Claims
- 1. A last-element cache system provided on a network connected client computer system, said last-element cache system comprising:
a) a cache store providing for storage of streaming content on a client computer system; b) a streaming content player executable by said client computer system; and c) a cache control system, executable by said client computer system, coupled to transfer on-demand streaming content from said cache store to said streaming content player.
- 2. The last-element cache system of claim 1 wherein said cache control system includes a network proxy and wherein said cache control system provides for network requests by said streaming content player to be routed through said network proxy, said cache control system providing for the selective satisfaction of predetermined network requests from said cache store.
- 3. The last-element cache system of claim 2 wherein said client computer system implements a digital rights management system and wherein said cache control system is coupled to interface with said digital rights management system, and wherein access to the contents of said cache store by said cache control system is constrained to accesses permitted through the operation of said digital rights management system.
- 4. The last-element cache system of claim 3 wherein said cache control system provides for the transfer of predetermined streaming content from said cache store in response to said predetermined network requests and wherein access to said predetermined streaming content by said streaming content player is constrained to accesses permitted through the operation of said digital rights management system.
- 5. A network system supporting the streaming of multimedia content provided from a server system through a network connection to a content player executed by a client system, said network system comprising:
a) a last-element cache provided as the terminal element of a distributed network cache system, said last-element cache residing within a persistent data store of a client system; and b) a cache content controller coupled to said last-element cache, wherein said cache content controller operates as the exclusive local access manager for the content of said last-element cache, said cache content controller being responsive to a remote content server system to select a plurality of predetermined content files for storage by said last-element cache and responsive to said content player for selecting a predetermined one of said predetermined content files for transfer to said content player.
- 6. The network system of claim 5 wherein said cache content controller receives a control file from said remote content server system through a communications network, wherein said control file identifies said plurality of predetermined content files, and wherein said cache content controller receives said plurality of predetermined content files via said communications network.
- 7. The network system of claim 6 wherein said cache content controller operates autonomously in evaluating said control file and in retrieving said plurality of predetermined content files.
- 8. The network system of claim 7 wherein said cache content controller includes a rules evaluation engine and wherein parameters of the autonomous operation of said cache content controller are established through the evaluation of rules by said rules evaluation engine.
- 9. A cache management system enabling centrally controlled management of the contents of a cache provided to ensure reliably continuous streaming transfer of multimedia content to a content player executed on a client computer system, said cache management system comprising:
a) a last-element cache deployed local to a client computer system; and b) a cache control program executed by said client computer system and coupleable to said last-element cache such that the contents of said last-element cache are accessible exclusively through said cache control program subject to a cache management policy autonomously implemented by said cache control program, wherein said cache control program provides for the evaluation of a control file obtained by said cache management system to identify and initiate retrieval of a predetermined set of content files from a remote content server through a communications network.
- 10. The cache management system of claim 9 wherein said last-element cache is maintained encrypted.
- 11. The cache management system of claim 10 wherein said cache control program includes an interface to a digital rights management system and wherein said cache control program is licensable through said digital rights management system to enable access to said last-element cache.
- 12. The cache management system of claim 9 or 11 wherein said cache control program implements a network proxy interface to an external communications network and wherein said cache control program provides for the selective transfer of said predetermined set of content files to said content player in response to the detection of a predetermined request by said content player.
- 13. The cache management system of claim 12 wherein said cache control program includes a player interface coupleable to said content player to receive said predetermined request and wherein said cache control program supports the sequential streaming transfer of said predetermined set of content files to said content player in a predetermined order based on said control file.
- 14. A method of ensuring reliably continuous streaming of network provided multimedia content sourced from a remote content server system to a content player executed by a client computer system, said method comprising the steps of:
a) autonomously determining, by a control program executed on a client computer system, a set of content files to be streamed to a content player; b) autonomously retrieving said set of content files into a last-element cache local to said client computer system; and c) autonomously responding to a predetermined request for streaming content from said content player to stream said content files to said content player.
- 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of autonomously obtaining a control file from a control file server remotely through a communications network, wherein said control file includes a plurality of directives, and wherein said step of autonomously determining is performed based on a specification of said set of content files provided by said plurality of directives.
- 16. The method of claim 15 wherein said step of autonomously retrieving is performed independent of said predetermined request.
- 17. The method of claim 16 wherein said step of autonomously responding includes autonomously evaluating said plurality of directives to develop an active playlist defining an order with which to stream said set of content files to said content player.
- 18. The method of claim 17 wherein further comprising the step of receiving feedback information from an end-user of said content player and wherein said step of autonomously evaluating includes evaluating said feedback information.
- 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:
a) autonomously transferring, by said control program, said feedback information to said control file server; and b) autonomously generating, by said control file server, said control file based on said feedback information.
- 20. The method of claim 19 wherein said step of autonomously retrieving includes the step of encrypting and decrypting said set of content files as transferred into and out of said last-element cache such that said last-element cache is maintained as an encrypted object.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present application is related to the following Application, assigned to the Assignee of the present Application, and is incorporated herein by reference:
[0002] 1) Client-side Last-Element Cache Network Architecture, Hudson et al., SC/Ser. No.______, filed concurrently herewith.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60230348 |
Sep 2000 |
US |