WO2012100294A1

WO2012100294A1 - Low bandwidth content delivery

Info

Publication number: WO2012100294A1
Application number: PCT/AU2012/000059
Authority: WO
Inventors: Damon Peter FEALY; Nathaniel Aaron VOLK
Original assignee: Veracity Business Solutions Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2011-01-25
Filing date: 2012-01-25
Publication date: 2012-08-02
Also published as: AU2012211034A1

Abstract

A learning management system enables improved content delivery based on network bandwidth management. The system includes a learning management system application server (15) accessible by a User to verify access rights; a learning management system content server (17) that delivers content for local access by a User; and a local application run by the User, that is not a web browser, that communicates with the learning management system application server (15) to obtain instructions for local access to course content by the User.

Description

TITLE

LOW BANDWIDTH CONTENT DELIVERY

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of online training or computer assisted learning. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and system for delivering content rich course material in a low bandwidth environment that utilises existing infrastructure in a more efficient manner.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

Online course delivery is a very popular method of providing training to staff across an organisation. At first, the delivered course content was primarily text based and the delivery of material was primarily by download of documents for reading by the recipient. Increases in computing power, faster communication protocols and a rapidly expanding user expectation have opened the opportunity for more content rich material to be delivered.

Apart from the conventional text documents it is becoming common for course material to include video, audio, graphs, diagrams and pictures to assist with imparting a clear understanding of the material being delivered. For instance, a safety course may include pictures, animations as well as video of equipment being used in safe and unsafe ways.

While the content rich material is extremely useful for course delivery it creates serious bandwidth challenges. There is generally no difficulty when course content is delivered via an intranet within a small organisation on a local network but there can be serious difficulties if the same content is delivered via an extranet across a large organisation. A typical example of an organisation that can face this difficulty is a government department. A government department has an obligation to deliver the same training opportunities to all employees but may have employees distributed across the city, state or country.

A single User accessing content rich course material across a wide area network may have negligible impact, but a large number of Users accessing content simultaneously will have a large impact. While it would be desirable to spread User access to balance load it is usually not practical to do so. The result is that network performance can be seriously degraded when many Users access course material at the same time.

One solution is to increase available bandwidth. In most cases this is not practical because it requires a dedicated 'pipe' between the server delivering the content and the User. Large organisations may be able to afford to implement high bandwidth dedicated lines but in many organisations the cost/benefit analysis may not support such a decision. In any event, most organisations needing distributed delivery of content seek to employ the Internet. Some other solution is needed for delivering content rich material across a (ow bandwidth network.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to overcome or at least alleviate one or more of the above limitations including delivering content rich material via a low bandwidth communication channel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one form, although it need not be the only or indeed the broadest form, the invention resides in a learning management system comprising: a learning management system application server accessible by a User to verify access rights; a learning management system content server that delivers content for local access by a User; and

a local application run by the User, that is not a web browser, that communicates with the learning management application server to obtain instructions for local access to course content by the User.

In a further form the invention resides in a computer based method of content delivery for learning comprising:

content stored on local storage for local access by a User;

an application, that is not a web browser, run locally by a User for management of delivery of course content, the application comprising computer readable program steps causing a computer to:

deliver to the User an interface for verifying access rights;

retrieve information for correct delivery of course content;

retrieve the course content from the local storage; and

correctly deliver the course content to the User.

Preferably, the local application is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) installed on the User's personal computer.

Preferably, the course content is encapsulated within the local application.

Preferably, course content is delivered to the local storage during low traffic times.

Preferably, the course content is an image.

Preferably, the course content is a video.

Preferably, low bandwidth course content is dynamically delivered by the learning management system application server.

Preferably, a speed of a link between the local storage and the learning management system application server is ascertained to determine which course content to deliver from the local storage and which course content to deliver from the learning management system application server.

Preferably, a size of the course content is used to determine which course content to deliver from the local storage and which course content to deliver from the LMS application server.

