CN117319500A

CN117319500A - Content providing method and device

Info

Publication number: CN117319500A
Application number: CN202210724237.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 袁林
Original assignee: Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-06-24
Filing date: 2022-06-24
Publication date: 2023-12-29
Also published as: WO2023246488A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a content providing method and device, which are applied to the fields of information technology and communication technology. According to the method and the device for obtaining the content, the obtaining mode suitable for the current content can be determined from a plurality of obtaining modes based on the access strategy corresponding to the content attribute, and flexibility of obtaining the content is improved. The embodiment of the application is utilized to provide the content, and the required traffic overhead is small, the transmission delay is small and the transmission efficiency is high.

Description

Content providing method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of information technology (information technology, IT) and communication technology, and in particular, to a content providing method and apparatus.

Background

The content delivery network (content delivery network, CDN) is a strategically deployed overall system. The method aims to avoid bottlenecks and links on the Internet, which possibly affect the data transmission speed and stability, so that the content transmission is faster and more stable.

Through a layer of intelligent virtual network formed by node servers placed everywhere in the network and based on the existing Internet, the CDN system can redirect the user's request to the CDN node nearest to the user in real time according to the network flow and the comprehensive information of the connection, load condition, distance to the user, response time and the like of each node, so that the data transmission rate is improved. However, CDN nodes are typically located in a machine room, and users may pay high broadband costs by downloading content through the CDN nodes.

Therefore, how to control the transmission cost under the premise of ensuring the rate is a hot spot problem under investigation by those skilled in the art.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a content providing method and device, and the content is provided by using the embodiment of the application, so that the required traffic cost is small, the transmission delay is small, and the transmission efficiency is high.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a content providing method, including:

receiving an acquisition request for content sent by terminal equipment, wherein the acquisition request comprises content attributes of the content;

determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the content access strategy corresponding to the content attribute, wherein the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node or an acquisition mode acquired from other network nodes;

and if the acquisition mode of the content is the acquisition mode acquired from the CDN node, indicating the target CDN node to return the content to the terminal equipment.

The acquiring from other network nodes refers to acquiring from a network node other than the CDN node. These network nodes typically have the capability to cache content or return content, which can be returned to the user.

Optionally, the other network nodes comprise nodes in an optical network, such as optical network terminals (content delivery network, ONTs) or the like. The following description will take ONT as an example, but the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to other types of network nodes.

When the embodiment of the application is used for providing the content, the acquisition mode suitable for the current content can be determined from a plurality of acquisition modes based on the access strategy corresponding to the content attribute, so that the flexibility of content acquisition is improved. Since the content acquisition mode can be flexibly determined, the embodiment of the application can determine the content acquisition mode for different contents (for example, different content types, different content providers, different domain names, etc.).

In this way, some content can be provided to the terminal device by the target CDN node according to the CDN acquisition mode, so that the transmission delay of the content is reduced and the access efficiency of the content is improved. And other contents can correspond to the acquiring mode of the ONT node, so that even if the contents exist on the target CDN node, the contents can be provided by the ONT node to control the bandwidth cost.

In summary, the embodiment of the application can flexibly determine the acquisition mode of the content, and has the advantages of small flow cost, small transmission delay and high transmission efficiency required by providing the content.

Alternatively, the above embodiments may be implemented by CDN nodes. The CDN node may include a plurality of nodes, and the CDN node implementing the content providing method and the target CDN node that returns the content may or may not be the same node.

Further optionally, when the CDN node implementing the content providing method and the target CDN node are the same node, the "indication" may be specifically understood to be indicated by outputting control information or the like, or indicated by a program skip or the like.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the content attribute of the content includes one or more of an Identification (ID) of the content, a request address, a uniform resource locator (uniform resource locator, URL), a type, a quality of service requirement, a content provider identification, user information, and the like.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes:

and if the acquisition mode of the content is the acquisition mode acquired from the ONT, indicating the terminal equipment to redirect to the target ONT to acquire the content.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the content attribute includes a service type of the content;

the content access policy comprises the following policies: if the service type corresponding to the content belongs to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from a CDN node.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the content attribute includes an identification of the content, and the identification of the content is used to determine a service type of the content. At this time, the content access policy includes the following policies: if the service type corresponding to the content belongs to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from a CDN node.

In the above embodiment, the content acquiring manner is related to the service type of the content, and for the first type of service, the content is acquired from the CDN node. The CDN system can determine the node CDN node for returning the content to the user in real time according to the network flow, the connection of each node, the load condition, the distance from the user, the response time and other comprehensive information, so that the efficiency of acquiring the content from the CDN node is high, the time delay is low, and the user experience is good. Especially for some services sensitive to the transmission rate, the acquisition mode is correspondingly acquired from the CDN node, so that the service quality of the content providing network can be remarkably improved.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first type of traffic includes one or more of the following:

video services, audio services, live services, ticket purchasing services, or shopping services, etc.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first type of traffic comprises video first slices.

Wherein the content of the video type is usually provided in the form of a plurality of slices when provided, and the first slice of the video is the first slice of the video.

Specifically, when the user is applicable to the terminal device to view the video, the terminal device usually has a caching mechanism for downloading the video in advance, so when the user views a certain slice of a certain video, the client can pre-load the slice behind the video to improve the use experience. However, the first video fragment is not suitable for the downloading mode in advance, and first, the terminal does not know which video is to be checked by the user, so that the video cannot be cached in advance; secondly, if the terminal preloads each video that may be clicked, congestion of network bandwidth and waste of storage space will be caused.

Because the terminal does not cache a certain video first segment in advance, the client starts to acquire the video first segment after a user opens a certain video, and at this time, if the transmission efficiency of the video first segment is low, the delay of video playing is increased and even the video is blocked, so that the user experience is affected. At this time, the user may close the client or switch other video software to view the video, resulting in user loss.

By the embodiment of the application, for the first video slice, the first video slice can be corresponding to the acquisition mode acquired from the CDN. When a user loads the video first segment, the target CDN node can provide the content of the video first segment, so that time delay is reduced, transmission efficiency is improved, user experience is improved, and viscosity of CDN video clients is improved.

In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first type is preset or provided by a management device of the CDN network.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first type of service is user-defined.

For example, users have different sensitivities to different types of services, so users can define the type of service to be acquired through the CDN according to their own needs.

For example, if a CDN network serves a financial practitioner, the user may determine the acquisition of the financial related services as the acquisition from the CDN.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the content access policy includes:

and if the service type of the content belongs to the second type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from the ONT.

In the above embodiment, the second type of content is obtained from the ONT. By the arrangement, the acquisition of the content can be split, and the content providing cost is controlled.

Especially for some rate insensitive services, or services with pre-caching in advance (such as a video playing client will typically pre-download a part of the unplayed content in advance), the content is mapped to the acquisition mode acquired from the ONT, which will not affect the user experience and reduce the bandwidth cost.

Alternatively, the second type of content is obtained from the ONT. The second type is preset, or provided by management equipment of the CDN, or the second type of service is user-defined. By this arrangement, the flexibility and accuracy in determining the content acquisition mode can be improved.

Further, for the service which does not belong to the first type or the second type, the access mode can be determined through other strategies, so that the system compatibility is improved.

and if the service type of the content does not belong to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from the ONT.

In a further possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the content attribute is a request address of the content; the method comprises the following steps: and determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

Alternatively, the content request address may be included in the request header of the fetch request. In this case, for a service directed to a certain request address or a certain request address, the acquisition mode obtained from the CDN may be corresponding.

In summary, the above embodiments may determine the acquisition manner of the content with respect to the content attribute, and implement offloading of acquisition of the content. By the embodiment, the transmission cost can be controlled on the premise of ensuring the speed.

