Systems and methods of encoding trick play streams for use in adaptive streaming

• US 10,382,785 B2
• Filed: 10/09/2018
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DivX, LLC (f/k/a DivX CF Holdings LLC) (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: DivX, LLC (f/k/a DivX CF Holdings LLC) (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Braness, Jason, van der Schaar, Auke Sjoerd, Soroushian, Kourosh
• Primary Examiner(s): Walker, Jared
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fereja, Samuel D
• Application Number:
  US16/155,835
• Publication Number:
  US 20190045219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 308 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/322 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/172 the region being a picture, frame or field
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/177 the unit being a group of pictures [GOP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/40 using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/593 involving spatial prediction techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234345 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• 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 21/42607 for processing the incoming bitstream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• 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 21/6587 : Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 : involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 : involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 : using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80

Abstract

Systems and methods for creating trick play streams for use in adaptive bitrate streaming in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. One embodiment includes a set of encoding servers that encode source content as a set of streams that are each stored in a separate container file, where the set of streams includes: alternative video streams; an audio stream; and at least one trick play stream. In addition, the trick play stream is encoded at a lower frame rate than the frame rates of the alternative video streams, and each frame of the trick play stream is a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the trick play stream. In addition, the trick play stream is stored in a container file including a trick play index having entries that include a timecode and a location of a frame in the track play stream.

Claims

1. A content distribution system, comprising:

a set of one or more encoding servers, wherein each server of the set of encoding servers comprises;

a non-volatile storage containing an encoder application;

at least one processor;

wherein the encoder applications cause the set of encoding servers to encode source content as a set of streams that are each stored in a separate container file, where the set of streams comprises;

a plurality of alternative video streams each having a frame rate and a bitrate;

an audio stream; and

at least one trick play stream by performing the steps of;

identifying a plurality of sections of the source content;

for each particular section of the plurality of sections, encoding the particular section to produce a plurality of encodings of the particular section for each of the plurality of alternative streams, wherein the plurality of encodings of the particular section comprises encodings at a plurality of different bitrates;

assembling a container file for each of the plurality of alternative video stream by;

assembling the encodings of the plurality of sections for a given video stream from the plurality of alternative video streams into a video container file; and

generating entries in a container index within the container file indicating sizes of portions of the given video stream within the video container file, where the portions of the given video stream comprise an encoded group of pictures that commences with a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the given video stream;

encoding at least a portion of the source content to produce at least one trick play stream, where;

each trick play stream in the at least one trick play stream is encoded at a lower frame rate than the frame rates of the plurality of alternative streams, and

each frame of a trick play stream in the at least one trick play stream is a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the trick play stream;

assembling a container file for each of the at least one trick play streams by;

assembling each frame of a given trick play stream from the at least one trick play stream into a trick play container file; and

generating entries in a trick play index within the trick play container file that include a timecode and a location of a frame in the given track play stream; and

uploading the container files for each of the plurality of alternative streams, a container file for the audio stream, and the at least one container file for the at least one trick play stream on a set of servers that form part of a content distribution system.

2. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein the set of servers that form part of the content distribution system are configured to generate a top level index that identifies the container files for each of the plurality of alternative streams, a container file for the audio stream, and the at least one container file for the at least one trick play stream.

3. The content distribution system of claim 2, wherein information in the top level index includes information indicating the portion of each container file containing an index to the encoded media within the container file.

4. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein the set of servers that form part of the content distribution system are configured to:

receive a request for content from a client device, where the requested content comprises the at least one trick play stream; and

provide the requested content to the client device.

5. The content distribution system of claim 4, wherein

the received request for content from the client device is a byte range request for a portion of one of the plurality of alternative streams.

6. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein the at least one trick play stream comprises a plurality of trick play streams.

7. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein each trick play stream in the at least one trick play stream is encoded at a lower bit rate than the bitrates of the plurality of alternative streams.

8. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein the encoded group of pictures is a single closed group of pictures that commences with a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the given video stream.

9. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein corresponding portions of the plurality of alternative video streams contain encoded groups of pictures having the same duration.

10. The content distribution system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of alternative video streams and the trick play stream all have display aspect ratios that are the same.

11. The content distribution system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of alternative video streams comprises alternative video streams having different resolutions.

12. The content distribution system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of alternative video streams comprises alternative video streams having different sample aspect ratios.

13. A method for a set of one or more encoding servers of a content distribution system to encode source content as a set of streams that are each stored in a separate container file, where the set of streams comprises:

a plurality of alternative video streams each having a frame rate and a bitrate;

an audio stream; and

at least one trick play stream, the method comprising;

identifying a plurality of sections of the source content;

for each particular section of the plurality of sections, encoding the particular section to produce a plurality of encodings of the particular section for each of the plurality of alternative streams, wherein the plurality of encodings of the particular section comprises encodings at a plurality of different bitrates;

assembling a container file for each of the plurality of alternative video streams by;

assembling the encodings of the plurality of sections for a given video stream from the plurality of alternative video streams into a video container file; and

generating entries in a container index within the container file indicating sizes of portions of the given video stream within the video container file, where the portions of the given video stream comprise an encoded group of pictures that commences with a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the given video stream;

encoding at least a portion of the source content to produce at least one trick play stream, where;

each trick play stream in the at least one trick play stream is encoded at a lower frame rate than the frame rates of the plurality of alternative streams, and

each frame of a trick play stream in the at least one trick play stream is a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the trick play stream;

assembling a container file for each of the at least one trick play stream by;

assembling each frame of a given trick play stream from the at least one trick play stream into a trick play container file; and

generating entries in a trick play index within the trick play container file that include a timecode and a location of a frame in the given track play stream; and

uploading container files for each of the plurality of alternative streams, a container file for the audio stream, and the at least one container file for the at least one trick play stream on a set of servers that form part of a content distribution system.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising generating a top level index that identifies the container files for each of the plurality of alternative streams, a container file for the audio stream, and the at least one container file for the at least one trick play stream.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein information in the top level index includes information indicating the portions of each container file containing an index to the encoded media within the container file.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving a request for content from a client device, where the requested content comprises the at least one trick play stream; and

providing the requested content to the client device.

17. The method of claim 16,

wherein the received request for content from the client device is a byte range request for a portion of one of the plurality of alternative streams.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one trick play stream comprises a plurality of trick play streams.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein each trick play stream in the at least one trick play stream is encoded at a lower bit rate than the bitrates of the plurality of alternative streams.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the encoded group of pictures is a single closed group of pictures that commences with a picture encoded without reference to another picture in the given video stream.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein corresponding portions of the plurality of alternative video streams contain encoded groups of pictures having the same duration.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of alternative video streams and the trick play stream all have display aspect ratios that are the same.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of alternative video streams comprises alternative video streams having different resolutions.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of alternative video streams comprises alternative video streams having different sample aspect ratios.