WO2015161499A1

WO2015161499A1 - Method and apparatus for performing post-delivery process

Info

Publication number: WO2015161499A1
Application number: PCT/CN2014/076192
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jinyang Xie; Jie LING; Kun Chen
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2014-04-25
Filing date: 2014-04-25
Publication date: 2015-10-29
Anticipated expiration: 2016-10-25

Abstract

The embodiments disclose a method for performing post-delivery process executed by a UE in the content delivery network. The method comprises reading location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network; selecting a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information; and sending the post-delivery process message to the server. The embodiments also disclose a user equipment performing the method.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING POST-DELIVERY

PROCESS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present technology relates to the field of telecommunication, particularly to a method for performing post-delivery process in a content delivery network. The technology also relates to a user equipment (UE), a computer program and a storage medium. BACKGROUND

A content delivery network (CDN) is a large distributed system of servers deployed in multiple data centers across the Internet. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance. In a CDN built upon the infrastructure such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), an Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) is offered as a broadcasting service, whereby two typical use cases are described as below:

File delivery

As for distribution of top on-demand files to the UEs, the eMBMS system can apply the MBMS Download Delivery Method, e.g. User Datagram Protocol/File Delivery over Unidirectional Transport (UDP/FLUTE), as protocol to deliver top popular files such as Android update, YouTube clip preloading and top popular movies.

As illustrated in Fig. la, MBMS download can be used to deliver an arbitrary number of files from a single source, i.e. the Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC), to many receivers, i.e. the UE1 through the UEn. Here, the MBMS Download applies the FLUTE protocol for file delivery. The FLUTE is designed for massive file delivery over unidirectional links such as for digital broadcasts. When the missed data is so large that it can't be recovered by the Forward Error Correction (FEC) during the file delivery, the UEs must request the missed data to repair the received file after the completion of the file delivery, i.e. post-delivery file repairing. In addition, the UEs may also need to report the Reception Acknowledgement. Hence, two types of Associated Delivery Procedure (ADP) services are defined by the MBMS Service Layer. The file repair (FR) procedure ensures the reliability of transmissions for example using the FR server 120. The reception reporting (RR) procedure is used to collect reception statistics for example using the RR server 130.

Real time streaming

To deliver the live media content to UEs in highly gathered area such as stadium, the eMBMS system can apply the MBMS Streaming Delivery Method or MBMS Download Delivery Method as protocol to deliver live media contents to the UEs. Media contents according to Streaming delivery method are delivered as the Real Time Protocol (RTP/UDP). Media contents according to Hyper Text Transport Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS) Protocol or according to Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) are delivered as segment files over MBMS Download. After the completion of the real time streaming delivery, the UEs merely need to report the Reception statistics. For example, the UEs reports statistical information on the real time streaming reception to the RR servers 1 10 as illustrated in Fig l .a, or RR servers 1 10 and 130, as illustrated in Fig. lb.

In practice, dozens of ADP servers such as the FR and RR servers are provided to support the ADP services. According to the current protocols, the UE just randomly select one of them for its ADP service. As such, it's likely that the UE doesn't select the server close to it. For example, the UE in the Washington D.C. may try to download the repair content from the FR server located in Los Angeles, or the UE in the Hawaii may upload the reporting into the RR server in New York, as illustrated in Fig.2. This may result in unnecessary waste of backbone network bandwidth and longer response time from the server.

SUMMARY

It's an object of the present invention to resolve or alleviate at least one of the problems mentioned above.

A first aspect of present disclosure is a method for performing post-delivery process executed by a UE in the content delivery network. The method comprises reading location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network; selecting a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information; and sending the post-delivery process message to the server.

For example, by taking the location information of candidate servers participating in the post-delivery process into account, the UE may select a suitable one from them to involve in its post-delivery process, thereby for example saving the network bandwidth or reducing the response time from the server.

A second aspect of the present disclosure is a computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when running on a UE, cause the UE to perform the steps of the method described above.

