# US 12,603,930 B2 · Content delivery > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,603,930 B2 - Document ID: US12603930B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/553,110 - Filed: 2022-03-15 - Published: 2024-06-06 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2021-03-30 - Assignees: British Telecommunications public limited company - Applicants: British Telecommunications Public Limited Company - Inventors: Michael Nilsson; Timothy Stevens; Stephen Appleby; Rory Turnbull - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12603930B2 ## CPC - H04L 65/611: for multicast or broadcast (systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06) - H04L 65/612: for unicast - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A method of managing content delivery to a client device by a proxy, where the content is made up of a sequence of segments. The proxy starts off by receiving content requests from the client device over unicast, and fulfilling those requests by forwarding them to a content server, and receiving that content before forwarding onto the client device. At some stage, the proxy determines that a multicast channel should be joined to more efficiently receive the required content. However, the multicast channel is likely to be ahead of the available unicast data. Therefore, a multicast join command is delayed until the proxy has taken steps to obtain subsequent content by unicast faster than that content is being requested by the client device, so that the obtained content has caught up with the content available on the multicast channel. The proxy stores this content and uses it to respond to requests from the client device. Only then does the proxy take action to join the multicast channel. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of managing content delivery to a client device by a network element, said content comprising a sequence of segments, said method comprising: receiving requests for segments from a client device, and transmitting the requested segments to the client device by unicast, wherein the transmitted segments are obtained by the network element by: i) requesting one or more of the requested segments from a unicast content source until a decision is made to join a multicast channel; ii) requesting further segments from a unicast content source before the corresponding requests for the further segments are received from the client device, and storing the further segments until requested by the client device; iii) joining a multicast channel and receiving segments over multicast, and storing the segments until requested by the client device; and delaying a multicast join command from being issued until the network element has obtained content by unicast faster than that content is being requested by the client device, so that the obtained content has caught up with the content available on the multicast channel. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) A method according to claim 1, wherein requesting further segments from the unicast content source is done until no further segments are available from the unicast content source. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) A method according to claim 1, wherein if there are any missing segments between the further segments received over unicast and the segments received over multicast, then requesting those missing segments from the unicast content source over unicast by the network element. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) A method according to claim 1, wherein the unicast content source is a retransmission server. ### Claim 5 A network element for managing content delivery to a client device, said content comprising a sequence of segments, said network element adapted in operation to: receive requests for segments from a client device, and transmit the requested segments to the client device by unicast, wherein the network element is further adapted in operation to obtain the transmitted segments by: i) requesting one or more of the requested segments from a unicast content source until a decision is made to join a multicast channel; ii) requesting further segments from a unicast content source before the corresponding requests for the further segments are received from the client device, and storing the further segments until requested by the client device; and iii) joining a multicast channel and receiving segments over multicast, and storing the segments until requested by the client device; wherein the network element is further adapted in operation to delay a multicast join command from being issued until the network element has obtained content by unicast faster than that content is being requested by the client device, so that the obtained content has caught up with the content available on the multicast channel. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The network element according to claim 5, wherein the requesting of the further segments from the unicast content source is done until no further segments are available from the unicast content source. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The network element according to claim 5, wherein the network element is further adapted in operation to: when there are any missing segments between the further segments received over unicast and the segments received over multicast, request those missing segments from the unicast content source over unicast by the network element. ### Claim 8 (depends on 5) The network element according to claim 5, wherein the unicast content source is a retransmission server. ### Claim 9 (depends on 5) The network element according to claim 5 wherein the network element is further adapted in operation to obtain the content by unicast faster than that content is being requested by the client device by predicting next data that the client device is likely to request. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1 further comprising the network element obtaining the content by unicast faster than that content is being requested by the client device by predicting next data that the client device is likely to request.