Monitoring the performance of a content player

• US 10,027,779 B1
• Filed: 10/23/2015
• Issued: 07/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Original Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Inventors: Pappu, Prashanth, Awan, Asad K., Ganjam, Aditya Ravikumar, Huebsch, Ryan J.
• Primary Examiner(s): SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
• Application Number:
  US14/921,928
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3082 the data filtering being achieved by aggregating or compressing the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/32 with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/067 using time frame reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 : Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 : Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 : Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 : Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 : Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 : Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 : Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Improving a content player engagement is described. An engagement of a first content player with respect to a content item being downloaded by the first client is measured. Performance information associated with the first content player is obtained. A quantitative relationship between the engagement and the performance information is determined. How a second client obtains the same content is adjusted based at least in part on the determined quantitative relationship.

Claims

1. A system, including:

one or more processors configured to;

measure an engagement of a first content player with respect to a content item being downloaded by a first remote client;

obtain performance information associated with the first content player;

based at least in part on the measured engagement of the first content player with the content item and the performance information associated with the first content player, determine, for the content item, a quantitative relationship between content quality and content player engagement; and

based at least in part on the quantitative relationship determined, for the content item, between content quality and content player engagement, adjust, for a second remote client receiving the same content item, a setting associated with at least one of a download and a playing of the same content item by the second remote client, wherein the adjusting is performed at least in part by sending an instruction to the second remote client; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors and configured to provide the one or more processors with instructions.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a length of time that the first content player has been playing the content item.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a length of time that the first content player has been playing a plurality of content items.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a length of time that the first remote client has been connected to a content distribution network.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises an amount of data associated with a download of the content item.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a number of content items viewed.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a display mode of a video screen.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a viewer interaction with at least one player control.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the measured engagement comprises a viewer interaction with an advertisement.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a join failure.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a join time.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a number of buffering events.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a duration of buffering events.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a frequency of buffering events.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a frequency of frames per second of video rendered.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a rendering quality.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information comprises information associated with a video bit rate.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein a bitrate is adjusted.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein a source of the content item is adjusted.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the source is a content delivery network.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein a buffer size is adjusted.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further configured to adjust a setting associated with a download of the content item by the first remote client.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the obtained performance information is a first information and wherein the one or more processors are configured to obtain additional performance information associated with a plurality of respective additional content players.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further configured to measure an engagement of a plurality of content players with respect to the same content item.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further configured to measure an engagement of a third content player with respect to another content item.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the first and third content player are different.

27. A method, including:

measuring an engagement of a first content player with respect to a content item being downloaded by a first remote client;

obtaining performance information associated with the first content player;

based at least in part on the measured engagement of the first content player with the content item and the performance information associated with the first content player, determining, for the content item and using one or more processors, a quantitative relationship between content quality and content player engagement; and

based at least in part on the quantitative relationship determined, for the content item, between content quality and content player engagement, adjust, for a second remote client receiving the same content item, a setting associated with at least one of a download and a playing of the same content item by the second remote client, wherein the adjusting is performed at least in part by sending an instruction to the second remote client.

28. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

measuring an engagement of a first content player with respect to a content item being downloaded by a first remote client;

obtaining performance information associated with the first content player;

based at least in part on the measured engagement of the first content player with the content item and the performance information associated with the first content player, determining, for the content item, a quantitative relationship between content quality and content player engagement; and

based at least in part on the quantitative relationship determined, for the content item, between content quality and content player engagement, adjust, for a second remote client receiving the same content item, a setting associated with at least one of a download and a playing of the same content item by the second remote client, wherein the adjusting is performed at least in part by sending an instruction to the second remote client.