(12) INTERNATIONAL APPLICATION PUBLISHED UNDER THE PATENT COOPERATION TREATY (PCT) (10) International Publication Number WO 2008/064356 Al 1) International Patent Classification: Chicago, Il, 60614 (US). SCHULER, Andeas [CH/USI; GO6F 15/16 (2006.01) 675 Pearson Street, #701 Des Planes, IL 60016 (US). (74) Agent: FELGELSON, Aaron, R.; Leydig, Voit & Mayer, Lid, Two Prudential Plaza, Suite 4900, 180N, Stetson Ave, Chicago, IL 60601-6780 (US), (BL) Designated States (unless otherwise indicated, for every Kind of national protection available): AB, AG, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BH, BR, BW, BY, BZ,CA,CH, "DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, GT, HN, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN; IS, P, KE, KG, KM, KN, KP, KR, KZ, LA, LC, LK, LT, LU, LY, MA, MD, ME, MG, MK, MN, MW, ", MY, MZ, NA, NG, NI, NO, NZ, OM, PG, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, RU, SC, SD, SE, SG, SK, SL, SM, SV, SY, (71) Applicant (forall designated States except US TN, TR, TT, TZ, UA, UG, US, UZ, VC, VN, ZA, ENTERPRISE TECHNOLOGIES LLC (US/US; 990 7M, ZW, Grove Street, Suite 401, Evanston, IL. 60201 (US) (19) World Intellectual Property Organization International Bureau (43) International Publication Date 29 May 2008 (29.05.2008) 1) International Application Number: PCT/AIS2007/085465 (22) International Filing Date: "November 2007 (22.11.2007) (25) Filing Language: (26) Publication Language (30) Priority Data: 607866,926 22 November 2006 (22.11.2006) US (8) Dedgpated Slats aks ethers inde for ery Undo ptember ARIPO G8) Inventorfaplcans (or 0 on: BURKE, GM KF 15, MU, MZ NaS, 821 UG (Chins ot or Sc Evcon, Het Us), 02 Evan AM, Az BY KG CHOFFMES, Dovid (USUSE, a Wes Wieemse Fd, eS TAL Me: ME, NLP vee 1, Chg a (U9), ELEMONS a, ; S"TUSLISL m0 Chg arom, le Enon I, PTRO,SE-SL,SK, TR) OAP (BEI, CE C6, Ch mice GGG, Ml ie NESN HD. IO) Sill (I) JOHNSON, Pabeds TYS8 Noh Ox Ste #10," hematonl ash eon (72) Inventors; and ICAST PEER-TO-PEER VIDEO (54) Tite: REAL-TIME MUL 064356 Al ill B (57) Abstrnct: A peerto-eer platform makes use of streaming agent ring at each per. ‘The sraming agent atses a peer to SF receive chanks of content from diferent neighboring pers, store some ofthe chunks n local each nd distribute those cached chunks to neighboring pees. Delivering next genention broadens (ea steams of ive aa and digital mis) of any size atileng the Item schioved. Uses ean view a ve or prvecodedsircam ofa broaeast through an integrated mediaplayer oF can reply a broadeastthrouh an iterated nlgent archiving service. Use ofthe platform reduces bandwith demands on ive Steaming and archiving services to level where itis sustainable within a profitable busines model to offer he services frat most Bc reatsiie te 201PCT/US2007/085465 REAL-TIME MULTICAST PEER-TO-PEER VIDEO STREAMING PLATFORM CRO! REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/866,926, filed November 22, 2006. FIELD OF THE INVENTION lo002) more particularly to the area of transmission of video over peer-to-peer networks. cention pertains gencrally to the field of computer content delivery and BACKGROUND [0003] The use of peer-to-peer file sharing networks has grown in recent years. The most well-known of these “P2P” networks allowed users to share static, stored files (such as music files) from their own personal computers with other users. The general idea around these historical P2P networks has been to create virtual file servers through a collection of peer computers. Instead of going to a single source for a file, a user in one of these P2P networks would instead obtain the file from one of his peers on the network. The user typically would also act as a server by uploading his own files for others to download. [0004] While various types of P2P file sharing networks have been developed, most have focused on file sharing capabilities. These P2P networks do not lend themselves well for the transmission of streamed live content, where latency and upload bandwidth requirements impose additional constraints on a networking system. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0005] A peer-to-peer platform makes use of a streaming agent running at each peer. The streaming agent causes a peer to receive chunks of content from different neighboring peers, store some of the chunks in a local cache, and ute those cached chunks to neighboring peers. Thus, methods and systems are provided for delivering next generation broadcasts (e.g., as streams of live audio and digital media) of any size utilizing the Internet. For example, users can view a live or prerecorded stream of a broadcast through an integrated media player, or can replay a broadcast through an integrated, intelligent archiving service.WO 2008/064356 PCT/US2007/085465 Use of the platform reduces bandwidth demands on live streaming and archiving services to a level where is sustainable within a profitable business model to offer the services for at most a negligible fee. [0006] A user cone ing to a hybrid peer-to-peer (P2P) network (e.g., 8 peer-to-peer network that not only relies on the computing power and bandwidth of participants in the network, but also the storage capacity, bandwidth, and back-end intelligence of controllers in a robust file system), as described herein is provided the ability to broadcast live media content and is afforded several advantages over previous distribution technology. For example, the platform allows for an unlimited number of users, connected with a network of limitless simultaneous live streams being broadcast to a limitless number of viewers. The platform further supports the highest quality audio and video formats and can adapt to support advancing audio and video formats, [0007] The cost of implementing the platform is minimal. The system architecture provides an affordable live streaming video service over the Internet. The streaming protocol utilized by the platform reduces the demand for a content provider's bandwidth, and thus significantly reduces the cost of providing the service, often to the point where the streaming service can be offered for free. An archiving and storage system enables archiving of media files, ¢.g., audio and/or video files, within the platform as they are being live broadcasted over the network or uploaded to an archiving server and/or dedicated peer. [0008] The streaming platform is a mesh-based hybrid, using a mesh for control and a per-packet tree for data delivery. Trees are built by each peer independently before the corresponding packet is produced. The control mesh also serves as a backup for the per- packet data delivery tree, The streaming protocol us -s swarming not for the initial delivery, but for recovering packets that a host may have missed, because it was unable to join the associated packet delivery tree, or may have experienced a loss during transmission, The initial data distribution utilizes ahead-of-time, per-packet trees, allowing for longer-term data exchange relationships when compared to pure meshes, The relationships help reduce the overhead of the system while incorporating the mesh’s advantages in short-term adapti ity and fairness, Packet optimization, for example, based on node classes (such as desktop nodes or in-network servers). To provide maximal network efficiency, packet requests are performed in phases, first looking to minimize cross-ISP traffic and link stress, and eventually