Channel conservation for anticipated load surge in video servers

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, wherein the anticipated load on the system is determined as a function of at least anticipated new requests and anticipated completions of requests currently being served.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, wherein the attributes are selected from a group including: a number of requests for a common video, waiting time for each of the requests, expected reneging threshold for the users and class of service.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 wherein the determining a time at which a next playing of a video by the video-on-demand system will occur includes the step of determining whether a time period between a desired scheduling of a video and a previous scheduling of a video has exceeded a predetermined threshold; and, when the time period has not exceeded the threshold, postponing the playing until the threshold has been exceeded.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4 wherein the threshold is a fixed number.

Claim 7

The method of claim 4 wherein the threshold is determined based on a rate at which the load on the system is changing.

Claim 10

The method of claim 7 wherein the threshold is a fixed number.

Claim 11

The method of claim 7 wherein the threshold is determined based on a rate of which the load on the system is changing.

Claim 13

A computer readable memory that can be used to direct a computer to schedule videos in accordance with a particular method when used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of: receiving requests for playing of videos from users of the system; tracking the requests in a queue structure; determining a time at which a next playing of a video by the video-on-demand system will occur based on present availability of system resources and anticipated load on the system; selecting a particular video to play based on attributes of the requests in the queue; when the time arrives, playing the particular video; and, removing at least some of the requests served by the playing from the queue structure.

Claim 14

A computer readable memory that can be used to direct a computer to schedule videos in accordance with a particular method when used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of: receiving requests for playing of videos from users of the system; tracking the requests in a queue structure; determining a time at which a next playing of a video by the video-on-demand system will occur based on present availability of system resources and anticipated load on the system; selecting a particular video to play based on attributes of the requests in the queue; when the time arrives, playing the particular video; and, removing at least some of the requests served by the playing from the queue structure.

Claim 15

The computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the anticipated load on the system is determined as a function of at least anticipated new requests and anticipated completions of requests currently being served.

Claim 16

The computer readable memory of claim 11, wherein the attributes are selected from a group including: a number of requests for a common video, waiting time for each of the requests, expected reneging threshold for the users and class of service.

Claim 17

The computer readable memory of claim 11 wherein the determining a time at which a next playing of a video by the video-on-demand system will occur includes the step of determining whether a time period between a desired scheduling of a video and a previous scheduling of a video has exceeded a predetermined threshold; and, when the time period has not exceeded the threshold, postponing the playing until the threshold has been exceeded.

Claim 18

The computer readable memory of claim 14 wherein the threshold is a fixed number.

Claim 19

The computer readable memory of claim 14 wherein the threshold is determined based on a rate at which the load on the system is changing.

Claim 20

A computer readable memory that can be used to direct a computer to scheduling video in accordance with a particular method when used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of: receiving requests for playing of videos from users of the system; tracking the requests in a queue structure; requesting use of system resources for playout of at least one of the videos identified by the requests in the queue; comparing an elapsed time between a last playing of a video and the requesting of the use of system resources to a threshold value; when the comparing indicates that the elapsed time does not exceed the threshold value, postponing allocation of system resources to the request; when the comparing indicates that the elapsed time exceeds the threshold value, allocating system resources to the request and playing out the at least one of the videos.

Claim 21

A computer readable memory that can be used to direct a computer to scheduling video in accordance with a particular method when used by the computer, the method comprising the steps of: receiving requests for playing of videos from users of the system; tracking the requests in a queue structure; requesting use of system resources for playout of at least one of the videos identified by the requests in the queue; comparing an elapsed time between a last playing of a video and the requesting of the use of system resources to a threshold value; when the comparing indicates that the elapsed time does not exceed the threshold value, postponing allocation of system resources to the request; when the comparing indicates that the elapsed time exceeds the threshold value, allocating system resources to the request and playing out the at least one of the videos.

Claim 22

The computer readable memory of claim 17 wherein the threshold is a fixed number.

Claim 23

The computer readable memory of claim 17 wherein the threshold is determined based on a rate of which the load on the system is changing.

Claim 24

A video on demand system, comprising the steps of: a network interface coupled to receiving requests for playing of videos from users of the video-on-demand system; a memory having a queue structure formed therein, the queue structure including information indicative of the requests; a first schedular instantiated in the memory, the first scheduling including: (i) means for selecting at least one of the videos for playout based on attributes of the requests indicated in the queue structure, and; (ii) means for requesting use of system resources for playout of at least one of the videos selected by the means for selecting; a second scheduler instantiated in the memory the second scheduling including: (i) means responsive to the requesting, for comparing an elapsed time between a last playing of a video and the requesting of the use of system resources to a threshold value, and; (ii) means for allocating system resources to the request made by the means for requesting, when the comparing indicates that the elapsed time exceeds the threshold value; and, a video player coupled to the second schedular for playing the at least one of the videos.

Claim 25

A video on demand system, comprising the steps of: a network interface coupled to receiving requests for playing of videos from users of the video-on-demand system; a memory having a queue structure formed therein, the queue structure including information indicative of the requests; a first schedular instantiated in the memory, the first scheduling including: (i) means for selecting at least one of the videos for playout based on attributes of the requests indicated in the queue structure, and; (ii) means for requesting use of system resources for playout of at least one of the videos selected by the means for selecting; a second scheduler instantiated in the memory the second scheduling including: (i) means responsive to the requesting, for comparing an elapsed time between a last playing of a video and the requesting of the use of system resources to a threshold value, and; (ii) means for allocating system resources to the request made by the means for requesting, when the comparing indicates that the elapsed time exceeds the threshold value; and, a video player coupled to the second schedular for playing the at least one of the videos.