In one possible design, the request address may be represented by a URL. In this case, the above-described modes may specifically be: and carrying out regular expression matching on the URL corresponding to the content, and determining the acquisition mode of the content. By the arrangement, the acquisition mode of the content can be accurately controlled, and user experience is improved.

In yet another possible design, the URL is typically represented in the form of a multi-segment string. At this time, if the URL corresponding to the content includes the first string, the content is obtained through the CDN. Or if the URL of the content includes the second string, the content is acquired through the ONT. By the arrangement, the acquisition mode of the content can be accurately controlled, and user experience is improved.

The first string and the second string are exemplary description strings, and one or more characters may be included in the first string and/or the second string.

In a further possible implementation of the first aspect, the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

if the provider of the content is a target provider or a provider of a target service, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from a CDN node.

As one possible implementation, the target provider may be a provider that has opened additional services.

These additional services are typically provided to the target provider after purchase or some cooperation is achieved. This arrangement, corresponds to the purchase of services by the provider, which pays the high bandwidth costs of the CDN. At this time, when the user accesses the content provided by the providers, the content can be obtained from the CDN node, thereby improving the content usage experience of the user.

Alternatively, the target provider may be a provider with public welfare properties or with special functions. For example, a fire protection video is provided for a user by a fire protection mechanism, in this case, the fire protection mechanism is set as a target provider, and the user can quickly acquire the fire protection video when acquiring the fire protection video, so that the user experience is improved, and the fire protection video is beneficial to the learning knowledge of the user.

and if the acquiring mode of the content is the acquiring mode acquired from the ONT, inquiring and acquiring the ONT available for the content, wherein the ONT belongs to the ONT available for the content.

In the above embodiment, when the content acquisition mode is an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT, in order to improve the success rate of content acquisition, whether or not an ONT is available in the surrounding may be first queried. In case that the target ONT exists, the content is acquired from the target ONT.

if the acquiring mode of the content is the acquiring mode acquired from the ONT, but the ONT available for acquiring the content does not exist, the target CDN node is instructed to return the content to the terminal equipment.

In the above embodiment, when the content acquisition mode is an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT, in order to improve the success rate of content acquisition, whether or not an ONT is available in the surrounding may be first queried. Under the condition that no available ONT exists, the content is still acquired from the CDN, the time delay of content acquisition is reduced, and the user experience is improved.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a content providing system, where the content providing system includes a content providing device, a terminal device, and a target CDN node, where the terminal device is configured to send an acquisition request for content to the content providing device, and the target CDN node is configured to return content to the terminal device, and the content providing device is configured to implement a content providing method to which any one of the foregoing first aspect belongs.

In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the terminal device is configured to send an acquisition request for content to the content providing apparatus, where the acquisition request includes a content attribute of the content;

the content providing device is used for receiving the acquisition request;

the content providing device is further configured to determine, according to a content access policy corresponding to the content attribute, an acquisition mode of the content, where the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node or an acquisition mode acquired from another network node;

The content providing device is further configured to instruct the target CDN node to return the content to the terminal device if the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node;

and the target CDN node is used for returning the content to the terminal equipment.

The acquiring from other network nodes refers to acquiring from a network node other than the CDN node. These network nodes typically have the capability to cache content or return content, which can be returned for the user.

Optionally, the other network nodes comprise nodes in an optical network, such as ONTs or the like. The following description will take ONT as an example, but the embodiments of the present application are equally applicable to other types of network nodes.

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the content attribute of the content comprises one or more of an ID, a request address, a URL, a type, a quality of service requirement, a content provider identification, user information, etc. of the content.

In a further possible implementation of the second aspect, the content providing system further comprises a target ONT;

the content providing device is further configured to instruct the terminal device to redirect to a target ONT to acquire the content if the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from the ONT.

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the terminal device is further configured to request the content from the target ONT;

and the target ONT is used for returning the content to the terminal equipment.

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the content attribute is a service type of the content;

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the content attribute is an identification of the content, and the identification of the content is used to determine a service type of the content. The content access policy comprises the following policies: if the service type corresponding to the content belongs to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from a CDN node.

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the content access policy includes:

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the content attribute is a request address of the content; the content providing device is further used for determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

In a further possible implementation of the second aspect, the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, if the acquiring manner of the content is an acquiring manner acquired from an ONT, the content providing apparatus queries for an ONT available for acquiring the content, and the target ONT belongs to the ONT available for the content.

In a further possible implementation manner of the second aspect, if the acquiring manner of the content is an acquiring manner acquired from an ONT, but there is no ONT available for acquiring the content, the content providing apparatus instructs the target CDN node to return the content to the terminal device.

It will be appreciated that in the content providing system described in any of the second aspects, the content providing apparatus is described as being located outside the target CDN node for convenience of distinction. However, in the implementation process, the content providing device may also be located in the target CDN node. Or, part of the modules of the content providing device are located in the CDN node, and part of the modules are located outside the CDN node.

Some of the operations (or all of the operations) performed by the content providing apparatus may also be performed by the target CDN node when the content providing apparatus includes modules located within the target CDN node. That is, the target CDN node may be used to implement the functionality implemented by the content providing apparatus in the second aspect.

In other words, the target CDN node is configured to implement the method described in any one of the first aspects, or to implement part of the operations of the method described above.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a content providing apparatus, including a communication unit and a processing unit, for implementing the content providing method according to any one of the first aspects.

In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the communication unit is configured to receive an acquisition request for content sent by a terminal device, where the acquisition request includes a content attribute of the content;

The processing unit is configured to determine, according to a content access policy corresponding to the content attribute, an acquisition mode of the content, where the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node of a content delivery network or an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT;

the communication unit is further configured to instruct a target CDN node to return the content to the terminal device if the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from the CDN node.

In a further possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the communication unit is further configured to:

In a further possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the content attribute is a service type of the content or an identification of the content, and the identification of the content is used for determining the service type of the content;

In a further possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the content access policy includes one or more of the following:

If the service type of the content belongs to the second type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from the ONT;

or if the service type of the content does not belong to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from the ONT.

In a further possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the content attribute is a request address of the content; the processing unit is further configured to determine an acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

In a further possible implementation of the third aspect, the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

if the acquiring mode of the content is the acquiring mode acquired from the ONT, inquiring and acquiring the ONT available for the content, wherein the target ONT belongs to the ONT available for the content.

If the content acquiring mode is an acquiring mode acquired from an ONT, but there is no ONT available for acquiring the content, the content providing device instructs the target CDN node to return the content to the terminal device.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computing device comprising a processor and a memory; the processor executes instructions stored in the memory to cause the computing device to implement the method described in any one of the preceding aspects.

Optionally, the computing device further comprises a communication interface for receiving and/or transmitting data, and/or for providing input and/or output to the processor.

The above embodiment is described taking a processor (or general-purpose processor) for executing a method by calling a computer specification as an example. In particular implementations, the processor may also be a special purpose processor in which the computer instructions are already preloaded in the processor. In the alternative, the processor may include both a special purpose processor and a general purpose processor.

In the alternative, the processor and memory may be integrated in one device, i.e., the processor and memory may be integrated.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computing device cluster comprising at least one computing device, each computing device including a processor and a memory;

the processor of the at least one computing device is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory of the at least one computing device to cause the cluster of computing devices to perform the method of any one of the first aspects.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein that, when executed by a computing device (or cluster of computing devices), cause the computing device (or cluster of computing devices) to implement a method as described in any one of the preceding aspects.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed by a computing device (or cluster of computing devices), cause the computing device (or cluster of computing devices) to implement the method as described in any of the preceding aspects.

