Systems and methods for improving quality of service while streaming code-agnostic content by editing manifest files

• US 10,630,562 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2017
• Issued: 04/21/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rovi Guides, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Harb, Reda
• Primary Examiner(s): Bui, Jonathan A
• Application Number:
  US15/785,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20190116102A1
• Time in Patent Office: 917 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/437 Administration of user profiles, e.g. generation, initialisation, adaptation, distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2807 Exchanging configuration information on appliance services in a home automation network arrangements for maintenance or administration involving network analysis for automatically determining the actual topology of a network H04L41/12; hardware or software tools for network management using graphical user interfaces H04L41/22; address allocation H04L61/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/287 Remote access server, e.g. BRAS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• 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 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• 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 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• 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 are described for a media guidance application (e.g., implemented on a user device) that improves quality of service while streaming code-agnostic content by editing manifest files.

Claims

1. A method for improving quality of service while streaming code-agnostic content by editing manifest files, the method comprising:

receiving a user input requesting a media asset;

in response to receiving the user input, identifying a first remote server on which the media asset is stored;

requesting a manifest file of the media asset, wherein the manifest file lists a plurality of segments that constitute the media asset, and wherein the manifest file further indicates a content rating for each segment, and wherein the content rating for a segment indicates a recommended audience for which the segment is suitable;

determining a first content rating for a first segment of the plurality of segments and a second content rating for a second segment of the plurality of segments;

comparing the first content rating to a threshold content rating;

comparing the second content rating to the threshold content rating;

removing the first segment from the manifest file in response to determining that the first content rating does not correspond to the threshold content rating;

maintaining the second segment on the manifest file in response to determining that the second content rating corresponds to the threshold content rating;

buffering, at the local device, the second segment in response to determining that the second segment is listed on the manifest file; and

generating for display, from the buffer, the second segment during playback of the media asset on the local device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from the manifest file, a first segment sequence for the plurality of segments, wherein the first segment sequence corresponds to a sequence in which each segment of the plurality of segments is displayed during playback of the media asset on a local device, wherein determining the first content rating for the first segment of the plurality of segments and the second content rating for the second segment of the plurality of segments is in response to determining that the media asset cannot be buffered for playback according to the first sequence, at current bandwidth conditions, without stalling or rebuffering.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, from the manifest file, a first segment sequence for the plurality of segments, wherein the first segment sequence corresponds to a sequence in which each segment of the plurality of segments is displayed during playback of the media asset on a local device, wherein requesting the manifest file is in response to receiving a user input requesting a media asset.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein buffering, at the local device, the second segment occurs while a third segment of the plurality of segments is generated for display from the buffer.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein buffering, at the local device, the second segment is in response to determining that current bandwidth conditions support buffering an additional segment of the plurality of segments while a third segment of the plurality of segments is generated for display from the buffer without stalling playback of the third segment.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, from the manifest file, a second segment sequence for the plurality of segments, wherein the second segment sequence corresponds to a sequence in which each segment of the plurality of segments is buffered on the local device in an order based on the content rating for each segment.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second segment sequence corresponds to the first segment sequence after the first segment is removed.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the manifest file is requested from a second remote server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold content rating is determined by a user preference.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold content rating is determined by a content provider.

11. A system for improving quality of service while streaming code-agnostic content by editing manifest files, the system comprising:

control circuitry configured to;

receive a user input requesting a media asset;

in response to receiving the user input, identify a first remote server on which the media asset is stored;

request a manifest file of the media asset, wherein the manifest file lists a plurality of segments that constitute the media asset, and wherein the manifest file further indicates a content rating for each segment, and wherein the content rating for a segment indicates a recommended audience for which the segment is suitable;

determine a first content rating for a first segment of the plurality of segments and a second content rating for a second segment of the plurality of segments;

compare the first content rating to a threshold content rating;

compare the second content rating to the threshold content rating;

remove the first segment from the manifest file in response to determining that the first content rating does not correspond to the threshold content rating;

maintain the second segment on the manifest file in response to determining that the second content rating corresponds to the threshold content rating;

buffer, at the local device, the second segment in response to determining that the second segment is listed on the manifest file; and

generate for display, from the buffer, the second segment during playback of the media asset on the local device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine, from the manifest file, a first segment sequence for the plurality of segments, wherein the first segment sequence corresponds to a sequence in which each segment of the plurality of segments is displayed during playback of the media asset on a local device, wherein determining the first content rating for the first segment of the plurality of segments and the second content rating for the second segment of the plurality of segments is in response to determining that the media asset cannot be buffered for playback according to the first sequence, at current bandwidth conditions, without stalling or rebuffering.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:

determine, from the manifest file, a first segment sequence for the plurality of segments, wherein the first segment sequence corresponds to a sequence in which each segment of the plurality of segments is displayed during playback of the media asset on a local device, wherein requesting the manifest file is in response to receiving a user input requesting a media asset.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein buffering, at the local device, the second segment occurs while a third segment of the plurality of segments is generated for display from the buffer.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein buffering, at the local device, the second segment is in response to determining that current bandwidth conditions support buffering an additional segment of the plurality of segments while a third segment of the plurality of segments is generated for display from the buffer without stalling playback of the third segment.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine, from the manifest file, a second segment sequence for the plurality of segments, wherein the second segment sequence corresponds to a sequence in which each segment of the plurality of segments is buffered on the local device in an order based on the content rating for each segment.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the second segment sequence corresponds to the first segment sequence after the first segment is removed.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the manifest file is requested from a second remote server.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the threshold content rating is determined by a user preference.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the threshold content rating is determined by a content provider.