Preferably, the local storage is a hard disk connected to a local server or network aware storage. Alternatively, the local storage is physical media such as a USB memory stick or a Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) distributed to Users at a site.

Preferably, the course content is a title that is hyperlinked to locally stored content

Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To assist in understanding the invention and to enable a person skilled in the art to put the invention into practical effect, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG 1 is a schematic diagram of a low bandwidth content delivery system; and

FIG 2 is a flowchart depicting a method of low bandwidth content delivery.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention reside primarily in a low bandwidth content delivery system and a method of content delivery in a low bandwidth environment. Accordingly, the elements of the invention have been illustrated in concise schematic form in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are necessary for understanding the embodiments of the present invention, but so as not to obscure the disclosure with excessive detail that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the present description.

In this specification, adjectives such as first and second, left and right, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one element or action from another element or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order. Words such as "comprises" or "includes" are intended to define a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed, including elements that are inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus.

Referring to FIG 1 there is shown a schematic of a content delivery system 10 useful in a low bandwidth environment. A User accesses a Rich Internet Application (RIA) on their personal computer 11. It is likely that in many cases the personal computer 1 will be one of a number in a local area network 11a.

A suitable RIA is based on a free utility software product called AIR available from Adobe Inc. The Adobe^® AIR^® product is described as, "The Adobe® AIR® 2.5 runtime enables developers to use HTML, JavaScript, Adobe Flash^® Professional software, and ActionScript^® to build web applications that run as standalone client applications without the constraints of a browser." It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the field that other similar products will also be suitable or a specific application could be written.

The User experiences a login page 12 similar to the normal page they would see when they login to a learning management system through a web browser but instead they are actually providing their User access details through a local application to the server. The User information and authentication data 13 are transmitted via a network 14 (such as the Internet or other wide area network) to a learning Management system (LMS) application server 15. The LMS server authorizes the User to access content rich course material on local storage 16.

The split between content delivered over the network and content delivered from local storage 16 is a variable of the system. For instance, it may be desirable in certain circumstances to continue to deliver text across the network because it is dynamic, whereas images and video may be delivered from local storage 16. In other cases there may be no change to the content and the entire course is delivered from local storage 16. In this case the LMS application server 15 only provides authentication and authorization for course content delivery. In some embodiments, a speed of a link between the local application and the LMS application server 15 is ascertained in order to determine which course content to deliver from the local storage 16 and which course content to deliver from the LMS application server 15. In one embodiment a ping test is performed in order to ascertain a connection speed between the local area, network 11a and the network 14. However it should be appreciated that there are many other forms of speed test that may be performed such as a trace route or bandwidth test that meets acceptable criteria. The ping test may be performed by either or both the LMS application server 15 or the local application. Furthermore, a size of the content may be used to determine which course content to deliver from the local storage 16 and which course content to deliver from the LMS application server 15. For example,, it may be determined to deliver images and video from the local storage 16 and to deliver text, such as questions, from the LMS application server 15.

In order to make the course content available it may be delivered to local storage 16 as a separate action at low traffic times. One approach for making content rich course content available locally is shown in FIG 1. An LMS content server 17 is configured to download content to a local storage device 18 from which the local application on the User's personal computer 1 retrieves the content. The LMS content server 17 may be a separate device or may be the same physical machine as the LMS application server 15. The local storage device 18 may be a network device, such as network aware storage, or a hard disk drive on a local server. The location of the locally stored content can be mapped as part of the installation of the RIA. It is even possible for the content to be bundled with the RIA for single User sites, but this is only likely to be sensible in a small number of cases. Alternatively the content may be delivered on physical media such as a USB memory stick or CD that is mailed to the User after they enroll for a course. Variations of these options will be evident to persons skilled in the field. For instance, the content could be downloaded to network aware storage and then transferred to multiple USB memory sticks for distribution to Users at a site. Further, for small or single courses, the course content could potentially even be delivered encapsulated within the desktop application itself.