Alternatively, the computer program product may be a software installation package or an image file, which may be retrieved and executed on a computing device in case the aforementioned method is required.

The technical solutions provided in the second to seventh aspects of the present application may refer to the beneficial effects of the technical solutions of the first aspect, and are not described herein again.

Drawings

The drawings that are used in the description of the embodiments will be presented below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a distributed content distribution network;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a content providing system according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a content providing method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of yet another method for providing content according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of a content providing apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a computing device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

For ease of understanding, the following description of some of the concepts related to the embodiments of the present application are given by way of example for reference. The following is shown:

1. the content delivery network (Content Delivery Network, CDN) is a distributed content delivery network for delivering content to users. The principle is shown in fig. 1, and the CDN distributes source content to nodes physically located near a user, so that the user may obtain required content nearby, solve the congestion situation of the Internet network, and improve the response speed and success rate of user access.

As shown in fig. 1, a service provider (or tenant) sets a source node 101, and the source node 101 provides services, such as web pages, video playback, music playback, file download, and the like. The service provider purchases CDN services at the control platform 103, sets edge cache nodes (e.g., edge cache nodes 1041-1045) in different regions, and the public network DNS server registers a correspondence between domain names of source station nodes and public network IP addresses of the edge cache nodes set in different regions.

The client 1051 of zone 1 sends a domain name access request (optionally containing the content to be accessed of the user request) for the source node domain name, which reaches a public network domain name system (domain name system, DNS) server, which obtains the public network IP addresses of the plurality of zone setting edge cache nodes 1041-1045 corresponding to the domain name.

The public network DNS server compares the public network IP address of the client 1051 (carried in the source IP address of the domain name access request) with the public network IP addresses of the plurality of edge cache nodes 1041 to 1045, confirms that the public network IP address of the edge cache node 1041 and the public network IP address of the client 1051 belong to the same region, returns the public network IP address of the edge cache node 1041 to the client 1051, and the client 1051 accesses the edge cache node 1041 nearby according to the public network IP address of the edge cache node 1041, and requests the content to be accessed thereto.

The edge cache node 1041 inquires whether the content to be accessed is locally cached, if yes, the content is directly returned to the client 1051, if no, the content to be accessed is requested to the upper level cache node (the central cache node 1021) (the source request is sent back), the central cache node 1021 inquires whether the content to be accessed is locally cached, if yes, the content is directly returned to the edge cache node 1041, and if no, the content to be accessed is requested to the upper level source node 101.

Therefore, when the edge cache node 1041 caches the content to be accessed, the content may be returned to the client 1051 nearby, thereby increasing the speed of the client 1051 accessing the content to be accessed.

For convenience of description, the present application refers to nodes in the CDN network, such as edge cache nodes, center cache nodes, etc., collectively as CDN nodes. In addition, the above-described clients (clients 1051 to 1055) may be regarded as terminal devices, or the clients may be implemented in terminal devices.

2. Network node with content providing function

In addition to returning content to users through CDN nodes, nodes in some other networks may also return content to users. The following are exemplary of several network nodes with content providing functionality:

Example 1, an optical network terminal (content delivery network, ONT) is a network node in an optical access network, typically used to connect to a home network. The ONTs have memory space, computing power and communication power, and bandwidth is typically idle. Thus, the ONT may be used to cache content and provide the cached content to the user.

Example 2, a router, in addition to having wireless routing functionality, is capable of locally caching content and returning the content to a user. For example, the router may be used to cache Xu Mou video content for a particular website and provide the video content to the user.

Example 3, the digital subscriber line modem (x digital subscriber linemodem, xDSL modem) is a network node in the digital subscriber line (x digital subscriber line, xDSL) access network. The xDSL modem has computation space, memory space, and communication capabilities.

Among these, xDSL is a collective term for various types of digital subscriber lines (digital subscriber line, DSL), including asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL, asymmetric digital subscriber line, ADSL), rate adaptive digital subscriber lines (rate adaptive digital subscriber line, RADSL), very High bit-rate digital subscriber lines (very High-bit-rate digital subscriber line, VDSL), symmetric digital subscriber lines (symmetrical digital subscriber line, SDSL), integrated services digital networks (Integrated digital subscriber line, IDSL), and High-rate digital subscriber lines (High-speed Digital Subscriber Line, HDSL), etc.

The above three network nodes are only examples, and other nodes with content caching capability may be further included in the implementation process.

In some possible scenarios, the content may be obtained from a network node other than the CDN node in combination with other access control devices. For example, in connection with a CDN network or in connection with a server of the source station.

Taking the ONT as an example, the ONT may be combined with the CDN network because the ONT itself does not have content delivery capabilities. In some technologies, when the CDN node receives an access request of a terminal device for a content, if the content is already cached in advance on the ONT, the CDN node may forward the access request to the ONT based on 302 scheduling (described below), and the ONT provides the content to the terminal device.

3.302 scheduling

302 is a status code (status code) indicating that the requested resource is present but not in the currently accessed location. And 302 scheduling refers to scheduling based on the 302 status code, the user request for the content reaches a scheduling module (or other scheduling nodes, scheduling servers, etc.) in the CDN network, and the scheduling module (or other scheduling nodes, scheduling servers, etc.) feeds back to the user, by 302, an address (such as an IP address, etc.) where the user can obtain the content. The terminal may send the content access request to the address again, so that the content is acquired at the node corresponding to the address.

4. Returning content

It should be understood that "returning content" in this application refers to the content that the CDN node or the ONT or other device provides (or refers to sending) to the user. To distinguish from the source station providing the content, this is referred to as "return" in this embodiment of the application.

The above explanation of technical terms can be applied to the following embodiments.

The node in the CDN returns the content to the user, so that the user can be guaranteed to have excellent transmission experience, but the bandwidth of the CDC network is high in cost. Nodes such as ONT and router have idle bandwidth and low cost, but have limited bandwidth and slow content download rate. If the two are combined, the bandwidth consumption of CDN nodes can be reduced.

However, a high download speed is required for some services to have good user experience, and if the type of services are distributed to network nodes such as ONTs and routers for downloading, the content access experience of users may be affected, and even the user loss of the client may be caused.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a method and apparatus for providing content, where the content is provided by using the embodiments of the present application, the required traffic overhead is small, the transmission delay is small, and the transmission efficiency is high.

The system architecture of the embodiments of the present application is exemplarily described below. It should be noted that, the system architecture described in the present application is for more clearly describing the technical solution of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided in the present application, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the system architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, network nodes other than CDN nodes that can return content are described by taking ONTs as an example. The present application is equally applicable to other types of network nodes. In other words, the content providing system may include several nodes with the capability to return content, such as one or more of an ONT, a router, an xDSLmodem, etc.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic architecture diagram of one possible content providing system according to an embodiment of the present application, and the schematic diagram also illustrates an operation scenario of the content providing system. The content providing system comprises a content providing device 201, a terminal device, a CDN node 203, and optionally an ONT204. The number of the content providing apparatuses 201, the terminal devices, the CDN nodes 203, the ONTs, and the like is not strictly limited in this application, and the number shown in fig. 2 is only an example.

The content providing apparatus 201 is an apparatus having a computing capability and a communication capability, and is capable of communicating with one or more of the terminal device, the CDN node 203, and the ONT 204. Alternatively, the content providing apparatus 201 may be integrated in a CDN node (e.g., CDN node 203, CDN access gateway, etc.), or the content providing apparatus 201 may be a node in a CDN network (e.g., a dispatch node, CDN access gateway, etc.), or the content providing apparatus may be integrated in a DNS server.

