Method and apparatus for continuous playback of media

• US 20040064576A1
• Filed: 09/19/2003
• Published: 04/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/1999
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Virentem Ventures LLC
• Original Assignee: Enounce Incorporated
• Inventors: Goldhor, Richard S., Hejna, Donald J. Jr.
• Application Number:
  US10/664,616
• Publication Number:
  US 20040064576A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/04 Time compression or expansion

Abstract

One embodiment of the present invention is a client apparatus for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network for playback or distribution which includes: (a) a buffer which stores data corresponding to the streaming media; (b) a time-scale modification system that time-scale modifies data output from the buffer at a time-scale modification playback rate; (c) a rate determiner that determines the time-scale modification playback rate over an interval to control an amount of data in the buffer; and (d) a user interface which receives a user requested time-scale modification playback rate.

Claims

1. A client apparatus for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network for playback or distribution which comprises:

a buffer which stores data corresponding to the streaming media;

a time-scale modification system that time-scale modifies data output from the buffer at a time-scale modification playback rate;

a rate determiner that determines the time-scale modification playback rate over an interval to control an amount of data in the buffer; and

a user interface which receives a user requested time-scale modification playback rate.

2. The client apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rate determiner determines the time-scale modification playback rate utilizing the user requested time-scale modification playback rate.

3. The client apparatus of claim 2 wherein the user interface further comprises a graphical interface.

4. The client apparatus of claim 3 wherein the graphical interface further displays one or more of the user requested time-scale modification playback rate, and the time-scale modification playback rate.

6. The client apparatus of claim 1 wherein the rate determiner determines the time-scale modification playback rate as a non-linear function of the amount of data.

5. The client apparatus of claim 5 wherein the graphical interface further displays a range of time-scale modification playback rates which are determined to provide uninterrupted playback.

7. A method for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device for playback or distribution which comprises the steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device;

determining a measure of an arrival rate and a measure of a data consumption rate of the received streaming media;

determining a measure of mismatch between the arrival measure and the consumption measure; and

utilizing time-scale modification to mitigate the effects of the mismatch;

wherein;

the arrival measure is determined as a function of an arrival rate of data in a buffer; and

the consumption measure is determined as a function of a use rate of data by a playback system or a distribution system.

8. A method for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device for playback or distribution which comprises the steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device;

determining a measure of an arrival rate and a measure of a data consumption rate of the received streaming media;

determining a measure of mismatch between the arrival measure and the consumption measure; and

utilizing time-scale modification to mitigate the effects of the mismatch;

wherein the arrival rate is determined using time-stamps for arriving data.

9. A method for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device for playback or distribution which comprises the steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device;

determining a measure of an arrival rate and a measure of a data consumption rate of the received streaming media;

determining a measure of mismatch between the arrival measure and the consumption measure; and

utilizing time-scale modification to mitigate the effects of the mismatch;

wherein the arrival rate is determined by monitoring data arrival times and data packet sizes.

10. A method for playback of streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device which comprises steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device in a buffer;

playing back the streaming media;

determining a measure of an arrival rate and a measure of a data consumption rate of the received streaming media;

determining a time-scale modification playback rate considering one or more of the measure of arrival rate, the measure of a data consumption rate, and user input time-scale modification playback rate requests;

utilizing time-scale modification to mitigate underflow or overflow in the buffer, or disruption in playback; and

providing an indication of a current time-scale modification playback rate to the user.

11. The method of claim 10 which further comprises steps of:

providing an indication of a user requested time-scale modification playback rate.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of playing back comprises associating a time-scale modification playback rate with each entry in a playback buffer queue.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the indication comprises a function of recent time-scale modification playback rates.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the step of utilizing comprising ignoring or modifying the user input time-scale modification playback rate when it would interfere with providing continuous playback.

15. A method for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device for playback or distribution which comprises the steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device;

determining a measure of an arrival rate and a measure of a data consumption rate of the received streaming media;

determining a measure of mismatch between the arrival measure and the consumption measure; and

utilizing time-scale modification to mitigate the effects of the mismatch;

wherein the step of utilizing comprises determining a maximum time-scale modification playback rate that can be used over a reporting time interval without draining a buffer that receives the streaming media.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the maximum time-scale modification playback rate is determined as a function of the arrival measure, the consumption measure, an amount of data in the buffer, and the time interval.

17. A method for preparing streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device for playback or distribution which comprises the steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device;

determining a measure of an arrival rate and a measure of a data consumption rate of the received streaming media;

determining a measure of mismatch between the arrival measure and the consumption measure; and

utilizing time-scale modification to mitigate the effects of the mismatch;

wherein the step of utilizing comprises determining a minimum time-scale modification playback rate that can be used over a reporting time interval without overflowing a buffer that receives the streaming media;

wherein the minimum time-scale modification playback rate is determined as a function of the arrival measure, the consumption measure, an amount of data in the buffer, and the time interval.

18. A method for playback of streaming media received over a non-deterministic delay network at a client device which comprises steps of:

receiving the streaming media at the client device, which client device includes a CPU;

playing back the streaming media;

determining a measure of CPU availability;

determining a time-scale modification playback rate as a function of the measure of CPU availability; and

utilizing time-scale modification to prepare the streaming media for playback.