To further explain the invention, the steps of accessing the learning management system in a low bandwidth environment are set out in FIG 2. In FIG 2 the steps performed by the RIA as accessed by the User are set out in the middle. Steps performed by the LMS are set out to the right and steps performed by storage are set out to the left. Initially the User opens the RIA which delivers a login page that looks like a standard browser interface. The User types in User authentication information, such as Username and password, in the usual way. The RIA sends the information to the LMS server which authenticates the User and returns authority information, perhaps such as the course content the User is authorized to access.

Optionally the LMS server may deliver low bandwidth content. If not, this step would not apply.

The User then views the course content, which may be low bandwidth content delivered by the LMS server or content delivered during installation of the RIA. The course content at this stage may be no more than a title that is hyperlinked to locally stored content. The RIA requests rich content from the local storage which delivers the content to the User. The User views the course content to complete the course or view part of the course. Throughout the course delivery the performance tests or other forms of assessment that are transmitted to and from the LMS, including results of the assessment. Each session ends via a familiar logoff.

The process may be completed as many times as necessary for the

User to view the entire course. Various course statistics may be captured as is known in the field of on-line course delivery.

It will be understood that the invention maintains a familiar User experience by directly referencing the LMS from within the RIA but significantly reduces the bandwidth overhead, thus dramatically improving the User experience. The invention also has the benefit that maintenance of course content is much easier. Updated content can be delivered to local storage during low traffic times. Furthermore, in the network storage implementation the updating of course content can be pushed to all users in a single action.

The invention also delivers content more securely than existing approaches because content is not being constantly trafficked across the network. SSL or similar can be used for additional security if desired. In some embodiments, an advantage over the prior art is that the local application obtains instructions from the LMS application server 15 to determine the content to be accessed locally and the content to be delivered by the LMS application server 15.

The above description of various embodiments of the present invention is provided for purposes of description to one of ordinary skill in the related art. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to a single disclosed embodiment. As mentioned above, numerous alternatives and variations to the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art of the above teaching. Accordingly, while some alternative embodiments have been discussed specifically, other embodiments will be apparent or relatively easily developed by those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, this invention is intended to embrace all alternatives, modifications and variations of the present invention that have been discussed herein, and other embodiments that fall within the spirit and scope of the above described invention.

Claims

1. A learning management system comprising:

a learning management system application server accessible by a User to verify access rights;

a learning management system content server that delivers content for local access by a User; and

a local application run by the User, that is not a web browser, that communicates with the learning management system application server to obtain instructions for local access to course content by the User.

2. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the local application is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) installed on the User's computer.

3. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the course content is encapsulated within the local application.

4. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the course content is delivered to the local storage during low traffic times.

5. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the course content is one or more of an image and a video.

6. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein low bandwidth course content is dynamically delivered by the learning management system application server.

7. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein a speed of a link between the local storage and the learning management system application server is ascertained to determine which course content to deliver from the local storage and which course content to deliver from the learning management system application server.

8. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the local storage is a hard disk connected to a local server or network aware storage.

9. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the local storage is physical media distributed to Users at a site.

10. The learning management system of claim 1 wherein the course content is a title that is hyperlinked to locally stored content.

11. A computer based method of content delivery for learning comprising:

content stored on local storage for local access by a User;

deliver to the User an interface for verifying access rights;

retrieve information for correct delivery of course content;

retrieve the course content from the local storage; and

correctly deliver the course content to the User.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the application is a Rich Internet Application (RIA) installed on the User's computer.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the course content is encapsulated within the application.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the course content is delivered to the local storage during low traffic times.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the course content is one or more of an image and a video.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein low bandwidth course content is dynamically delivered by a learning management system application server.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein a speed of a link between the local storage and the learning management system application server is ascertained to determine which course content to deliver from the local storage and which course content to deliver from the learning management system application server.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein the local storage is a hard disk connected to a local server or network aware storage.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the local storage is physical media distributed to Users at a site.

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the course content is a title that is hyperlinked to locally stored content.