A terminal device, some embodiments also referred to as User Equipment (UE), is a device with communication capabilities that may initiate a request for content. Alternatively, the terminal device can interact with the user, e.g. present a user interface, or receive user input operations, etc. Illustratively, the terminal device includes, but is not limited to, a handheld terminal, a wearable device, an entertainment device, a transportation device, and the like. Wherein the handheld device is a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a police service, or the like. Wearable devices such as smart bracelets, smart watches, or smart glasses, etc. Traffic equipment such as vehicles, ships, aircraft, rail traffic (e.g., subways, high-speed rails, etc.), or logistics robots, etc. Leisure and entertainment devices such as Virtual Reality (VR) devices, mixed Reality (MR) devices, massage chairs, or 4D cinema cabins, etc. it should be appreciated that although fig. 2 is described by way of example with respect to a terminal device, the present application is equally applicable to other devices where content acquisition is required.

CDN node 203 is a node in the CDN network that is able to return content to the terminal device. Generally, the CDN node has a storage space and a communication capability, where the storage space is used to buffer content, and the communication capability enables the CDN node to provide the content to the terminal device. CDN nodes 203 include, but are not limited to, CDN access nodes, edge cache nodes as shown in fig. 1, and the like.

The ONT204 is a device in the access network that has memory and communication capabilities.

It should be understood that the devices in the system shown in fig. 2, such as the content providing device, CDN node, ONT, etc., may be implemented by hardware, may be implemented by software, or may be implemented by a combination of both hardware and software.

It should be noted that, when the communication connection is established between any two of the above four, the link of the communication connection may include one or more types of connection media, including a wired link (e.g. optical fiber), a wireless link, or a combination of a wired link and a wireless link. For example, the connection medium may be a wireless link, where the wireless link employs a short-range connection technology, such as 802.11b/g technology, bluetooth (Blue Tooth) technology, zigbee (Zigbee) technology, radio frequency identification (Radio Frequency Identification, RFID) technology, ultra Wideband (UWB) technology, wireless short-range communication (e.g., vehicle-mounted wireless short-range communication) technology, or internet of vehicles (vehicle to everything, V2X, vehicle-to-outside information exchange) technology, or the like. As another example, the wireless link may employ a long range connection technology such as the global system for mobile communications (Global System for Mobile communications, GSM), general packet radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), universal mobile telecommunications system (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, UMTS), LTE, or 5G radio access type technologies.

In the system shown in fig. 2, the terminal may send (or submit) an acquisition request for a certain content, and the content providing apparatus 201 may determine an acquisition mode applicable to the current content from a plurality of acquisition modes based on an access policy corresponding to the content attribute. The plurality of acquisition modes at least comprise two acquisition modes, namely acquisition from a CDN node and acquisition from an ONT node.

In this way, some content can be provided to the terminal device by the target CDN node according to the CDN acquisition mode, so that the transmission delay of the content is reduced and the access efficiency of the content is improved. As shown in fig. 2, when the user U1 requests the content a through the terminal device 2021 and the content a is obtained from the CDN, the CDN node 203 provides the content a to the terminal device 2021. Because CDN network bandwidth resources are good, time delay of transmission is low, and the user U1 can acquire the content as soon as possible, so that the use experience of the user U1 is improved.

For other contents, the method may correspond to the acquiring manner of the ONT node, so that even if the content exists on the target CDN node, the content may be provided by the ONT node to control the bandwidth cost. As shown in fig. 2, the user U2 requests the content B through the terminal device 2022 in such a manner that the content B is acquired from the ONT, and the content providing apparatus may feed back the indication information of the ONT204 to the terminal device 2022. The terminal device 2022 may request content B from the ONT, which is returned to the terminal device 2022 by the ONT. Since the ONT is usually idle and the bandwidth cost is low, the transmission cost can be reduced by returning the content B through the ONT.

In addition, the embodiment of the application can utilize idle network nodes (such as ONTs, routers and the like) in the home network, the office network and the like, integrate the provided computing resources, storage resources, bandwidth resources and the like to provide content distribution services, thereby realizing the optimization of network traffic and improving the utilization rate of the network nodes.

The method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a flowchart of a content providing method according to an embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the method may be applied in a system comprising a terminal device, a content providing apparatus, a target CDN and a target ONT (optional), such as the content providing system shown in fig. 2.

The content providing method as shown in fig. 3 may include a plurality of steps among steps S301 to S307. It should be understood that the description of the sequence of steps S301 to S307 is made for convenience of description, and is not intended to limit the execution of the sequence. The embodiment of the present application is not limited to the execution sequence, execution time, execution times, and the like of the one or more steps. Steps S301 to S307 are specifically as follows:

Step S301: the terminal device transmits an acquisition request for the content. Accordingly, the content providing apparatus acquires the acquisition request for the content transmitted by the terminal device.

Wherein the acquisition request of the content includes a content attribute of the content. The content attributes of the content include one or more of an Identification (ID) of the content, a request address, a uniform resource locator (uniform resource locator, URL), a type, a quality of service requirement, a content provider identification, user information, and the like.

It should be noted that, the obtaining request may be directly sent to the content providing device by the terminal device, or may be sent to the content providing device by scheduling by another device. For example, the acquisition request may first arrive at a DNS server, which schedules (or redirects) to the content providing device. For another example, the acquisition request first reaches the CDN access gateway, which distributes the access request to the content providing apparatus.

Step S302: the content providing device determines the acquisition mode of the content according to the content access strategy corresponding to the content attribute.

The access policy describes a correspondence between a content attribute and a content acquisition mode, and can be used to determine which acquisition mode a certain content is acquired based on.

Several possible designs of content access policies are presented below:

design 1: the manner of acquisition of the content is related to the service type of the content. Wherein, the service type can be predefined, preset or follow a certain standard. Illustratively, the service type includes, but is not limited to, one or more of a video service, an audio service, a live service, a file download service, a web service (e.g., ticket purchase service, shopping service, news service, or book reading service, etc.), and the like.

As a possible solution, the access policy may comprise: if the service type corresponding to the content belongs to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from a CDN node. I.e. for the first type of traffic, it is obtained from the CDN node.

The first type may be preset, or provided by the CDN network, or user-defined, for example. Taking the example of the user-defined first type of service, a part of CDN network serves a financial practitioner, and the user may determine the acquiring manner of the financial related service as the acquiring manner acquired from the CDN.

For ease of understanding, table 1 shows the classification of several traffic types. It can be seen that the first type of service may comprise a video service, an audio service, a live service, a ticket purchase service, a shopping service, or the like. For the content with the service type being the above type, the acquiring mode is the acquiring mode acquired from the CDN. Because the services are sensitive to time delay, the acquisition mode of the services is correspondingly acquired from CDN nodes, and the service quality of the content providing network can be obviously improved.

Table 1 class table of service types

Service type	Classification
		Video service	Of the first type
Audio service	Of the first type
		Live broadcast service	Of the first type
Ticket buying business	Of the first type
		Shopping service	Of the first type
Reading service	Of the second type
		File download	Of the second type
……	……

Of course, the service type corresponding to the service may be represented by a table, a corresponding relation set, a database table, or the like. In addition, table 1 is an exemplary service classification made for facilitating understanding of the first service, and is not limiting of the present application. For example, the first type may contain more or fewer service types, or the names of the service types may be replaced.

In one possible design, the first type of traffic comprises video first slices. The first slice of the video is the first slice of the video. In this case, for the first video clip, it may be corresponding to the acquisition mode acquired from the CDN. When a user loads the video first segment, the target CDN node can provide the content of the video first segment, so that time delay is reduced, transmission efficiency is improved, user experience is improved, and viscosity of CDN video clients is improved.

