UnisonPlay - Technology

UnisonPlay’s UniFS technology is the first and only fully distributed, server-less P2P network capable of streaming high quality video. UniFS is capable of delivering high quality video to consumers, overcoming network bottlenecks that usually limit the performance of legacy content delivery networks.

End-user based clients (branded players, active-x, toolbars, etc.) make the overlay network that of off-loads 50% - 70% of the traffic from the main delivery network. UniFS can be implemented by content providers or distributors to make a fully owned, secured ‘walled garden’ network or deployed to build a fully open network. Elimination of the need in servers and infrastructure enables content distributors to build their own networks easily. Out of the box software is ready for implementation at the shortest schedule. Deployment of UniFS as an overlay network to existing content distribution system should result in a recognizable improvement in video delivery quality, though other aspects of content consumption such as user experience remain the same.

Main Features

UniFS network main features are its advantages over alternative content delivery technologies.

Unlimited Scalability

By nature, UniFS demonstrates virtually unlimited scalability. The more users added to the network, the more files and traffic the network can handle.

Support of any Format or Player

UniFS is a file system and therefore is compatible with each format, decoding or video length and works with every type of player.

Great Savings on Content Delivery

As the network is fully distributed and utilizes end-users’s clients and bandwidth, implementation of UniFS eliminates the need for expensive servers, bandwidth and related operational costs.

Content is Secured

UniFS is compatible with all popular copyrights protection and DRM systems. Content on the network is secured. At any point in time, each user has access to random 10% of each file’s fragments, which are all encrypted. Approval to watch is received from the network owner web site. More…

Architecture

UniFS network consists of end-users’ based clients. The client software is installed on user's PC or other home network devices. Each client makes a peer on the network. Autonomous peers that communicate with each other, build the distributed yet still orchestrated UniFS network.

End-users clients can be packaged in several ways in order to speed up distribution or ease end-users’ installation. Commonly used practices include offering to install the client as means to receive access to HD, premium, or specially promoted content. Additional alternatives are clients packaged as browser toolbars, ActiveX controls, branded players, or embedded into home network devices.

As the network is fully distributed, it operates without a single server and manages its traffic through negotiations among the clients.

Bootstrapping of content can be done from existing legacy delivery networks, or through a cluster of “virtual peers” managed by the network owner that act exactly as a regular end-user peer providing the initial seed of the content for few tens of first users. Such bootstrapping becomes redundant as soon as content consumption starts picking up, when delivery of the content moves to the end-users’ clients.

Network Logic and Algorithms

At the heart of UniFS technology is UnisonPlay’s three-phased patented content management and delivery process.

Files are divided into small fragments and are distributed for storage among the network users. No content give-out is deployed by default, though different policies can be implemented by the network owner.

The network continuously monitors changes in communications capacity between the clients and manages fragments inventory among the clients accordingly. Fragments are being moved and copied throughout the network in order to ensure 99.999% probability to have all fragments available at a request to view a video. Fragments ongoing inventory management takes into account disappearance of peers, network bandwidth and latency bottlenecks and more. This self healing mechanism ensures fragments availability even under the most severe network conditions.

Upon request to view, fragments are being streamed to the viewing client in their order of appearance, where bandwidth optimization is being done on end-user’s last mile. The viewer client grooms streams from several other clients, thus granting a streamlined and uninterrupted user experience at higher bit rates. Optimizing on the very edge of the network enables UniFS to overcome otherwise limiting network bottlenecks.

Copyrights Protection

Content placed on the network is secured and copyrights are fully under the network owner control.

UniFS is compatible with practically all popular copyrights protection and DRM systems used nowadays. As UniFS functions as a file system, viewing of the content is enabled by the existing systems of content providers, without compromising and means of security.

Each video is split into thousands of fragments that are all encrypted and stored in a random manner on users’ clients. At any point in time, user’s clients store about 10% of one title’s random fragments, each of them is encrypted. This grants that even if encryption is broken, still content can not be used.

Content can be uploaded onto the network only by the network owner. Users can not upload content on the network, unless this is being done through the network owner.

Technology