1 to 103-C, 503-1 to 503-C playback clients 603-1 to 603-C, 703-1 to 703-C playback clients 104, 504, 604, and 704V
OD control server 105, 505 playback control unit 106, 506 content playback history database 107, 507 content management adjustment unit 108 timer 508 external input device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A VOD system comprising a network for transmitting video signals and control signals, a plurality of video servers, a plurality of reproduction clients, and a control server for processing a reproduction request between a client and a video server, wherein the video server is In accordance with a request from the control server, the stored video content can be deleted and copied to another video server, and the control server accepts a reproduction request from the client and issues a reproduction instruction to the video server. A playback control unit for controlling, a content playback information database for managing history information of playback control, a storage state of video content of the video server group is determined based on contents of the content playback information database, and a video content is determined for the video server. Command to delete and to copy to other servers VOD system characterized by being comprised of Ceiling management adjustment unit. 2. The VOD system according to claim 1, wherein the control server includes a periodic timer for instructing a timing of determining and reflecting a storage state of the video content in the content management adjustment unit. 3. The VOD system according to claim 1, wherein the control server includes an input device for externally instructing a timing of determining and reflecting a storage state of the video content in the content management adjustment unit.