Media device knowledge base

• US 10,448,070 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PCCW Vuclip (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
• Original Assignee: PCCW Vuclip (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
• Inventors: Qian, Kelly, Shen, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheleheda, James R
• Application Number:
  US15/225,790
• Publication Number:
  US 20160345038A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,170 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/254 Extract, transform and load [ETL] procedures, e.g. ETL data flows in data warehouses
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/70 of video data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• 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 21/2402 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 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25833 involving client hardware characteristics, e.g. manufacturer, processing or storage capabilities allocation of resources considering hardware capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5044; allocation of resources considering software capabilities in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/5055
• 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 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available

Abstract

A media content distribution service identifies a type of media device sending a request to the service over a network and to dynamically adapt content requested by the media device based on the identification. A request sent by a media device may, for example, identify a media content item a user desires to view at the media device, specify a search query for media content items, or otherwise request interaction with the service. According an embodiment, a media content distribution service may use information known about an identified media device type to dynamically adapt media content or other requested resources for display by the media device. By dynamically adapting media content and other resources based on an identified media device type, the media content distribution service may provide access to the services that is compatible with a wide range of media devices having varying device specifications and capabilities.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring network traffic between a plurality of media devices and one or more content distribution servers;

detecting a decrease in network traffic patterns associated with media devices among the plurality of media devices having a particular media device type, the network traffic patterns are related to requests for media content provided by the one or more content distribution servers, wherein the decrease in network traffic patterns includes a decrease in a number of requests to view media content provided by the one or more content distribution servers when compared to a number of requests for webpages;

in response to detecting the decrease in network traffic patterns, determining one or more corrective compatibility modifications to a device profile associated with the particular media device type in order to correct compatibility issues associated with the particular media device type;

updating the device profile with the determined one or more corrective compatibility modifications;

wherein the device profile including the one or more corrective compatibility modifications is used by the one or more content distribution servers to provide media content to media devices of the particular media device type;

wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content is video content, and wherein the device profile includes one or more device attributes related to video playback.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the device profile is stored in a device profile data store.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

further monitoring network traffic between the media devices of the particular media device type and the one or more content distribution servers to determine whether the determined one or more corrective compatibility modifications were successful in stabilizing network traffic patterns;

detecting that subsequent network traffic patterns associated with the media devices among the plurality of media devices having the particular media device type have not returned to previously observed levels;

in response to detecting that the subsequent network traffic patterns have not returned to previously observed levels, determining one or more second corrective compatibility modifications to the device profile;

updating the device profile with the determined one or more second corrective compatibility modifications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the device profile includes content format information that includes one or more of:

selecting one or more codecs for transcoding the media content, formatting one or more images associated with the media content, or selecting a subtitle language.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the device profile includes device information collected from one or more external device information resources.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the device profile includes information related to two or more geographic regions where media devices having the particular media device type have been monitored.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined one or more modifications are adjusted to account for regional differences.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an alert message upon detecting the decrease in network traffic patterns.

10. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause performance of:

monitoring network traffic between a plurality of media devices and one or more content distribution servers;

detecting a decrease in network traffic patterns associated with media devices among the plurality of media devices having a particular media device type, the network traffic patterns are related to requests for media content provided by the one or more content distribution servers, wherein the decrease in network traffic patterns includes a decrease in a number of requests to view media content provided by the one or more content distribution servers when compared to a number of requests for webpages;

in response to detecting the decrease in network traffic patterns, determining one or more corrective compatibility modifications to a device profile associated with the particular media device type in order to correct compatibility issues associated with the particular media device type;

updating the device profile with the determined one or more corrective compatibility modifications;

wherein the device profile including the one or more corrective compatibility modifications is used by the one or more content distribution servers to provide media content to media devices of the particular media device type.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the media content is video content, and wherein the device profile includes one or more device attributes related to video playback.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the device profile is stored in a device profile data store.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause further performance of:

further monitoring network traffic between the media devices of the particular media device type and the one or more content distribution servers to determine whether the determined one or more corrective compatibility modifications were successful in stabilizing network traffic patterns;

detecting that subsequent network traffic patterns associated with the media devices among the plurality of media devices having the particular media device type have not returned to previously observed levels;

in response to detecting that the subsequent network traffic patterns have not returned to previously observed levels, determining one or more second corrective compatibility modifications to the device profile;

updating the device profile with the determined one or more second corrective compatibility modifications.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the device profile includes content format information that includes one or more of:

selecting one or more codecs for transcoding the media content, formatting one or more images associated with the media content, or selecting a subtitle language.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the device profile includes device information collected from one or more external device information resources.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the device profile includes information related to two or more geographic regions where media devices having the particular media device type have been monitored.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the determined one or more modifications are adjusted to account for regional differences.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein the instructions that, when executed by one or more computing devices, cause further performance of:

generating an alert message upon detecting the decrease in network traffic patterns.