System and method for optimizing real-time video-on-demand recording in a content delivery network

摘要

A server complex (102) in a content delivery network (200) includes a central server (110), a multicast server (210), and an edge server (105). The central server delivers, with the multicast server, a content offering (120) to the edge server beginning at a predetermined time by transmitting portions (103) of content in succession, with each portion of content accompanied by an index fact datagram (204). The edge server stores each index fact datagram in an index file (215). When playing back content, the edge server retrieves an index file portion (404). When the information in the index file portion is exhausted, the edge server obtains any additional index fact datagrams (407) corresponding to any additional portions (408) of the content offering from the index file stored at the edge server.