Method and apparatus for a virtual online video channel

• US 10,595,054 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2017
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Turgut, Alper, Harmanci, Oztan, Haritaoglu, Ismail R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Schnurr, John R
• Application Number:
  US15/590,996
• Publication Number:
  US 20170332114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,043 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• 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 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6332 directed to client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73

Abstract

An apparatus and method for providing a virtual online live video channel is disclosed. The virtual video channel is generated without requiring a dedicated content provider and encoder for the channel. A schedule server stores a schedule for the virtual online live video channel, and the schedule may include one or more of live streaming video content, stored video content, and advertising. A video player establishes communication with a manifest server and requests playback of the video channel. The manifest server generates a per-user manifest file corresponding to the schedule of the video channel and delivers the per-user manifest file to the video player. The video player may then retrieve the desired video content from the content delivery network to produce the virtual online video channel.

Claims

1. A method for playback of a virtual online linear video channel, comprising:

in response to establishing a connection between a manifest server and a video player, requesting a manifest file from at least one content delivery network;

receiving the manifest file from the at least one content delivery network;

generating a per-user manifest file in the manifest server, wherein the per-user manifest file is generated based on the manifest file and a session identifier generated by the manifest server, wherein the session identifier identifies the connection between the manifest server and the video player;

providing, by the manifest server, the per-user manifest file based on the received manifest file, the per-user manifest file corresponding to a schedule for the virtual online linear video channel, wherein the virtual online linear video channel includes a plurality of video sources and each of the plurality of video sources is selected to distribute a video stream for at least a portion of the schedule, wherein the per-user manifest file identifies the selected video source from which the video stream is distributed at each portion of the schedule, wherein the per-user manifest file identifies a first location of a first playlist for a first live video stream of the plurality of video sources and a second location of a second playlist for a second live video stream of the plurality of video resources, wherein the first live video stream is provided by a first live stream channel, and wherein the second live video stream is provided by a second live stream channel; and

in response to receiving a request to play the virtual online linear video channel from a video player;

generating an encryption key based on the session identifier;

encrypting the per-user manifest file using the encryption key prior to transmitting the per-user manifest file to the video player; and

transmitting the per-user manifest file to the video player, the per-user manifest file identifying the plurality of video sources that provide a plurality of video streams to be retrieved by the video player, the retrieved video streams are to be decoded by the video player to produce the virtual online linear video channel, which is then presented to a user of the video player.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of video sources are selected from at least one of a live video stream, a video library, and an ad server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the first and second live video streams is output from a separate encoder.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the per-user manifest file further comprises:

selecting at least one advertisement from a plurality of advertisements based on the session identifier; and

inserting an address of the at least one advertisement in the manifest file.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating the schedule for the cirtual online video channel, wherein the generating comprises;

displaying on an interface a list of the plurality of video sources available for inclusion in the schedule;

receiving an indication of at least two different video sources and a corresponding time for inclusion in the schedule; and

storing the schedule in a channel scheduler.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein a provider of at least one of the plurality of video sources enters the indication of the at least two different video sources and the corresponding time on the interface.

7. A system for providing a virtual online linear video channel, comprising:

a channel scheduler operative to;

receive a plurality of selections from a user interface, wherein each selection identifies a video source and a time for receiving the video source and wherein the plurality of selections identify at least two video sources,

generate a schedule for a video channel corresponding to the plurality of selections, and

store the schedule for the virtual online linear video channel; and

a manifest server, operative to;

receive a request to play the virtual online linear video channel from a video player,

obtain the schedule for the virtual online linear video channel from the channel scheduler,

in response to establishing a connection between the manifest server and the video player, request a manifest file from at least one content delivery network;

receive the manifest file from the at least one content delivery network;

provide, based on the received manifest file, a per-user manifest file corresponding to the schedule, wherein the per-user manifest file identifies a first location of a first playlist for a first live video stream of the at least two video sources and a second location of a second playlist for a second live video stream of the at least two video resources, wherein the first live video stream is provided by a first live stream channel, wherein the second live video stream is provided by a second live stream channel, wherein the per-user manifest file is generated based on the manifest file and a session identifier generated by the manifest server, and wherein the session identifier identifies the connection between the manifest server and the video player;

generate an encryption key based on the session identifier;

encrypt the per-user manifest file using the encryption key prior to delivering the per-user manifest file to the video player; and

deliver the per-user manifest file to the video player, the per-user manifest file identifying the plurality of video sources that provide a plurality of video streams to be retrieved by the video player, the retrieved video streams are to be decoded by the video player to produce the virtual online linear video channel, which is then presented to a user of the video player.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein each video source is selected from at least one of a live video stream, a video library, and an ad server.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the first and second live video streams is output from a separate encoder.

10. The system of claim 7 further comprising an ad server operative to:

store a plurality of advertisements;

receive a selection of at least one advertisement stored in the ad server based on the session identifier, and

transmit the at least one advertisement to an address for playback, wherein the manifest server is further operative to insert the address of the at least one advertisement in the manifest file for playback on the video player.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the channel scheduler defines a plurality of time slots for advertisements and the ad server selects each of the at least one advertisement for insertion in at least one of the time slots.

12. The system of claim 7 further comprising a packager in communication with the manifest server and an ad server, the packager operative to:

read the first playlist from the manifest file on the manifest server;

identify an entry in the first playlist corresponding to an ad time slot; and

retrieve an advertisement stored in the ad server for playback during the ad time slot.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the packager is further operative to store the advertisement at an address and the manifest server is further operative to store the address in the entry in the first playlist prior to the video player retrieving the advertisement from the address.

14. The system of claim 7 wherein the channel scheduler includes an interface operative to:

display a list of each video source available for inclusion in the schedule; and

receive an indication of the at least two video sources and a corresponding time for inclusion in the schedule.

15. A method for playback of a virtual online linear video channel, comprising:

selecting a video channel for playback on a video player;

transmitting an indication of the selected video channel to a manifest server from the video player; and

receiving at the video player a per-user manifest file from the manifest server,

wherein;

the per-user manifest file is generated by the manifest server based on a manifest file received from at least one content delivery network to correspond to a schedule of the selected video channel,

the manifest file is received by the manifest server in response to establishing a connection between the manifest server and the video player,

the schedule for the video channel identifies a plurality of video sources and each of the plurality of video sources is distributed on the video channel for at least a portion of the schedule,

the per-user manifest file identifies one of the plurality of video sources from which a video stream will be provided to the video player for each portion of the schedule,

the per-user manifest file identifies a first location of a first playlist for a first live video stream of the plurality of video sources and a second location of a second playlist for a second live video stream of the plurality of video resources, wherein the first live video stream is provided by a first live stream channel, wherein the second live video stream is provided by a second live stream channel, wherein the per-user manifest file is generated based on the manifest file and a session identifier generated by the manifest server, and wherein the session identifier identifies the connection between the manifest server and the video player,

the per-user manifest file is encrypted using an encryption key, the encryption key generated based on the session identifier, and

the per-user manifest file identifies the plurality of video sources that provide a plurality of video streams to be retrieved by the video player, the retrieved video streams are to be decoded by the video player to produce the virtual online linear video channel, which is then presented to a user of the video player.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising entering an indication of each video source and a corresponding time for inclusion in the schedule using an interface executing on a channel scheduler.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising inserting at least one ad time slot in the schedule for displaying an advertisement.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

establishing the connection between the video player and the manifest server;

generating the session identifier corresponding to the connection; and

selecting an advertisement from an ad server for playback in the ad time slot based on the session identifier.