US-20260129018-A1 - METHODS AND DEVICES FOR CONFIGURING A DNS MODULE AND FOR ADDRESS RESOLUTION IN ORDER TO MANAGE THE STREAMING OF MEDIA CONTENT IN A TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

US20260129018A1US 20260129018 A1US20260129018 A1US 20260129018A1US-20260129018-A1

Abstract

A method allows the configuration of a DNS module, the method implemented by an entity formed by a gateway configured to interconnect a local area network with an operator network or by a device of this local area network. The configuration includes registering a domain name which directs to a multicast gateway included in the entity and configured to respond to a content access request received over the local area network by unicasting this content, the content being received by the multicast gateway via multicasting from a multicast server for this content via the operator network, a rule for resolving a domain name of at least one content server with the IP address of a switching module located in the operator network, and registering a secondary domain name which directs to the content server. Upon receiving a request to access content the switching module responds with a redirect request to the domain name which directs to the multicast gateway if the content is to be accessed via multicasting, and with a redirect request to the secondary domain name which directs to the server for the content if the content is to be accessed via unicasting.

Inventors

Elisabeth Lepoil
Sylvain Chauvel
Serge Rigaudeau
PHILIPPE GRAVE

Assignees

ORANGE

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20230926
Priority Date: 20220928

Claims (10)

1 . A method for configuring a DNS module implemented by a home gateway configured to interconnect a local area network with an operator network, said configuration including at least: (i) a registration of a domain name pointing to a multicast gateway comprised in said home gateway and configured to respond to a request to access a content received on the local area network, by sending this content in unicast, said content being received in multicast by the multicast gateway from a multicast server of this content via the operator network; and (ii) a rule for resolving a domain name of at least one content provider server with an IP address of a routing module located in the network (NET) of the operator, said routing module being configured, upon receipt of a request to access a content, to: respond with a request for redirection towards said domain name pointing to said multicast gateway if the content is to be accessed in multicast; and respond with a request for redirection towards a secondary domain name resolvable to an address of said content provider server if the content is to be accessed in unicast.
2 . The method of claim 1 , said method being implemented upon detection of presence of the multicast gateway.
3 . The method of claim 1 , said method being implemented by the multicast gateway.
4 . An address resolution method implemented by a home gateway configured to interconnect a local area network with an operator network, said method including: receiving a request to resolve a domain name from a content provider server; and responding to said resolution request by sending an IP address of a routing module located in the network of the operator, said routing module being configured, upon receipt of a request to access a content, to: respond with a request for redirection towards a domain name of a multicast gateway comprised in said home gateway if the content is to be accessed in multicast; and respond with a request for redirection towards a secondary domain name resolvable to an address of a server of said content if the content is to be accessed in unicast.
5 . A device for configuring a DNS module comprised in a home gateway configured to interconnect a local area network with an operator network, said configuration including at least: (i) a registration of a domain name pointing to a multicast gateway comprised in said home gateway and configured to respond to a request to access a content received on the local area network, by sending this content in unicast, said content being received in multicast by the multicast gateway from a broadcast server of this content via the operator network; and (ii) a rule for resolving a domain name of at least one content provider server with an IP address of a routing module located in the operator network, said routing module being configured, upon receipt of a request to access a content, to: respond with a request for redirection towards the domain name pointing to said multicast gateway if the content is to be accessed in multicast; and respond with a request for redirection towards a secondary domain name resolvable to an address of said content provider server if the content is to be accessed in unicast.
6 . A home gateway configured to interconnect a local area network (LAN) with an operator network (NET), said home gateway comprising the device of claim 5 .
7 . A multicast gateway integrated into the home gateway of claim 6 and configured to respond to a request to access a content by sending in unicast this content, this content being received by said multicast gateway in multicast from a multicast broadcast server of this content.
8 . An address resolution device intended to be integrated into a home gateway configured to interconnect a local area network with an operator network, this device comprising a processor and configured to: receive a request to resolve a domain name from a content provider server; and send a response to said resolution request, said response including an IP address of a routing module located in the network of the operator, said routing module being configured, upon receipt of a request to access a content, to: respond with a request for redirection towards a domain name of a multicast gateway comprised in said home gateway if the content is to be accessed in multicast; and respond with a request for redirection towards a secondary domain name resolvable to an address of a server of said content if the content is to be accessed in unicast.
9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method of claim 1 .
10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the method of claim 1 .