The above description has been made of the manner in which the first type of service is acquired. Further, for other traffic types than the first type, the following policies may be used to determine the acquisition manner:

As yet another possible solution, the access policy may comprise: and if the service type of the content belongs to the second type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from the ONT. And the second type of content is acquired from the ONT in a corresponding acquisition mode. By the arrangement, the acquisition of the content can be split, and the content providing cost is controlled. Especially for some rate insensitive services, or services with pre-caching in advance (such as a video playing client will typically pre-download a part of the unplayed content in advance), the content is mapped to the acquisition mode acquired from the ONT, which will not affect the user experience and reduce the bandwidth cost.

In the system shown in fig. 2, if the service type of the content a belongs to the first type, the acquiring manner of the content a is an acquiring manner acquired from the CDN node; and if the service type of the content B belongs to the second type, the acquisition mode of the content B is the acquisition mode acquired from the ONT.

Optionally, the second type is preset, or provided by a management device of the CDN network, or the second type of service is user-defined. For example, the second type of service includes a book reading service, a file downloading service, and the like.

It should be appreciated that in this scheme, for services that are neither of the first type nor of the second type, the content acquisition manner may be determined by other policies, which promotes system compatibility.

As yet another possible solution, the content access policy includes:

and if the service type of the content does not belong to the first type, the acquiring mode of the content is an acquiring mode acquired from the ONT. In the scheme, the acquisition mode of almost all the contents can be determined based on the service type, so that the complexity of determining the acquisition mode can be reduced, and the efficiency of determining the acquisition mode is improved.

When implementing the content access policy of design 1, the content providing apparatus may first determine the service type of the content. Wherein, the service type of the content can also be directly contained in the attribute of the content. Alternatively, the service type of the content may be determined by the attribute of the content. Optionally, the attribute used to determine the service type of the content may include one or more of an identification of the content, an access address of the content, a quality of service requirement of the content, and the like.

The following description exemplarily describes a scheme for determining an internal service type by identification of contents, and the present application is equally applicable to a scheme for determining a service type using other content attributes.

Specifically, the attribute of the content includes an identifier of the content, and the content providing apparatus may determine the service type according to the identifier of the content. Shown in table 2 is a service type corresponding to an identifier of a user according to an example of an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 2, in the case where the identification of the content is "C001", the service providing apparatus may determine that the content belongs to the video service according to the identification of the content, thereby determining that the service type corresponding to the content is the first type. Based on the content access policy of design 1, the content is obtained from the CDN in a manner. Similarly, in the case where the content identifier is "C002", the service providing apparatus may determine that the content belongs to the book reading service according to the identifier of the content, thereby determining that the service type corresponding to the content is the second type. Based on the content access policy of design 1, the content is obtained in the manner of being obtained from the ONT.

Table 2 identification of content corresponds to service type

Identification of content	Service type	Classification
			C001	Video service	Of the first type
C002	Audio service	Of the first type
			C003	Live broadcast service	Of the first type
C004	Ticket buying business	Of the first type
			C005	Shopping service	Of the first type
C006	Book reading service	Of the second type
			C007	File download	Of the second type
……	……	……

It should be understood that the service type corresponding to the service may be represented by a table, a corresponding relation set, a database table, or the like. In addition, table 2 is an exemplary service classification made for facilitating understanding of the first service, and is not limiting of the embodiments of the present application. For example, the content may contain more or fewer service types, or the names of service types, the identification of the content, etc. may be replaced.

In some possible designs, the identification of the content and the type of service type may directly correspond, namely: it may be determined whether the service type of the content belongs to the first type based on the identification of the content. At this time, the content service device may determine that the content corresponds to the first type according to the identifier "C001" of the content, and the acquiring manner of the content is the acquiring manner acquired from the CDN.

Design 2: the content is acquired in a manner related to the request address of the content. In this case, for a service directed to a certain request address or a certain request address, the acquisition mode obtained from the CDN may be corresponding.

At this time, the content access policy may include: the service providing device determines the acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

As a possible solution, the request address may be represented by a URL. At this time, the service providing apparatus performs regular expression matching on the URL corresponding to the content, and determines the acquisition mode of the content. By the arrangement, the acquisition mode of the content can be accurately controlled, and user experience is improved.

Alternatively, the URL is typically represented in the form of a multi-segment string. At this time, if the URL corresponding to the content includes the first string, the content is obtained through the CDN. Or if the URL of the content includes the second string, the content is acquired through the ONT.

Design 3: the manner in which the content is obtained is related to the provider of the content.

As a possible solution, the access policy may comprise: if the provider of the content is the target provider, the obtaining mode of the content is the obtaining mode obtained from the CDN node. For example, the target provider may be a provider that has opened additional services. As another example, the target provider may be some type of provider. At this time, the user or CDN management device may define in advance which providers belong to the target provider.

In one possible design, the target provider may be the provider that has opened additional services. These additional services are typically provided to the target provider after purchase or some cooperation is achieved. This arrangement, corresponds to the purchase of services by the provider, which pays the high bandwidth costs of the CDN. At this time, when the user accesses the content provided by the providers, the content can be obtained from the CDN node, thereby improving the content usage experience of the user.

In yet another possible design, the target provider may be a provider with public welfare properties or with special functions. For example, a fire protection video is provided for a user by a fire protection mechanism, in this case, the fire protection mechanism is set as a target provider, and the user can quickly acquire the fire protection video when acquiring the fire protection video, so that the user experience is improved, and the fire protection video is beneficial to the learning knowledge of the user.

As yet another possible solution, the access policy may comprise: if the provider of the content is the provider of the target service, the obtaining mode of the content is the obtaining mode obtained from the CDN node.

For example, the provider of content may be a video website, an audio website, a ticketing website, a book reading website, and the like. At this time, if the content provided by the content provider belongs to the video service, the content provider is the target provider.

For example, if the content is provided by a video website, an audio website, or the like, the content is obtained from the CDN.

Optionally, if the provider of the content does not belong to the target provider or the provider of the content does not belong to the provider of the target service, the acquiring manner of the content is an acquiring manner acquired from the ONT.

When implementing the content access policy of design 3, the content providing apparatus may first determine the instruction information about the provider of the content. For example, if the content attribute indicates a provider of the content, the content providing apparatus determines the acquisition mode of the content according to an access policy corresponding to the provider of the content.

Design 4: the manner in which the content is obtained is defined by the user. For example, a user defines what acquisition mode is adopted for a certain content according to requirements.

For example, the user may set, according to the domain name, a service for accessing a domain name, close the ONT acquisition mode, and if the acquisition mode includes only "acquire from CDN" and "acquire from ONT", the acquisition mode of the content corresponding to the domain name is the acquisition mode acquired from CDN.

For example, the user may set a service type to only start the CDN acquisition mode according to the domain name. In this case, the content acquisition mode corresponding to the content of the service type is an acquisition mode acquired from the CDN.

It should be appreciated that the above-described content access policies are designed for ease of understanding only and are not meant to be limiting. In implementations, the content access policy may include more or fewer designs. Alternatively, the designs described above may also be combined without mutual exclusion.

In one possible design, the content access policy may be managed and maintained by a scheduling node, or scheduling module, in the CDN network. At this time, the content providing apparatus may acquire the content access policy from the scheduling node (or scheduling module).

It should be understood that the content may be obtained in a variety of ways, different ways, and different subsequent steps. Step S303 is a step that may be performed when the acquisition mode is acquisition from the CDN.

Step S303: if the acquisition mode of the content is the acquisition mode acquired from the CDN node, the content providing device instructs the target CDN node to return the content to the terminal equipment.

The target CDN node is a node in the CDN network, and is capable of returning content to the terminal device, for example, the target CDN node belongs to an edge cache node (or cache node). Alternatively, the target CDN node may be a node closest to the terminal device among the plurality of CDN nodes. The distance in the embodiments of the present application may be a physical geographical distance or a network distance (e.g., the number of hops experienced, etc.).

