Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F9/00—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units
  • G06F9/06—Arrangements for program control, e.g. control units using stored programs, i.e. using an internal store of processing equipment to receive or retain programs
  • G06F9/44—Arrangements for executing specific programs
  • G06F9/445—Program loading or initiating
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/56—Provisioning of proxy services
  • H04L67/568—Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
  • H04L67/5681—Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Definitions

• the present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications networks, and more particularly to the distribution of audiovisual content.
• pre-loading This technique consists in anticipating the future navigation of a user.
• the pre-load software determines which documents to pre-load silently and cache.
• the documents to be pre-loaded are the documents whose links appear on the Web page in question.
• the user requests one of the pre-loaded documents, the latter will be extracted from the cache memory. The user will not need to wait for document loading from a remote site.
• this type of pre-loading involves the loading of documents that will not necessarily be requested by the user. This therefore generates unnecessary traffic and congestion of the different units that carry and store the corresponding data from a data server to the user's terminal.
• This technique consists in downloading on a first so-called storage terminal, for example a computer or a residential gateway, content intended to be played on a second terminal, for example a mobile terminal.
• the loading mechanism of "side-loading" type has the disadvantage for the telecommunications operator to have a reduced visibility or even zero consumption of content made in the residential sphere of a user since transfers are executed between residential equipment without operator control.
• Another drawback is the lack of an explicit link between the usage statistics of a given user or a user group with the pre-loading policy. This prevents the operator from transferring to a user preferentially the contents whose likelihood of consumption by this user is higher than that of other contents.
• the present invention aims to solve the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a method of pre-loading content to be played on a termina! of a set of terminals, characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
• content can be pre-loaded on a user's terminal, in a manner transparent to the user, while taking into account his tastes or habits, by taking into account a likelihood of this content being consumed by this user.
• the set of terminals is typically all the terminals available to a user, for example in his residential sphere.
• the statistics of use of the content comprise at least the number of loads made of this content and an appreciation made by users.
• the profile of the users of the terminals comprises, for a given user, at least one identifier of the contents proposed through the pre-loading and an identifier of the requested contents.
• the characteristics of the terminals include, for a given terminal, at least the connection status, the available memory space in the terminal for pre-loading of content and the list of contents stored in the terminal memory.
• said storage terminal is distinct from the terminal on which the content is intended to be played. Indeed, it is possible to pre-load content on a storage terminal, then play it on another terminal.
• said at least one determined content is part of a complete content.
• pre-loaded content is the first few seconds of a video.
• the volume of data to be pre-loaded is reduced, the pre-loading is fast, encumbers little network resources and occupies a limited memory space after preloading.
• the determination of at least one content further comprises selecting a quality of the at least one content.
• the quality can be for example the duration of the content corresponding to a part of complete content, or the resolution of an image or a video.
• the statistics of use of the content are updated. These statistics are then used for subsequent pre-loading.
• the invention also relates to a pre-loading unit for content to be played on a terminal of a set of terminals, characterized in that it comprises:
• the invention also relates to a storage unit for statistics of usage of a content, adapted to cooperate with a pre-loading unit according to the invention, characterized in that it comprises means for memorizing at least the number of loads made of this content and an appreciation made by users.
• the invention also relates to a user profile storage unit adapted to cooperate with a pre-loading unit according to the invention, characterized in that it comprises means for memorizing, for a given user, at least an identifier of the contents proposed through the pre-loading and an identifier of the requested contents.
• the invention also relates to a unit for memorizing the statuses of terminals adapted to cooperate with a pre-charging unit according to the invention, characterized in that it comprises storage means, for a given terminal, at least the connection status, the available memory space in the terminal for pre-loading content and the list of contents stored in the terminal memory.
• the invention also relates to a system for pre-loading content intended to be played on a terminal of a set of terminals, characterized in that it comprises a pre-loading unit, a unit for storing usage statistics. a content, a user profiles storage unit and a terminal status storage unit according to the invention.
• the various steps of the method according to the invention are determined by instructions of computer programs.
• the invention also relates to a computer program on an information medium, this program being capable of being implemented in a computer, this program comprising instructions adapted to the implementation of the steps of a process as described above.
• This program can use any programming language, and be in the form of source code, object code, or intermediate code between source code and object code, such as in a partially compiled form, or in any other form desirable shape.
• the invention also relates to a computer readable information medium, and comprising instructions of the computer programs as mentioned above.
• the information carrier may be any entity or device capable of storing the program.
• the medium may comprise storage means, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a ROM of microelectronic circuit, or a magnetic recording means, for example a floppy disk or a hard disk.
• the information medium may be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, which may be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by radio or by other means.
• the program according to the invention can be downloaded in particular on an Internet type network.
• the information carrier may be an integrated circuit in which the program is incorporated, the circuit being adapted to execute or to be used in the execution of the method in question.
• FIG. 1 represents a content pre-loading system according to the invention
• FIG. 2 schematically represents a diagram of the exchanges between the different entities of the system of FIG. 1, for a pre-loading of content, according to the invention
• FIG. 3 schematically represents a diagram of the exchanges between the different entities of the system of FIG. 1, for playing a pre-loaded content, according to the invention
• FIG. 4 represents the structure of a database of usage statistics
• FIG. 5 represents the structure of a database of the profiles of the users of the service
• FIG. 6 shows the structure of a database of characteristics of the terminals.
