Patent ID: 7757259

Claim:
In a cable services system, a method for managing on-demand content, the method comprising: populating a cable services system head end with a plurality of on-demand video programs; determining a subset of the plurality of on-demand video programs to be distributed to at least one cable services system hub; distributing the subset of the plurality of on-demand video programs to the at least one cable services system hub, wherein distributing the subset of the plurality of on-demand video programs to the at least one cable services system hub comprises predictively propagating content to the at least one cable services system hub based on the following: content metadata, content usage patterns, prioritized load distribution, and statistical algorithms comprising functions of variable content bandwidth requirements; caching the subset of the plurality of on-demand video programs at the at least one cable services system hub for provisioning the cached on-demand video programs comprising the subset to cable services customers associated with the at least one cable services system hub; receiving a request for a given on-demand video program at the at least one cable services system hub; if the requested on-demand video program is cached at the at least one cable services system hub, streaming the requested on-demand video program from the at least one cable services system hub to a requesting cable services customer; calculating a given period of time based upon the following: an expected number of hours of popular content within each service type, an average time a given title remains popular, a number of services, a refresh rate for each service, and an average time prior to start of availability window for popular content; if the requested on-demand video program is not cached at the at least one cable services system hub, determining whether the request for the given on-demand video program meets a threshold number of requests for the given on-demand video program during the given period of time; and if the request for the given on-demand video program meets the threshold number of requests during the given period of time, caching the requested on-demand video program at the at least one cable services system hub, the threshold number of requests and the given period of time each being selected to cause at least 80% of requests for on-demand video programs at the at least one cable services system hub to be serviced from the at least one cable services system hub.