Dynamic bit rate encoding

• US 10,728,302 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2016
• Issued: 07/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.), Morris & Kamlay LLP
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Parekh, Neel B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Scott, Mark A
• Application Number:
  US15/394,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20170111422A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,307 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• 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: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• 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 21/234345 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64753 directed to the client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64792 Controlling the complexity of the content stream, e.g. by dropping packets intermediate media network packet handling H04L65/765; proxy provisioning conversion or adaptation for reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data H04L67/5651; negotiation of resources in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

Systems and methods for performing bit rate encoding are described. One of the methods includes receiving data indicating a change in a first connection speed that is associated with a first network. The change generates a second connection speed. The method further includes determining whether a media file is being downloaded. The method also includes determining that a current segment of the media file is being downloaded. The current segment is downloaded at a first bit rate and the first bit rate is associated with the first connection speed. The method includes determining whether the media file includes a remaining segment to be downloaded. The current segment precedes the remaining segment. The method includes identifying a second bit rate based on the second connection speed, receiving the remaining segment at the second bit rate, and stitching the remaining segment with the current segment.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a notification of a change in a connection speed that has been received during communication of a media file at a first bit rate to a client device;

identifying, at the server, a variable second bit rate based on at least the change in the connection speed;

determining, at the server, that the media file includes a first remaining segment and a second remaining segment to be transmitted to the client device in response to receiving the notification of the change in the connection speed, the first remaining segment preceding the second remaining segment, the first remaining segment to be transmitted at the first bit rate;

in response to determining that the first remaining segment at the first bit rate and the second remaining segment at the variable second bit rate are to be transmitted to the client device, generating, at a packetizer of the server, a first group of elements that include at least one of audio or video characteristics of the media file within a portion of the first remaining segment that is to be transmitted at the first bit rate, and a second group of elements that include at least one of the audio or video characteristics of the media file within a portion of the second remaining segment to be transmitted at different bit rates of the variable second bit rate;

in response to determining that a difference between the first group of elements and the second group of elements exceeds a music element threshold value, stitching the first remaining segment and the second remaining segment to form a stitched media file; and

transmitting the stitched media file that includes the first remaining segment at the first bit rate and the second remaining segment at the variable second bit rate to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining that the notification of the change in the connection speed is received comprises receiving, at the server, data that indicates a change from a bandwidth of the first network to a bandwidth of a second network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first remaining segment is to be transmitted by the server by determining that all bits of the first remaining segment are scheduled to be sent by a network interface controller of a server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the media file includes the second remaining segment to be transmitted to the client device comprises determining that the first remaining segment does not precede a boundary of the media file.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the variable second bit rate as a maximum bit rate among all bit rates of a bandwidth of a second network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second remaining segment is stitched with the first remaining segment based on a time at which the first remaining segment is to finish playing back at a client device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting the stitched first remaining segment and the second remaining segment in a seamless manner.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the media file includes a video file, an audio file, an image file, a text file, or a file that includes a combination of text, video, audio, and image.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the media file includes an audio file, wherein the processor is configured to determine that a frame of the audio file is being received by the network interface controller.

10. A system comprising:

a network interface controller to receive a notification of a change in a connection speed that has been received during communication of a media file at a first bit rate to a client device;

a processor, coupled to the network interface controller, to identify a variable second bit rate based on at least the change in the connection speed;

the processor to determine that the media file includes a first remaining segment and a second remaining segment to be transmitted to the client device in response to receiving the notification of the change in the connection speed, the first remaining segment preceding the second remaining segment, the first remaining segment to be transmitted at the first bit rate;

a packetizer, communicatively coupled to the processor, to generate a first group of elements that include at least one of audio or video characteristics of the media file within a portion of the first remaining segment that is to be transmitted at the first bit rate, and a second group of elements that include at least one of the audio or video characteristics of the media file within a portion of the second remaining segment to be transmitted at different bit rates of the variable second bit rate in response to determining that the first remaining segment at the first bit rate and the second remaining segment at the variable second bit rate are to be transmitted to the client device;

the processor to stitch the first remaining segment and the second remaining segment to form a stitched media file in response to determining that a difference between the first group of elements and the second group of elements exceeds a music element threshold value; and

the network interface controller to transmit the stitched media file that includes the first remaining segment at the first bit rate and the second remaining segment at the variable second bit rate to the client device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the network interface controller is configured to receive data that the first connection speed has changed to the second connection speed, the first connection speed associated with the first network and the second connection speed associated with a second network.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor determines that the first remaining segment is to be transmitted by the network interface controller by determining that all bits of the first remaining segment are scheduled to be sent by the network interface controller of a server.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor determines that the media file includes the second remaining segment to be transmitted to the client device by determining that the first remaining segment does not precede a boundary of the media file.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor selects the variable second bit rate as a maximum bit rate among all bit rates of a bandwidth of a second network.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the second remaining segment is stitched with the first remaining segment based on a time at which the first remaining segment is to finish playing back at a client device.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the network interface controller transmits the stitched first remaining segment and the second remaining segment in a seamless manner.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the media file includes a video file, an audio file, an image file, a text file, or a file that includes a combination of text, video, audio, and image.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the media file includes an audio file, wherein the processor is configured to determine that a frame of the audio file is being received by the network interface controller.