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention lies in the field of the management of the multimedia content stream broadcast in a telecommunications network. It particularly applies to the broadcasting of audiovisual contents of an OTT (Over the Top) service. These contents are proposed by means of a simple Internet connection and delivered in unicast streaming to a receiver (OTT set-top box) via the Web. In a unicast broadcast mode, an emitter equipment (streaming server) generally belonging to a CDN (Content Delivery Network) emits a stream per client/receiver equipment (OTT set-top box) having requested the content (client mode/server). Consequently, if several clients access the same content simultaneously, for example the Live of a TV channel, several identical streams circulate in the network. This method has the disadvantage of occupying a significant bandwidth of the network in the event of significant simultaneous requests for a linear (live) service. This unicast transmission is generally performed with contents prepared in ABR (Adaptive Bit Rate) or with adaptive bit rate in which the source content is encoded according to several bit rates, each segmented into small parts of several seconds, typically between two and ten seconds, the segments of the available streams and their respective bit rates being filled in a file downloadable by the clients (OTT set-top boxes). When a client starts receiving a stream, he generally requests the segments of the stream with the lowest bit rate and if he determines that the throughput of the network is higher than the throughput of the downloaded segment, he requests a higher throughput segment. Conversely, if a client finds that the throughput of the network has deteriorated, he can request a lower throughput segment. Each client implements an adaptive bit rate algorithm to decide which bit rate segments to download, depending on the current state of the network. Historically, the linear stream broadcast used point-to-multipoint transmission methods such as Broadcast (cable, satellite, etc.) or Multicast (IPTV, etc.), these methods consisting in emitting a single stream to a plurality of receivers. These methods save bandwidth since in the network, a single stream circulates for all receivers. On the other hand, these methods required the use of receivers dedicated to the transmission mode (Satellite Receiver, IPTV set-top box, etc.) and to the characteristics of the transmission network (association of TV channel and broadcast frequency or multicast address, etc.), which is not compatible with OTT set-top boxes. Since 2020, new standards have emerged such as M-ABR (e.g. DVB ETSI TS 103 769 V1.1.1 , a standard inspired by previous 3GGP and ATSC works) combining the encoding and packaging formats of the existing media (ABR) with the efficiency of the point-to-multipoint distribution up to the edge of the IP-based access networks. It becomes possible to design a linear media distribution system that is both efficient and scalable to very large audiences, while remaining technically compatible with the largest possible set of already deployed end-user equipment (OTT set-top boxes). Point-to-multipoint topologies also offer possibilities of efficient pre-positioning of the active users on the devices at the network edge. This supports additional non-linear use cases and can help mitigate the peak demand on the access network at the synchronization points in the linear schedule. The invention particularly relates to a mechanism for routing the requests to access contents emitted by the client (OTT set-top box). In the DVB standard (DVB ETSI TS 103 769 V1.1.1 ), the device responsible for such a routing device is called appointment service. It makes it possible to redirect a request to access a content either towards a unicast CDN server (the classic mode), or towards a “multicast gateway”. The multicast gateway receives the contents via a multicast transport (see broadcast) and delivers them to the client in unicast. FIG. 1 represents a first method for managing the multimedia stream broadcast in unicast towards an OTT receiver, this method being in accordance with the state of the art. An OTT receiver device (OTT end device) includes an application CP_APP from a content provider (Content Provider Application), a multimedia stream set-top box and a DNS (Domain Name Server) module referenced DNS_OTT. This receiver device OTT is connected by a local area network LAN to a home gateway HGW (Home Gateway). This home gateway HGW includes a DNS module, referenced DNS_HGW. The home gateway HGW is connected to a telecommunications network NET including a DNS server DNS_NET. A content server (Content Provider Server or CP server) CP_SRV from a content delivery network (CDN) is connected to the network NET. “CP.net” refers to the domain name (FQDN, Fully Qualified Domain Name) and “@IP_CDN” refers to the IP address of the content provider server CP_SRV. In this document