There are many implementations of the "indication". As a possible implementation manner, the content providing device and the target CDN node are in communication connection, the content providing device may send indication information (which is called first indication information for distinguishing) to the target CDN node, and the target CDN node receives the indication information and may return the content to the terminal device.

For another example, the content providing apparatus queries the cache of the CDN node, and if the cache of the target CDN has the content requested by the terminal device, returns the content to the terminal device.

As yet another possible implementation manner, the content providing device is located in the target CDN node, where the content providing device may output control information or generate an instruction, and correspondingly, the CDN node may return the content to the terminal device according to the control signal or the instruction.

Step S304 (optional): and the target CDN node returns the content to the terminal equipment.

It may be understood that the implementation process may include step S304 or may not include step S304. For example, there may be no temporary cache of the content in the target CDN node, at which time the content may be requested from a previous level node or source station, and the terminal device may have cancelled the request for the content during the request, at which time the target CDN node may not perform step S304.

For another example, in some scenarios, the target CDN node is not the optimal CDN node to return the content to the terminal, at which point redirection may be triggered. That is, the content may be provided to the terminal device by another CDN node.

Step S305-step S307 are steps that may be executed when the acquisition mode is acquisition from the CDN, and are specifically as follows:

Step S305 (optional): if the acquisition mode of the content is the acquisition mode acquired from the ONT, the content providing device instructs the terminal device to redirect to the target ONT to acquire the content.

There are many implementations of the "indication". The following list a few possible examples:

example 1: the content providing means directly instructs the terminal device. The content providing apparatus may transmit indication information (for convenience of distinction, referred to as second indication information) to the terminal device, the second indication information including information indicating the target ONT. Accordingly, the terminal device redirects the acquisition request of the content to the target ONT. For example, the second indication information may include one or more of an internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address of the target ONT, a media access control (media access control, MAC) address of the target ONT, a device identification of the target ONT, a name of the target ONT, a number of the target ONT, and the like.

Example 2: the content providing means indirectly instructs the terminal device. The content providing device may send indication information (referred to as third indication information for convenience of distinction) to the target ONT. The target ONT interacts with the terminal device to redirect the terminal device's request for content to the target ONT.

The above two ways are merely examples, and in the implementation process, the content providing apparatus may instruct the terminal device to obtain the content from the target ONT in other manners.

In order to improve the hit rate of the ONT, the content providing apparatus may redirect the terminal device to the target ONT to acquire the content in case that the target ONT has the content requested by the terminal device thereon.

As a possible solution, the content providing device queries for available ONTs of the content, whereas the aforementioned target ONT belongs to the available ONTs.

Alternatively, the ONT resource scheduling node (or ONT resource scheduling brain) can provide an available ONT query service. At this time, the content providing apparatus may query from the ONT as to whether or not there is an ONT available to acquire a certain content.

As still another possible solution, if the content acquisition mode is an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT, but there is no ONT available for acquiring the content, the content providing apparatus instructs the target CDN node to return the content to the terminal device. By the arrangement, under the condition that the available ONT of the content does not exist, the terminal equipment can acquire the content from the CDN, so that the time delay of acquiring the content is reduced, and the user experience is improved.

Step S306 (optional): the terminal device sends an acquisition request for the content to the target ONT. Wherein the acquisition request of the content includes a content attribute of the content.

The related description may refer to the description in step S301.

Step S307 (optional): the target ONT returns the content to the terminal device.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 3, the content providing apparatus can determine, from a plurality of acquisition modes, an acquisition mode applicable to the current content based on the access policy corresponding to the content attribute, thereby improving flexibility of content acquisition. Since the content acquisition mode can be flexibly determined, the embodiment of the application can determine the content acquisition mode for different contents (for example, different content types, different content providers, different domain names, etc.).

The embodiment shown in fig. 3 includes a number of possible alternatives, some of which are further described below.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a flowchart of another possible content providing method according to an embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the method may be applied in a system comprising user equipment, a CDN node access gateway, a CDN node content scheduling module, a CDN cache, an ONT resource scheduling brain (optional) and an ONT target (optional), for example, the content providing system shown in fig. 2.

The steps shown in fig. 4 may include some or all of the steps S401 to S412. It should be understood that the description of the present application by the order of S401 to S412 is for convenience of description, and is not intended to limit the execution by the above order. The execution sequence, execution time, execution number, and the like of the one or more steps are not limited. The steps S410 to S412 are specifically as follows:

step S401: a User Equipment (UE) requests content.

For example, the UE sends an acquisition request for content. Optionally, the message requesting the content carries a content attribute of the content. The related description may refer to the description in the aforementioned step S301.

Accordingly, the CDN node may receive the request from the UE.

Step S402: the CDN node access gateway queries the content access policy.

Alternatively, the CDN node access gateway may be a module in the CDN node that is capable of receiving a request from the UE.

As a possible solution, the access policy of the content is provided by the CDN node content scheduling module. At this time, the CDN node access gateway queries the content access policy from the CDN node content scheduling module. Alternatively, the CDN access gateway may obtain the full content access policy.

Or alternatively, when the content access policy includes multiple content access policies, the CDN node access gateway may query only a portion of the content access policies, e.g., the CDN node access gateway may query only the access policies corresponding to the content attributes.

As yet another possible solution, some or all of the content access policies are already acquired in the CDN node access gateway. At this time, the CDN node access gateway may also execute step S204, but determine the manner of acquiring the content according to the acquired content access policy.

As yet another possible solution, the CDN node content scheduling module may synchronize the content access policy with the CDN node access gateway when the content access policy is updated, so as to improve system consistency.

There are a number of possible designs of content access policies. Reference may be made specifically to the relevant description in step S302.

Step S403: and the CDN node content scheduling module returns a content access strategy to the CDN node access gateway.

Correspondingly, the CDN node access gateway receives the content return policy.

Optionally, the CDN node content scheduling module is a module in the CDN node, configured to manage and maintain a content access policy, and capable of providing the content access policy to other devices.

Optionally, the CDN node content scheduling module further supports setting a content access policy. As a possible solution, a user (here, a user refers to an operation and maintenance person, an administrator, or a user of the CDN network, etc.) may define a content access policy in the CDN node content scheduling module.

The content access strategy is managed in a centralized way through the content scheduling module in the CDN node, so that the latest content access strategy can be updated and synchronized in time when the content access strategy is changed, the consistency of each node in the CDN network is improved, and the system stability is facilitated.

It should be noted that, the content scheduling policy may be defined by turning on/off a certain content acquisition mode. The following list two possible implementations:

Implementation 1, a user (an operation and maintenance person, an administrator, or a user of the CDN network, etc.) may turn on (or off) ONT acceleration (i.e., the acquisition mode from the ONT) based on a domain name. For example, when the domain name a is accelerated by the ONT, and the user equipment accesses the content provided by the domain name, the content may be obtained from the ONT.

In implementation 2, based on the first video slice, ONT acceleration may be turned off by default, and at this time, the acquisition mode of the first video slice may be the acquisition mode acquired from the CDN. At this time, when the user equipment requests the content of the first video slicing type, the content is provided by the CDN node, so that the user equipment can rapidly open the video, and the user experience is improved.

The two implementations described above are exemplary descriptions of setting content access policies for users and are not limiting on embodiments of the present application.

Step S404: if the content is obtained from the CDN, the CDN node access gateway queries the CDN node cache.

Wherein, the acquisition mode of the content is related to the content attribute and the content access strategy of the content. The relevant description may be referred to the foregoing.