A third aspect of the present disclosure is an apparatus for a UE. The apparatus is configured to perform post-delivery process in a content delivery network. It comprises a reading unit, a selecting unit and a sending unit. The reading unit is adapted to read location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network. The selecting unit is adapted to select a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information. The sending unit is adapted to send the post-delivery process message to the server.

A fourth aspect of the present disclosure is a user equipment comprising the apparatus described above.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The technology will be described herein, by way of example, based on embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Fig. la- lb illustrates a broadcast data transfer using MBMS service and the post-delivery procedures after the transferring;

Fig.2 schematically illustrates a user scenario selecting the server for the associated delivery procedures;

Fig.3 schematically illustrates a flowchart of performing the post-delivery process in the content delivery network in accordance with an embodiment;

Fig.4 illustrates a schematic view of selecting a server for the post-delivery process in accordance with an embodiment; and

Fig.5 illustrates a block view of an apparatus performing the post-delivery process in the content delivery network in accordance with an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments herein may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the appended claims. The elements of the drawings are not necessarily to scale relative to each other. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" "comprising," "includes" and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

The present technology is described below with reference to block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus (systems) and/or computer program according to the present embodiments. It is understood that blocks of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, may be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor, controller or controlling unit of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, and/or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer and/or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the block diagrams and/or flowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, the present technology may be embodied in hardware and/or in software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.). Examples of hardware that may be employed in various embodiments of the present disclosure include, but are not limited to, conventional microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Furthermore, the present technology may take the form of a computer program on a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium having computer-usable or computer-readable program code embodied in the medium for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system. In the context of this document, a computer-usable or computer-readable storage medium may be any medium that may contain, store, or is adapted to communicate the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Herein, by way of example, the content delivery network built upon the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, in particular the eMBMS in the LTE, will be used to set forth the present technology. It should be appreciated that the present disclosure is applicable to content delivery networks built upon various technologies such as the WiFi network, the Heterogeneous Network (Hetnet) network, etc. For example, in a WiFi network, the media content will delivered to UEs through the Access Point (AP). For the Hetnet network, the contents will be delivered over the LTE network, and Wifi broadcast network to density areas which are not covered by the LTE.

Embodiments herein will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig.3 schematically illustrates a flowchart of performing the post-delivery process in the content delivery network in accordance with an embodiment. The method 300 can be performed by a UE. The term "UE" used herein may indicates all forms of devices enabling the user to communicate via a wired/ wireless communication network, such as smart phone, cellular phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), television, set-top box, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, and the like.

Typically, UE should receive the service announcement firstly. Then, the UE could initiate reception of the MBMS bearer service to receive an MBMS user service when the service start time is due. After the session ends or the file delivery ends,, the UE will perform the post-delivery process, which may include but not limited to the file repairing and the reception reporting. Accordingly, the supporting servers participating in the post-delivery process may include FR servers and RR servers. In particular, after the session ends, the UE may simply perform the reception reporting process by means of the RR server. After the session ends or the file delivery ends, the UE may firstly perform the file repairing process by means of the FR server if the original file can not be recovered from the received data, and then perform the reception reporting process by means of the RR server. Now the post-delivery process will be described in detail with reference to Fig.3. In step 310, the UE reads location information of a plurality of candidate servers such as FR servers or RR servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network. For example, when performing the file repairing process, the UE may read location information of a plurality of FR servers. When performing the reception reporting process, the UE may read location information of a plurality of RR servers.

Here, the location information may include a network location or a geographic location. The network location may indicate the location of the candidate server in the network or the location of the UEs that the candidate server is designated to serve in the network, which can be represented by the Internet Protocol (IP) address, the IP address prefix, the IP address range, domain name, or the like. The geographic location may indicate the location of the server in the physical space, which can be represented by the latitude and longitude, administrative region, or the like.

The UE may read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers locally. For example, the location information of the plurality of candidate servers is listed in the associated delivery procedure description (ADPD) or the File Delivery Table (FDT). The UE may receive such ADPD or FDT from the BM-SC, for example, when initiating the broadcast delivery session between the UE and the BM-SC or during the delivery session. In this way, the UE may read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the ADPD or the FDT.

