Patent ID: 7987252
Filing Date: 2011-07-26
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A processor-implemented method of constraining bandwidth consumption in a distributed network, comprising: providing a content delivery network having a set of content servers that are shared among a set of participating content providers; providing a secure configuration portal through which each of a set of content providers manages its traffic independent of any other content provider; having a content provider of the set of participating content providers use the secure configuration portal to identify a bandwidth threshold and an action to take to reduce bandwidth consumption if the bandwidth threshold is met; encoding the bandwidth threshold and the action within a set of metadata tags to generate content provider-specific metadata; forwarding the content provider-specific metadata to each of the set of content servers; at a content server to which an end user has been directed, determining whether the bandwidth threshold has been met over a given time period by comparing data generated at the content server with information in the set of metadata tags; and if the bandwidth threshold has been met over the given time period as indicated by the comparing step, enforcing the action to reduce the bandwidth consumption for the content provider.