The CDN node cache is a module storing content in CDN nodes. Alternatively, if a content is not cached in advance on the CDN node cache, the CDN node may request the content to the previous level.

Alternatively, the operation of the CDN node access gateway to query the CDN node cache may be regarded as an indication of the CDN node cache by the CDN node access gateway. This indication is used to inform the CDN node that the cache is returning content to the UE.

Step S405: the CDN node cache returns the content to the UE.

Optionally, the operations performed in step S404 and step S405 are performed when the content is acquired from the CDN. In some scenarios, the content may be obtained from the ONT, where the method shown in fig. 4 includes one or more of the following steps.

Step S406: if the content is obtained from the ONT, the CDN node access gateway queries the available ONTs.

Wherein, the scheduling of the ONTs is performed by an ONT resource scheduling brain. At this point, the CDN node access gateway queries the available ONTs from the ONT resource scheduling brain. Correspondingly, the ONT resource scheduling brain receives the query request of the CDN access gateway.

In one possible design, content already cached in the ONT may be looked up by a content index. At this time, the query request of the CDN node access gateway includes the content index. The content index may be included in the content attribute of the content or may be obtained from processing the content attribute of the content.

Step S407: the ONT resource scheduling brain returns the query result.

Illustratively, the ONT resource scheduling brain determines available ONTs from a plurality of ONTs according to the content index and generates a query result. Optionally, the query result may include one or more of the following: whether there is an available ONT, indication information of an available ONT, or priority of an available ONT, etc.

As one possible approach, the ONT resource scheduling brain may obtain content stored on multiple ONTs. Table 3 shows a schematic representation of the content stored on an ONT. Which contains one or more of the identity of the ONT, the IP address of the ONT, the stored content index, etc. It can be seen that the ONT identified as "D001" has stored thereon content identified as: "C001", "C002", "C003", "C004", etc.

The ONT resource scheduling brain determines available ONTs from the content index. For example, if the CDN access gateway queries for available gateways that acquire content "C001", the ONT resource scheduling brain may return indication information of ONT "D001", such as an identification of ONT "D001", an IP address, or a MAC address.

Table 3 content schematic table stored on ONT

ONT identification	IP address	Stored content index
			D001	IP1	C001,C002,C003,C004……
D002	IP2	C004,C005,……
			D004	IP3	C006,C007……
……	……	……

Alternatively, for a certain content, if there are multiple available ONTs, the resource scheduling brain may return all the available ONTs. Or alternatively, if multiple available ONTs are stored, the resource scheduling brain may return several of the available ONTs. Optionally, the resource scheduling brain may determine which ONTs to return based on their quality of service, which may be related to the following information: the loading of the ONT, the bandwidth of the ONT, the distance of the ONT from the UE, the computing power of the ONT, the memory space of the ONT, etc.

Illustratively, for the content "C004", the available ONTs include ONT "D001" and ONT "D002". Alternatively, the query result may contain information indicating ONT "D001" and ONT "D002". Or alternatively, the query result may contain indication information of one of the ONTs, at which time the resource scheduling brain may determine one ONT from the ONT "D001" and the ONT "D002" as the ONT of the returned content.

In one possible design, when there are multiple available ONTs, the resource scheduling brain may determine the priority of the multiple available ONTs, facilitating the CDN node access gateway and/or terminal to determine the target ONT from the multiple available ONTs. The priority of the available ONTs may be included in the query results.

It should be noted that table 3 is one possible schematic table made for the convenience of understanding the process of determining available ONTs, and is not meant as a limitation of the embodiments of the present application. In the implementation process, more or fewer fields in the table are possible; the identification of the ONT, IP address, content index, etc. may be replaced with other designs.

It should be appreciated that the query results may indicate that there are available ONTs, or may indicate that there are no available ONTs. The case where there is no available ONT will be described first.

Step S408: if there is no available ONT, the CDN node access gateway accesses the cache.

The CDN node cache is a module storing content in CDN nodes. Optionally, if a content is not cached in advance on the CDN node cache, the CDN node cache may request the content to the previous level.

Step S409: the CDN node cache returns the content to the UE.

The case where there is an available ONT is described first.

Step S410: if there are available ONTs, the CDN node access gateway returns an HTTP 302 redirect request.

The redirection request includes indication information of the available ONTs, for example, one or more of an identification of the ONT, an IP address of the ONT, a MAC address of the ONT, a name of the ONT, and the like. Alternatively, the available ONTs may be one or more. Further, the redirection request also includes the priority of the ONT.

Step S411: the UE requests content from the ONT.

Wherein the ONT here belongs to the available ONTs. In some scenarios, the ONT is also referred to as an ONT accelerator.

Step S412: the ONT returns the content to the UE.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the CDN node access gateway is capable of determining, from a plurality of acquisition modes, an acquisition mode applicable to the current content based on the content and the content access policy, thereby improving flexibility of content acquisition. The method is used for providing the content, and the required traffic overhead is small, the transmission delay is small and the transmission efficiency is high.

It should be understood that the embodiment shown in fig. 4 includes a number of possible scenarios. In an implementation, the process of providing content may include only some of the steps. The following list of several possible embodiments:

in one possible implementation, the process of providing the content may include steps S401 to S405.

In yet another possible implementation, the process of providing the content may include step S401, step S404, and step S405.

In yet another possible embodiment, the process of providing the content includes steps S401 to S403 and steps S406 to S409.

In yet another possible embodiment, the process of providing the content includes steps S401-S401, S406-S407, and S410-S412.

In one possible design, in the example shown in fig. 4, the CDN node access gateway, the CDN node content scheduling module, and the CDN node cache may be contained in the same CDN node. Of course, the three modules may be integrated in different CDN nodes. For example, the CDN node access gateway and the CDN node content scheduling module are included in the same CDN node, while the CDN node cache is included in another CDN node.

The foregoing details the method of embodiments of the present application and the apparatus of embodiments of the present application are provided below.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a content providing apparatus 50 according to an embodiment of the present application. The content providing apparatus 50 may include a processing unit 501 and a communication unit 502. The content providing apparatus 50 is used to implement the aforementioned content providing method, such as the content providing method in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or fig. 4.

Here, the division of the plurality of units is only one logical division according to functions, and is not limited to a specific configuration of the content providing apparatus 50. In a specific implementation, some of the functional modules may be subdivided into more tiny functional modules, and some of the functional modules may be combined into one functional module, regardless of whether the functional modules are tiny.

As a possible solution, the content providing device 50 as shown in fig. 5 is used to implement part or all of the functions of the content providing device in the embodiment shown in fig. 3 or fig. 4.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication unit 502 is configured to receive an acquisition request for content sent by a terminal device, where the acquisition request includes a content attribute of the content;

the processing unit 501 is configured to determine, according to a content access policy corresponding to the content attribute, an acquisition mode of the content, where the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node of a content delivery network or an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT;

the communication unit 502 is further configured to instruct a target CDN node to return the content to the terminal device if the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from the CDN node.

In yet another possible implementation manner, the communication unit 502 is further configured to:

In yet another possible implementation manner, the content attribute is a service type of the content or an identification of the content, where the identification of the content is used to determine the service type of the content;

In yet another possible implementation, the content access policy includes one or more of the following:

In yet another possible implementation, the content attribute is a request address of the content; the processing unit 501 is further configured to determine, according to the request address of the content, a manner of acquiring the content.

In yet another possible implementation, the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a computing device 60 according to an embodiment of the present application. The computing device is a device having computing capabilities, where the device may be an entity device, such as a server (e.g., rack-mounted server), a host, etc., or may be a virtual device, such as a virtual machine, container, etc.