In step 320, the UE selects a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information. The post-delivery process message may contain the content delivery information that the server is intended to collect such as the statistical information on the real time streaming reception, or the request for the server to providing certain post-delivery services such as file repairing service.

In an embodiment, when the location information comprises the network location of the candidate server, the UE may select the server that is located within the same network domain as the UE. For example, the candidate servers may have the same or different network location such as IP address prefix, the candidate servers that have the same IP address prefix have the same priority. When the UE would like to execute the post-delivery process such as FR or RR, it will obtain its own IP address, and compare it with that of the candidate servers. The closest matching one(s) has the highest priority, and the second closest matching one(s) has the second highest priority. Then, the UE may randomly select one from the same highest priority candidate servers. Additionally or alternatively, if all the candidate servers with the highest priority are not available, for example no response from the servers for a certain period, then UE may select the server with the second highest priority.

In another embodiment, when the location information comprises the network location of the UEs that the candidate server is designated to serve, the UE may select the server whose location information is closest (shortest routing or shortest distance) to the network location of the UE. For example, two candidate FR servers are listed in the ADPD with the tag <serviceURI> as below:

< ?xml version= "l.0 " encoding= "utf-8 "?>

< associatedProcedureDescription

xmlns = " rn:3gpp:metadata:2005:MBMS:associatedProced re "

xmlns:xsi= "http://www. w3. org/2001/XMLSchema-instance " xsi:schemaLocation = " rn:3gpp:metadata:2005:MBMS:associatedProced re

< postFileRepair offsetTime= "10 " randomTimeP eriod= '200 ">

<serviceURI

networkPrefix = "10.170.0.0/ 16; 10.172.0.0/16 "> http: mhmsrepairO. example, c om/path/repair script- "/service URI>

<serviceURI

networkPrefix= "12.170.0.0/16; 12.172.0.0/16">http://mbmsrepair3. example, c om/path/repair script /serviceURI>

</postFileRepair>

</associatedProcedureDescriptiori>

The tag <networkPrefix> is used to indicate the location information of the candidate servers. In this example, the "networkPrefix" includes the list of the IP prefix of the UEs that the candidate server is designate to serve. The list could be separated by the semicolon for example 10.170.0.0/16; 10.172.0.0/16. In operation, if the UE has a IP address 10.170.2.1 , it is aligned with the network prefix " 10.170.0.0/16; 10.172.0.0/16" . Thus, the UE would like to perform the file repairing using the server

" http://mbmsrepair0. example, com/path/repair script" .

In a further embodiment, when the location information comprises the geographic location, the UE may select the server having the nearest geographic distance from the UE among the plurality of candidate servers. For example, as illustrated in Fig.4, the UEl is located in Los-Angeles and the UE2 is in Washington D.C, meanwhile there are a FRl in New York and a FR2 in Los-Angeles. As such, the introduction of the region information may allow the UE select the server having the shortest distance from it. For example, the UE may retrieve it own geographic location from the A-GPS or CELL signaling, and compare its geographic location with that of the FR servers so as to select the closest FR server to the UE. As a result, the UEl in Los-Angeles selects the FR2 in Los-Angeles, and the UE2 in Washington D.C. selects the FRl in New York.

Alternatively, the network location and the geographic location can be used in combination to select the server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent. For example, a candidate server can be determined its priority among the plurality of candidate servers based on its network location as described above. Similarly, the candidate server also can be determined its another priority among the plurality of candidate servers based on its geographic location. Then, the UE may calculate the resulting priority of the candidate server by weighting and summing the priority based on the network location and the priority based on the geographic location. As such, the UE may select the server with the highest resulting priority.

In step 330, the UE sends the post-delivery process message to the server selected in step 320. If the post-delivery process is file repairing, then the post-delivery process message may contain the information on the lost packets during the file delivery. If the post-delivery process is the reception reporting, then the post-delivery process message may contain the statistical information on the reception.

