Systems and methods for nonlinear video playback using linear real-time video players

• US 10,582,265 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2015
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JBF Interlude 2009 Ltd., JBF Interlude 2009 Ltd - Israel
• Original Assignee: JBF Interlude 2009 Ltd.
• Inventors: Bloch, Jonathan, Zubalsky, Tal, Hofshy, Yuval, Feldman, Barak
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doshi, Akshay
• Application Number:
  US14/700,845
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323608A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,769 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2225 Local VOD servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/232 Content retrieval operation locally within server, e.g. reading video streams from disk arrays storage management G06F3/0604; details of querying and searching of video data from a database G06F16/739
• 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 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection

Abstract

Systems and methods for nonlinear media playback using a linear media player are described. In one implementation, a video tree representing a branching video presentation is provided, and a dynamic playlist is provided to a linear video player. A controller component interacts with the linear video player through a standard interface of the linear video player. During playback of a video content segment in the dynamic playlist by the linear video player, an indication of a user interaction with the playing video content segment is received by the controller component and from the linear video player via the standard interface, and the dynamic playlist is modified based on video content segments in a branch of the video tree. In another implementation, an uncompressed media file is selected and combined with a preceding and/or following media file. The combined files are compressed and a portion of the compressed file corresponding to the original media file is extracted.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for playing non-linear video content using a video player that would otherwise be limited to presenting linear video content, the method comprising:

providing a video tree representing a branching video presentation, the video tree comprising a plurality of branches, each branch comprising one or more video content segments;

providing, by a server, a dynamic playlist to a linear video player executing on a client device, the dynamic playlist comprising one or more references to video content segments of the video tree to be played by the linear video player, wherein the linear video player does not natively support (i) presentation of branching video content to a user and (ii) user interactivity with the branching video content to cause traversal of different paths within the branching video content;

transforming the linear video player into a non-linear video player that supports (i) presentation of branching video content to a user and (ii) user interactivity with the branching video content to cause traversal of different paths within the branching video content, wherein the transforming comprises;

transmitting, by the server, a controller component to the linear video player, separate from and external to software program components that compose the linear video player, to interact with the linear video player through a standard interface of the linear video player that provides for communication of external components with the linear video player, wherein the standard interface comprises an application programming interface (API);

providing an interface layer, distinct from a user interface of the linear video player, over the video content displayed by the linear video player;

receiving, by the controller component and from the linear video player via the standard interface, during playback of a video content segment in the dynamic playlist by the linear video player, an indication of a user interaction with the branching video presentation, the indication comprising a decision to traverse a particular branch in the video tree, wherein the indication of the user interaction is received programmatically via the API; and

modifying the dynamic playlist based on one or more of the video content segments in the particular branch to traverse.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication further comprises a current playback location of the video, and further wherein the dynamic playlist is modified based on the current playback location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the controller component executes on the client device, the method further comprising providing the indication to the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the dynamic playlist comprises at least one of adding a reference to a video content segment to the dynamic playlist and removing a reference to a video content segment to the dynamic playlist.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the dynamic playlist comprises creating a new dynamic playlist starting from a requested point in time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic playlist is modified immediately following an occurrence of the user interaction but for time allowed for network communication and processing.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising directing the linear video player to display a graphical overlay on the playing video content segment.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising directing the linear video player to modify the graphical overlay based on the user interaction.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic playlist is a first dynamic playlist, the method further comprising providing, by the server, a second dynamic playlist to a second linear video player executing on a second client device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising modifying the second dynamic playlist independently of the first dynamic playlist, the modifying based on indications of user interactions with video content segments played by the second linear video player.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is a virtual server executing on the client device.

12. A system for playing non-linear video content using a video player that would otherwise be limited to presenting linear video content, the system comprising:

one or more computers programmed to perform operations comprising;

providing a video tree representing a branching video presentation, the video tree comprising a plurality of branches, each branch comprising one or more video content segments;

providing, by a server, a dynamic playlist to a linear video player executing on a client device, the dynamic playlist comprising one or more references to video content segments of the video tree to be played by the linear video player, wherein the linear video player does not natively support (i) presentation of branching video content to a user and (ii) user interactivity with the branching video content to cause traversal of different paths within the branching video content;

transforming the linear video player into a non-linear video player that supports (i) presentation of branching video content to a user and (ii) user interactivity with the branching video content to cause traversal of different paths within the branching video content, wherein the transforming comprises;

transmitting, by the server, a controller component to the linear video player, separate from and external to software program components that compose the linear video player, to interact with the linear video player through a standard interface of the linear video player that provides for communication of external components with the linear video player, wherein the standard interface comprises an application programming interface (API);

providing an interface layer, distinct from a user interface of the linear video player, over the video content displayed by the linear video player;

receiving, by the controller component and from the linear video player via the standard interface, during playback of a video content segment in the dynamic playlist by the linear video player, an indication of a user interaction with the playing video content segment, the indication comprising a decision to traverse a particular branch in the video tree, wherein the indication of the user interaction is received programmatically via the API; and

modifying the dynamic playlist based on one or more of the video content segments in the particular branch to traverse.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the indication further comprises a current playback location of the video, and further wherein the dynamic playlist is modified based on the current playback location.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the controller component executes on the client device, and wherein the operations further comprise providing the indication to the server.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein modifying the dynamic playlist comprises at least one of adding a reference to a video content segment to the dynamic playlist and removing a reference to a video content segment to the dynamic playlist.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein modifying the dynamic playlist comprises creating a new dynamic playlist starting from a requested point in time.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the dynamic playlist is modified immediately following an occurrence of the user interaction but for time allowed for network communication and processing.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise directing the linear video player to display a graphical overlay on the playing video content segment.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise directing the linear video player to modify the graphical overlay based on the user interaction.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the dynamic playlist is a first dynamic playlist, and wherein the operations further comprise providing, by the server, a second dynamic playlist to a second linear video player executing on a second client device.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise modifying the second dynamic playlist independently of the first dynamic playlist, the modifying based on indications of user interactions with video content segments played by the second linear video player.

22. The system of claim 12, wherein the server is a virtual server executing on the client device.