As shown in fig. 6, the computing device 60 includes: a processor 602, a memory 601, a bus 604, optionally containing a communication interface 603. Communication between the processor 602 and the memory 601 and the like is via a bus 604. It should be understood that the present application is not limited to the number of processors, memories in computing device 60.

The memory 601 is used to provide storage space in which application data, user data, an operating system, computer programs, and the like are optionally stored. The memory 601 may include a volatile memory (RAM) such as a random access memory (random access memory). The memory 601 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory, a mechanical hard disk (HDD), or a solid state disk (solid state drive, SSD).

The processor 602 is a module for performing operations, and may include any one or more of a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a graphics processor (graphics processing unit, GPU), a Microprocessor (MP), a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a coprocessor (assisting the central processing unit in performing corresponding processing and applications), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a micro control unit (Microcontroller Unit, MCU), or the like.

The communication interface 603 is for providing an information input or output for the at least one processor. And/or the communication interface 603 may be used to receive externally transmitted data and/or transmit data to the outside. The communication interface 603 may be a wired link interface including, for example, an ethernet cable, or may be a wireless link (Wi-Fi, bluetooth, general wireless transmission, other wireless communication technologies, etc.) interface. Optionally, the communication interface 603 may also include a transmitter (e.g., radio frequency transmitter, antenna, etc.) or a receiver, etc. coupled to the interface.

Bus 604 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one line is shown in fig. 6, but not only one bus or one type of bus. Bus 604 may include a path to transfer information between various components of computing device 60 (e.g., memory 601, processor 602, communication interface 603).

In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 601 stores executable instructions, and the processor 602 executes the executable instructions to implement the content providing method described above, for example, the content providing method in the embodiment of fig. 3 or fig. 4. That is, the memory 601 has stored thereon instructions for executing the content providing method.

Alternatively, the memory 601 stores executable instructions, and the processor 602 executes the executable instructions to implement functions of one or more devices (or apparatuses) in the foregoing content providing apparatus, CDN node access gateway, CDN content scheduling module, and CDN cache, respectively, so as to implement a content providing method.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computing device cluster. The cluster of computing devices includes at least one computing device 60. The computing device may be a server, such as a central server, an edge server, or a local server in a local data center. In some embodiments, the computing device may also be a terminal device such as a desktop, notebook, or smart phone.

As shown in fig. 6, the cluster of computing devices includes at least one computing device 60. The same instructions for performing the content providing method may be stored in the memory 601 in one or more computing devices 60 in the cluster of computing devices.

In some possible implementations, part of the instructions for performing the content providing method may also be stored separately in the memory 601 of one or more computing devices 60 in the cluster of computing devices. In other words, a combination of one or more computing devices 60 may collectively execute instructions for performing the content providing method.

It should be noted that, the memory 601 in different computing devices 60 in the computing device cluster may store different instructions for executing part of functions executed by the content providing apparatus, the CDN node access gateway, the CDN content scheduling module, or the CDN cache, respectively.

That is, the instructions stored by the memory 601 in the different computing devices 60 may implement the functionality of one or more of the content providing apparatus, the CDN node access gateway, the CDN content scheduling module, or the CDN cache.

In some possible implementations, one or more computing devices in a cluster of computing devices may be connected through a network. Wherein the network may be a wide area network or a local area network, etc.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising instructions. The computer program product may be software or a program product containing instructions capable of running on a computing device or stored in any useful medium. The computer program instructions are for implementing the content providing method described above, for example, in the embodiment of fig. 3 or fig. 4.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium includes instructions for implementing the aforementioned content providing method, for example, the content providing method in the embodiment of fig. 3 or fig. 4.

The computer readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be stored by a computing device or a data storage device such as a data center containing one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid state disk), etc.

It is worth mentioning that the names of the devices referred to in this application are provided for convenience in distinguishing between multiple devices and for understanding the exemplary names provided. In the implementation process, the names of the devices can be arbitrarily replaced. For example, the aforementioned content providing apparatus may also be referred to as a scheduling apparatus, a scheduling module, a communication apparatus, or the like.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion.

Reference to "at least one" in embodiments herein means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c may represent: a. b, c, (a and b), (a and c), (b and c), or (a and b and c), wherein a, b, c may be single or plural. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: three cases of a alone, a and B together, and B alone, wherein A, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

And, unless otherwise indicated, the use of ordinal numbers such as "first," "second," etc., in the embodiments herein are used for distinguishing between multiple objects and not for defining a sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects. For example, the first content providing apparatus and the second content providing apparatus are merely for convenience of description, and are not indicative of differences in apparatus structures, deployment orders, importance levels, and the like of the first content providing apparatus and the first content providing apparatus.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a program for instructing relevant hardware, where the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the storage medium may be a read only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention, and are not limiting; although the invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; these modifications or substitutions do not depart from the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the protection scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A content providing method, comprising:

determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the content access strategy corresponding to the content attribute, wherein the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node of a content distribution network or an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT;

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the content attribute is a service type of the content or an identification of the content, the identification of the content being used for determining the service type of the content;

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the first type comprises one or more of the following:

video first segment and audio first segment.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the first type is user-defined.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the content access policy comprises one or more of:

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the content attribute is a request address of the content; the determining the obtaining mode of the content according to the content access policy corresponding to the content attribute comprises the following steps:

and determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

11. A content providing system, characterized in that the system comprises a content providing device, a terminal device and a target content delivery network CDN node:

the terminal device is configured to send an acquisition request for content to the content providing apparatus, where the acquisition request includes a content attribute of the content;

the content providing device is used for receiving the acquisition request;

the content providing device is further configured to determine, according to a content access policy corresponding to the content attribute, an acquisition mode of the content, where the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node or an acquisition mode acquired from an optical network terminal ONT;

12. The content providing system of claim 11, wherein the content providing system further comprises a target ONT;

13. The content providing system of claim 12, wherein,

the terminal device is further configured to request the content from the target ONT;

and the target ONT is used for returning the content to the terminal equipment.

14. The content providing system according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the content attribute is a service type of the content or an identification of the content, the identification of the content being used to determine the service type of the content;

15. The content providing system according to any one of claims 11-14, wherein the content access policy comprises one or more of:

16. The content providing system according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the content attribute is a request address of the content;

the content providing device is further used for determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

17. The content providing system according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

18. The content providing system of claim 12, wherein,

if the acquiring mode of the content is the acquiring mode acquired from the ONT, the content providing device inquires about the ONT available for acquiring the content, and the target ONT belongs to the ONT available for the content.

19. The content providing system of claim 18, wherein,

20. A content providing apparatus, characterized in that the content providing apparatus comprises:

a communication unit, configured to receive an acquisition request for content sent by a terminal device, where the acquisition request includes a content attribute of the content;

the processing unit is used for determining the acquisition mode of the content according to the content access strategy corresponding to the content attribute, wherein the acquisition mode of the content is an acquisition mode acquired from a CDN node of a content delivery network or an acquisition mode acquired from an ONT;

21. The content providing apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the communication unit is further configured to:

22. The content providing apparatus according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the content attribute is a service type of the content or an identification of the content, the identification of the content being used to determine the service type of the content;

23. The content providing apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 22, wherein the content access policy comprises one or more of:

24. The content providing apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the content attribute is a request address of the content; the processing unit is further configured to determine an acquisition mode of the content according to the request address of the content.

25. The content providing apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 24, wherein the content attribute indicates a provider of the content; the content access policy includes:

26. The content providing apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the communication unit is further configured to:

27. The content providing apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the communication unit is further configured to:

28. A computing device, the computing device comprising a processor and a memory;

the memory stores computer instructions; the processor is configured to execute the computer instructions to implement the method of any one of claims 1-10.

29. A computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer instructions for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-10.