By taking the location information of candidate servers participating in the post-delivery process into account, the UE may select a suitable one from them to involve in its post-delivery process, thereby for example saving the network bandwidth and/or reducing the response time from the server.

With respect to the bandwidth usage, taking selection of the serving server for FR as an example, there are 100,000 end users (i.e. UEs) would like to do the Android software update with 100 megabytes (MB) size. The corresponding broadcast services are provided in three cities and there is one FR server in each city. If 10% of the end users need to do the repair and each one would like to repair 20% content, it means that there will be 10,000 users and each user will download 20MB data. If the users are averagely located in these 3 cities, it means that each city has 3,333 users that will try to do the file repair. According to the random selection of the FR server in the prior art, there will be 2,222 users in each city that will select a FR server located in another city. As a result, a total 130 (=2,222*3 *20) Gigabytes (GB) backbone network bandwidth are wasted due to the improper selection of the FR servers. By contrast, by implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UEs will select the FR server in the same city; therefore the access to the remote FR server in another city could be avoided. As such, it is advantageous to save the backbone network bandwidth of 130GB or so. If there are more concurrent broadcast delivery sessions, the saved bandwidth will be much more.

With respect to the response time, the response time refers to the duration from the start of the transmission from the UE until a response from the FR/RR server.

Response time = 2 * transmission time + 2 * propagation delay + processing delay

The transmission delay is a function of the packet's length which is proportional to the packet's length in bits. The propagation delay is defined as the amount of time it takes for a certain number of bytes to be transferred over a medium, which, for example, can be calculated by dividing the distance between the two routers by the propagation speed. As indicated, the distance will impact the propagation delay, thereby impacting the response time negatively. By implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UEs will select the FR/RR server in the same city when considering the geographic location. The processing delay such as the network routing time and propagation delay could be reduced, thereby reducing the response time.

In an embodiment, if the post-delivery process is the reception reporting, the UE may directly read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the ADPD. If the post-delivery process is the file repairing, the UE may firstly determine whether the FDT includes the location information of the plurality of candidate servers. Since the candidate servers listed in the FDT can desirably repair the delivered file per byte of the original file. Hence, if it is determined that the FDT includes the location information of the plurality of candidate servers, the UE will read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the FDT. Otherwise, the UE will read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the ADPD, which candidate servers only can repair the delivered file per packet carrying the individual snippets of the file.

The present disclosure further discloses an apparatus configured to performing the post-delivery process for a UE in the content delivery network. As illustrated in Fig.5, the apparatus 500 comprises a reading unit 510, a selecting unit 520 and a sending unit 530. The apparatus 500 can be implemented as a part of the UE or separately. Now the functions of the individual units of the apparatus 500 will be described with reference to Fig.5.

The reading unit 510 reads location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network. Here, the location information may include a network location and a geographic location. The network location may indicate the location of the server in the network or the location of the UEs that server is designated to serve in the network, which can be represented by the Internet Protocol (IP) address, the IP address prefix, the IP address range, domain name, or the like. The geographic location may indicate the location of the server in the physical space, which can be represented by the latitude and longitude, administrative region, or the like. The post-delivery process includes but not limited to the file repairing and the reception reporting. Accordingly, the plurality of candidate servers may include a plurality of FR servers and/or a plurality of RR servers.

After receiving the real time streaming or file delivery from the broadcasting source such as BM-SC, the performance of post-delivery process by apparatus 500 is described as below. The reading unit 510 may read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers locally. For example, the location information of the plurality of candidate servers is listed in the Associated Delivery Procedure Description (ADPD) or the File Delivery Table (FDT). In this way, the reading unit 510 may read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the ADPD or the FDT. Alternatively, the reading unit 510 may directly read the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the BM-SC when needed.

The selecting unit 520 selects a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information.

