Smooth media data switching for media players

• US 10,368,110 B1
• Filed: 08/19/2014
• Issued: 07/30/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visualon, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Visualon, Inc.
• Inventors: Verbist, Luc August Jozef Maria, Lin, Chin-Yee
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Rong
• Application Number:
  US14/463,363
• Time in Patent Office: 1,806 Days
• Field of Search: 725109, 725135
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2401 Monitoring of the client buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• 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

Abstract

A system for smooth media data switching for media players comprises a selection predictor to determine one or more predicted pre-buffer streams in response to an indication of a potential change selection from a user and a stream provider to provide the one or more predicted pre-buffer stream in addition to a current stream.

Claims

1. A system for smooth media data switching, comprising:

an interface to;

receive a potential change indication from a user of a potential change to a media player parameter of a current video stream the user is watching, wherein the potential change indication comprises zooming in on a particular video area of the current video stream, wherein the media player parameter comprises a viewing angle selection type; and

receive a change indication from the user to change the media player parameter of the current video stream; and

a processor to;

determine a plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams in response to the potential change indication from the user, wherein a plurality of viewing angle streams are related to the particular video area of the current video stream zoomed in on, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams corresponds to a top N predicted potential changes to the media player parameter;

provide the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams in addition to the current video stream to a user device associated with the user, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams are provided to the user device for pre-buffering, wherein providing the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams begins after the potential change indication from the user, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams comprises a plurality of viewing angle streams; and

in response to the change indication to change the media player parameter, determine whether the change to the media player parameter of the current video stream corresponds to one of the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams.

2. A system as in claim 1, wherein determining the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams is based at least in part on one or more of:

the user device, the user, a user history, a location, and a connection bandwidth.

3. A system as in claim 1, wherein in response to the change to the media player parameter of the current video stream corresponding to one of the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams, the processor terminates providing the current video stream.

4. A system as in claim 1, wherein in response to the change to the media player parameter of the current video stream not corresponding to one of the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams, the processor provides a stream corresponding to the change.

5. A system as in claim 1, wherein in response to the change to the media player parameter of the current video stream not corresponding to one of the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams, the processor terminates providing the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams.

6. A system as in claim 1, wherein the top N predicted potential changes to a media player parameter are based at least in part on a selection history.

7. A system as in claim 1, wherein N is based at least in part on a connection bandwidth.

8. A method of smooth media data switching, comprising:

receiving a potential change indication from a user of a potential change to a media player parameter of a current video stream the user is watching, wherein the potential change indication comprises zooming in on a particular video area of the current video stream, wherein the media player parameter comprises a viewing angle selection type;

receiving a change indication from the user to change the media player parameter of the current video stream;

determining, using a processor, a plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams in response to the potential change indication from a user, wherein a plurality of viewing angle streams are related to the particular video area of the current video stream zoomed in on, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams corresponds to a top N predicted potential changes to a media player parameter;

providing the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams in addition to the current video stream to a user device associated with the user, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams are provided to the user device for pre-buffering, wherein providing the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams begins after the potential change indication from the user, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams comprises a plurality of viewing angle streams; and

in response to the change indication to change the media player parameter, determining whether the change to the media player parameter of the current video stream corresponds to one of the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams.

9. A computer program product for smooth media data switching, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a potential change indication from a user of a potential change to a media player parameter of a current video stream the user is watching, wherein the potential change indication comprises zooming in on a particular video area of the current video stream, wherein the media player parameter comprises a viewing angle selection selection type;

receiving a change indication from the user to change the media player parameter of the current video stream;

determining a plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams in response to the potential change indication from a user, wherein a plurality of viewing angle streams are related to the particular video area of the current video stream zoomed in on, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams corresponds to a top N predicted potential changes to the media player and parameter;

providing the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams in addition to the current video stream to a user device associated with the user, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams are provided to the user device for pre-buffering, wherein providing the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams begins after the potential change indication from the user, wherein the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams comprises a plurality of viewing angle streams; and

in response to the change indication to change the media player parameter, determining whether the change to the media player parameter of the current video stream corresponds to one of the plurality of predicted pre-buffer streams.