{
  "patent_number": "US 9332078",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Amazon Delivers Content Faster Using Local Servers",
  "original_title": "Locality based content distribution",
  "summary": "Amazon's 2016 patent describes a system for breaking down digital content into smaller pieces and storing them on servers located near users to speed up downloads and reduce network traffic.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent explains how Amazon organizes its content distribution. First, they chop up digital content, like apps or videos, into smaller pieces called segments. They also set up a network of servers, dividing it into groups called subnetworks. Each subnetwork has its own servers, called content sources. Importantly, they register third-party devices as content providers and figure out which subnetwork they belong to. Then, they make sure all the content segments are available on servers within each subnetwork. When a user requests content, the system finds the closest subnetwork and tells the user where to get the specific content segments from servers in that local area, aiming to avoid sending data through too many network hops.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Content distribution that does not break content into segments.",
    "Systems that do not organize servers into subnetworks.",
    "Content delivery where all content is stored on a single server or in a single location.",
    "Methods that do not register third-party devices as content providers.",
    "Distribution networks that do not consider the network locality of the client device when selecting a content source."
  ],
  "filed": "2015-03-05",
  "granted": "2016-05-03",
  "expires": null,
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Amazon Technologies Inc",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/amazon-technologies-inc",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Swaminathan Sivasubramanian",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/swaminathan-sivasubramanian"
    },
    {
      "name": "David R. Richardson",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/david-r-richardson"
    },
    {
      "name": "Bradley Eugene Marshall",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/bradley-eugene-marshall"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 75,
  "tags": [
    "consumer_electronics",
    "software",
    "telecommunications",
    "ecommerce",
    "cloud_computing"
  ],
  "abstract": "A system and method for content distribution are provided. A content provider generates a network topology having one or more subnetworks made up of content sources. The content provider segments content, such as applications, into segments for distribution. The content provider then distributes the content such that for each identified subnetwork, each content segment is distributed to a content source. Subsequent, client computing device requests for content can be serviced by selecting a content source in a particular subnetwork selected for delivering the requested content to the client computing device to minimize traffic flow of the requested content through the nodes of the distribution network.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9332078/facebook-memories",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9332078/facebook-memories/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US9332078",
  "relatedPatents": []
}