In an embodiment, when the location information comprises the network location of the candidate server, the selecting unit 520 may select the server that is located within the same network domain as the UE. For example, the candidate servers may have the same or different network location such as IP address prefix, the candidate servers that have the same IP address prefix are on the same level of priority. When the selecting unit 520 is determined to execute the post-delivery process such as FR or RR, it obtains IP address of the UE, and compares it with that of the candidate servers. The closest matching one(s) is of the highest priority, and then the second closest matching one(s) of the second highest priority. Then, the UE may randomly select one from the same highest priority candidate servers. Additionally or alternatively, if all the candidate servers with the highest priority are not available, for example no response from the servers for a certain period, then selecting unit 520 may select the server with the second highest priority.

In another embodiment, when the location information comprises the network location of the UEs that the candidate server is designated to server, the selecting unit 520 may select the server whose location information is closest (shortest routing or shortest distance) to the network location of the UE.

Alternatively, when the location information comprises the geographic location, the selecting unit 520 may select the server having the nearest geographic distance from the UE among the plurality of candidate servers.

Alternatively, the network location and the geographic location can be used in combination to select the server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent. For example, a candidate server can be determined its priority among the plurality of candidate servers based on its network location as described above. Similarly, the candidate server can be determined its another priority among the plurality of candidate servers based on its geographic location. Then, the selecting unit 520 may calculate the resulting priority of the candidate server through the above two priorities with separate weighting efficient. As such, the selecting unit 520 may select the server with the highest resulting priority.

The sending unit 530 sends the post-delivery process message to the server selected by the selecting unit 520. If the post-delivery process is file repairing, then the post-delivery process message may contain the information on the lost packets during the file delivery. If the post-delivery process is the reception reporting, then the post-delivery process message may contain the statistical information on the reception.

While the embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, any equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the present technology. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt to a particular situation and the teaching herein without departing from its central scope. Therefore it is intended that the present embodiments not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present technology, but that the present embodiments include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method (300) for performing post-delivery process by a user equipment, UE, in a content delivery network, comprising:

reading (310) location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network;

selecting (320) a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information; and

sending (330) the post-delivery process message to the server.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location information comprises at least one of network location and geographic location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the selecting (320) the server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent comprises, when the location information comprises the network location, selecting the server that is located within the same network domain as the UE, or when the location information comprises the geographic location, selecting the server having the nearest geographic distance from the UE among the plurality of candidate servers.

4. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the content delivery network is built based on evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service, eMBMS.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the post-delivery process comprises file repairing or reception reporting.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the location information of the plurality of candidate servers is included in an associated delivery procedure description, ADPD, or a file delivery table, FDT.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the reading (310) the location information of the plurality of candidate servers comprises, if the post-delivery process is the reception reporting, reading the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the ADPD.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the reading (310) the location information of the plurality of candidate servers comprises, if the post-delivery process is the file repairing,

determining whether the FDT includes the location information of the plurality of candidate servers;

reading the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the FDT if it is determined that the FDT includes the location information of the plurality of candidate servers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein reading the location information of the plurality of candidate servers from the ADPD if it is determined that the FDT does not include the location information of the plurality of candidate servers.

10. A computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when running on a user equipment, UE, cause the UE to perform the steps of the method according to any one of the claims 1-9.

1 1. An apparatus (500) for a user equipment, UE, configured to perform post-delivery process in a content delivery network, comprising: a reading unit (510) adapted to read location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network;

a selecting unit (520) adapted to select a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information; and a sending unit (530) adapted to send the post-delivery process message to the server.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 1 , wherein the location information comprises at least one of network location and geographic location.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 1 , wherein the selecting unit (520) is adapted to select the server that is located within the same network domain as the UE when the location information comprises the network location, and select the server having the nearest geographic distance from the UE among the plurality of candidate servers when the location information comprises the geographic location.

14. An apparatus for a user equipment, UE, configured to perform post-delivery process in a content delivery network, comprising a processor and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor whereby said apparatus is operative to:

read location information of a plurality of candidate servers configured to participate in the post-delivery process in the content delivery network;

select a server to which a post-delivery process message of the UE will be sent from the plurality of candidate servers at least based on the location information; and

send the post-delivery process message to the server.

15. A user equipment, UE, comprising the apparatus according to any of claims 1 1 through 14.