Abstract: Techniques are provided for remotely controlling the distribution of digital assets to users in less-connected venues. When digital assets are cached within the less-connected venues, users within those less-connected venues are better able consume the assets, and are therefore more likely to purchase rights to consume the assets. Users within a less-connected venue may purchase and consume assets while the target network is completely disconnected from the source network from which the digital asset distribution is controlled. Sessions that are initiated within less-connected venues may be transferred outside those venues, to allow users that have purchased assets to continue to consume those assets after they leave the less connected venues.

Abstract: A system is provided that facilitates achieving a goal associated with a particular video asset. The system may provide an interface through which a user may specify control parameters that are to be the targets of testing, and a goal or combination of goals. The system may control a controller that performs experiments in an attempt to identify optimal values, relative to the specified goals, for the control parameters. The optimal values may be determined and tested on a per-individual-video asset basis. Further, the controller may generate multiple sets of optimal values for a given video, where each set is associated with a different combination of request attributes. To estimate the optimal parameter values for one video, the controller may use usage information collected for that video, as well as usage information collected for similar videos.

Abstract: Computer systems and methods for estimating the number of client computers actively coupled to a server computer system in real-time are discussed herein. Specifically, systems and methods are discussed for a server computer system receiving heartbeat messages from a plurality of client computers and generating an estimate of the number of client computers actively coupled to the server computer system in real-time without locks, such as a database table lock. A heartbeat message from a client computer need not include a client or user identifier. In an embodiment, the memory footprint/overhead is O(l), and may be a single whole number greater than zero, such as a 64-bit unsigned integer. Systems and methods are also discussed herein to calculate and reduce the expected error of the estimated number of active clients.

Abstract: A system is provided that facilitates achieving a goal associated with a particular video asset. The system may provide an interface through which a user may specify control parameters that are to be the targets of testing, and a goal or combination of goals. The system may control a controller that performs experiments in an attempt to identify optimal values, relative to the specified goals, for the control parameters. The optimal values may be determined and tested on a per-individual-video asset basis. Further, the controller may generate multiple sets of optimal values for a given video, where each set is associated with a different combination of request attributes. To estimate the optimal parameter values for one video, the controller may use usage information collected for that video, as well as usage information collected for similar videos.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for selecting which videos to recommend to users by predicting the degree to which recommending each video will satisfy certain goals. To make the predictions, a trained machine learning engine is fed both collaborative filtering parameter values and content-based filtering parameter values. In the case of video-to-video recommendations, the collaborative filtering parameter values may be based on a video pair that includes a video in which a user has already demonstrated an interest. The machine learning engine generates a machine-learning score for each video. The machine learning scores are used as the basis for selecting which videos to recommend to a particular user.