• a content pre-loading system comprises a pre-loading unit 1 which comprises interfaces for communicating with statistics databases. of use 2, of user profile 3 and 4. These three databases can be combined into a single database.
• the pre-loading unit can be integrated into a portal providing other functions outside the scope of the invention.
• the portal presents to the user the contents that he is likely to download to play them.
• the pre-loading unit 1 also comprises an interface for communicating with one or more content servers, only one of which is shown in FIG. 1.
• the contents are of various types, for example videos, sound contents (music or other), multimedia content.
• a set of terminals communicate via a communication network R with the pre-charging system.
• the set of terminals is, for example all terminals available to a user or a group of users.
• the terminals are for example a home gateway, a personal computer, a "smartphone", etc., present in the residential sphere of a user.
• Two terminals 10 and 11 are shown in Figure 1.
• the terminal 10 is more particularly a storage terminal and the terminal 11 is more particularly a terminal for playing the content, for example a display terminal.
• the same terminal may include storage and display means and thus provide these two functions.
• the unit for pre-loading content intended to be played on a terminal of a set of terminals comprises:
• the unit for storing the usage statistics of a content is adapted to cooperate with the pre-loading unit and comprises means for storing at least the number of loads made of this content and an evaluation made by users.
• the user profile storage unit is adapted to cooperate with the pre-loading unit and comprises means for memorizing, for a given user, at least one identifier of the contents proposed by means of the pre-loading. and an identifier of the requested contents.
• the terminal status storage unit is adapted to cooperate with the pre-loading unit and comprises storage means, for a given terminal, of at least the connection status, the memory space available in the terminal for pre-loading of content and the list of contents stored in the terminal's memory.
• the procedure for pre-loading a content according to the invention comprises sequences S1 to S6.
• the pre-loading unit 1 communicates with the databases 2, 3 and 4 to collect data relating to the preferences of the user in question, the contents likely to interest the user as well as the availability terminals of the residential sphere that will be able to store the loading of the selected contents.
• the pre-loading unit 1 identifies the one or more corrected (s) to preload as well as the terminal or terminals that will ensure storage in residential sphere. This identification is performed according to the information collected during the sequence S1.
• the pre-loading unit 1 crosses the information of the bases 2, 3 and 4.
• the base 2 provides information that indicates the popularity of a content.
• the base 3 provides the list of contents already requested by the user as well as his appetence to the proposals. Indeed, if all the content requested by the user is close to all the proposed content, the user has a strong appetite for proposals.
• the contents that can be pre-loaded are associated with several selected qualities.
• the quality is for example the duration or the resolution of the content. Short-term or low-resolution content is faster to pre-load and occupies less memory space.
• the preloading unit selects a quality based on the user's appetite to consume proposed content and available storage space.
• the base 4 provides information to determine which terminal is likely to store pre-loaded content.
• the pre-loading unit 1 controls the contents to pre-load previously identified with the content server 5 and delivers the characteristics of the equipment that will store these contents. These last features include the IP address of the storage equipment.
• the sequence S4 is the pre-loading of the contents from the server 5 on the storage terminal 10.
• the storage terminal can be the display terminal 11.
• the pre-loaded content may be content in its entirety or alternatively only a part of a content, for example the first seconds of a video or a sound file or a low-resolution version of an image or video. a video, especially in the case of a quality selectable to the sequence S2.
• the preload is faster than if the entire content is pre-loaded and the impact on the resources of the network R is reduced.
• sequence S5 is a notification of the presence of pre-loaded content on the storage terminal 10, intended for the display terminal 11.
• the sequence S6 is the display on the termina! 11 of information indicating the presence of pre-loaded content on the storage terminal 10.
• the display procedure of a content according to the invention comprises sequences S10 to S15.
• the user of the display terminal 11 selects a pre-loaded content according to the invention and requests its display.
• the display terminal 11 requests the content to be displayed and informs the pre-loading unit 1 of its request.
• the course of the sequence S11 depends on whether the content has been pre-loaded on a storage terminal separate from the display terminal or directly on the display terminal.
• the sequence S11 comprises only the transmission between the terminal 11 and the pre-loading unit 1 of the information of the loading request.
• the sequence S11 includes a content request between the terminal 11 and the terminal 0 and the sending of the content from the terminal 0 to the terminal 11.
• the sequence S11 also comprises the transmission between the terminal 11 and the pre-loading unit 1 of the information of the loading request.
• the pre-loading unit 1 indicates to the terminal 1 the location of the server for the requested content, if this content is not already in the terminal 10 or 11, that is to say if the pre-loaded content is partial content.
• the pre-loading unit 1 feeds the usage statistics and user profile databases following receipt of the load request information in the sequence S 1.
• the pre-loading system has a more complete set of information that can be exploited during subsequent pre-loading.
• This information is notably the terminal identifier used for the visualization, the requested content identifier, the user's location and the request time for this command, whether it is a pre-order of content. -charged or a non-pre-loaded content command.
• the sequences S13 and S14 are performed.
• the sequence S13 is the command by the display terminal of the content with the content server 5.
• the sequence S1 is the transmission of the content by the content server 5 to the display terminal 11.
• the sequence S 5 is the updating of the state of the loadings on the display terminal.
• the terminal 11 indicates the percentage of loading of each content.
• Figure 4 shows the structure of the usage statistics database 2.
• the database 2 comprises in particular for a content:
• the number of uploads and ratings help to evaluate the popularity of the content.
• Figure 5 shows the structure of the database 3 of the profiles of the users of the service.
• a user profile includes:
• Figure 6 shows the structure of the terminal characteristics database 4. These are the terminals 10 and 11 in the embodiment described.
• the stored information is in particular:
• connection status "Status of connection” that is, whether the terminator is connected to the operator network or not

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Software Systems (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)

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• 2010
  • 2010-12-17 WO PCT/FR2010/052777 patent/WO2011073586A1/fr active Application Filing
  • 2010-12-17 EP EP10809290A patent/EP2513788A1/de not_active Withdrawn

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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