Client to server streaming of multimedia content using HTTP

• US 20040267937A1
• Filed: 06/30/2003
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Klemets, Anders E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,392,316 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for streaming multimedia data from a client to a server using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). A session is initiated with a header that identifies a content length header that is a maximum allowed by the server, regardless of the actual length of the data to be streamed. If a firewall or proxy server limits access to the server, the content length of the data is specified to be about an amount of data that can be streamed to the server in one minute. If more data remains to be streamed when an amount of data approximating the content length has been streamed, a continuing streaming session is requested and subsequent data is streamed to the server in the continuing streaming session. The process repeats until all data has been streamed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

initiating a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) streaming session with a server to stream an uncertain amount of content data to the server;

receiving a server acknowledgement containing a push identifier;

transmitting a header to begin streaming the content data to the server, the header including the push identifier and denoting a specific content length value; and

streaming the data to the server.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the specific content length value is a maximum value that can be accommodated by a firewall or a proxy server that may be encountered in a communication channel with the server.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the specific content length value is 2,147,483,647.

4. The method as recited in claim 2, further comprising:

detecting the presence of a firewall or proxy server the communication channel with the server;

setting the specific content length to 2,147,483,647 if no firewall or proxy server is detected; and

setting the specific content length to an amount of content data that can be streamed to the server in approximately one minute of streaming if a firewall or proxy server is detected.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising identifying a bit rate at which the content data is streamed to the server, and wherein the specific content length value further comprises an amount of content data that can be streamed to the server in approximately one minute of streaming.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the push identifier is a first push identifier and the header is a first header, further comprising:

receiving a second push identifier from the server after an amount of content data identified by the content length value has been streamed;

transmitting a second header to begin streaming subsequent content data associated with the content data that has already been streamed, the second header including the second push identifier and denoting a specific content length value; and

continuing streaming of the content data to the server.

7. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein the specific content length value included in the second header is equal to the specific content length value included in the first header.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising terminating the streaming session when available content data has been streamed, even if the streamed content data is less data than was identified by the content length value.

9. An encoder, comprising:

a multimedia content file containing multimedia;

a streaming module configured to initiate a streaming session with a server using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to identify a specific amount of multimedia content to be streamed to the server; and

wherein the amount of multimedia content to be streamed cannot be determined prior to initiating the streaming session.

10. The encoder as recited in claim 9, embodied in a client computing device.

11. The encoder as recited in claim 9, wherein the specific amount of multimedia content to be streamed to the server further comprises a maximum allowable amount of multimedia content that can be identified in a streaming session and be accepted by the server.

12. The encoder as recited in claim 9, wherein the specific amount of multimedia content to be streamed to the server further comprises an amount of multimedia content that the encoder can stream to the server in approximately one minute.

13. The encoder as recited in claim 9, wherein the streaming module is further configured to receive a push identifier from the server after the amount of multimedia content specified has been streamed to the server and to initiate a continuing streaming session using the push identifier and specifying another amount of multimedia content that will be streamed to the server in the continuing streaming session.

14. The encoder as recited in claim 13, wherein the amount of multimedia content specified to be streamed to the server in the continuing streaming session is equal to the amount of multimedia content specified to be streamed to the server in the previous streaming session.

15. The encoder as recited in claim 9, wherein the streaming module is further configured to determine if a firewall or proxy server receives the streaming data prior to the server receiving the streaming data, and wherein:

the specific amount of multimedia content to be streamed to the server further comprises a maximum allowable amount of multimedia content that can be identified in a streaming session and be accepted by the server if no firewall or proxy server receives the streaming data prior to the server; and

the specific amount of multimedia content to be streamed to the server further comprises an amount of multimedia content that the encoder can stream to the server in approximately one minute if a firewall or proxy server receives the streaming data prior to the server.

16. The encoder as recited in claim 9, wherein the streaming module is further configured to terminate the streaming session if no more multimedia content is available to stream, regardless of the specific amount of multimedia data that was specified to be streamed to the server.

17. The encoder as recited in claim 9, wherein the streaming module is further configured to detect when a proxy server or firewall fails the streaming session even if no indication of error is received from the proxy server or firewall or the server.

18. The encoder as recited in claim 17, wherein the detection further comprises detecting when an acknowledgement is not received from the server within ten (10) seconds after the amount of data that was specified to be streamed to the server has been streamed to the server.

19. One or more computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform the following steps:

requesting a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) streaming session with a server;

receiving authorization to initiate the streaming session;

initiating the streaming session by sending a header that identifies the streaming session as being the streaming session that was authorized by the server and identifies a content length value that specifies a particular amount of data to be streamed to the server;

streaming multiple data packets to the server; and

wherein the actual amount of data to be streamed to the server is unknown.

20. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the content length value is specified to be a maximum amount of data that may be streamed to the server.

21. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the content length value is a value of 2,147,483,647.

22. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, wherein the content length value is a value that represents an amount of data that can be streamed to the server in one minute.

23. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 19, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform the following additional steps:

determining when a maximum amount data has been streamed that can be streamed without exceeding the content length;

requesting a continuing HTTP streaming session with the server;

receiving authorization to initiate the continuing streaming session;

initiating the continuing streaming session by sending a header that identifies the continuing streaming session as being the continuing streaming session that was authorized by the server and identifies a content length value that specified a particular amount of data to be streamed to the server in the continuing streaming session; and

wherein the actual amount of data to be streamed to the server in the continuing streaming session is unknown.

24. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 23, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform additional step of adding fill packets to the data to make the amount of data actually streamed equal to the content length value.

25. A method, comprising:

detecting the presence of a firewall or proxy server on a communication channel with a server;

requesting a streaming session with the server;

receiving a session identifier from the server;

initiating the streaming session by sending a header to the server, the heading including at least the session identifier and a content length identifier that indicates an amount of data to be streamed in the streaming session, the content length identifier identifying an amount of data that can be streamed to the server in approximately one minute;

streaming multiple data packets to the server.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, further comprising:

determining when no more data can be streamed in the amount of data indicated by the content length identifier;

requesting a subsequent streaming session with the server, the subsequent streaming session being a continuation of the initial streaming session;

receiving a subsequent session identifier from the server;

initiating the subsequent streaming session by sending a header to the server, the heading including at least the subsequent session identifier and a content length identifier that indicates an amount of data to be streamed in the streaming session, the content length identifier identifying an amount of data that can be streamed to the server in approximately one minute;

streaming multiple data packets to the server in the subsequent streaming session.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, further comprising adding fill packets to the data packets being streamed to the server to make the amount streamed to the server in the streaming session equal the amount of data identified by the content length identifier for the streaming session.

28. The method as recited in claim 26, further comprising terminating the streaming session if no server acknowledgement is received within ten second of requesting the subsequent streaming session with the server.

29. One or more computer-readable media containing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform the following steps:

initiating an HTTP streaming session with a server to stream an uncertain amount of content data to the server;

transmitting a header to begin streaming the content data to the server, the header denoting a specific content length value that the server understands to be the amount of content data to be streamed to the server; and

streaming the content data to the server.

30. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the specific content length value is a maximum amount of data allowed to be streamed by a firewall or a proxy server that may be in place to regulate data streamed to the server.

31. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the specific content length value further comprises 2,147,483,647.

32. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the specific content length value further comprises an arbitrary number that is less than the uncertain amount of content data.

33. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the specific content length value further comprises a number that represents an amount of data that can be streamed to the server in a time period of less than three minutes.

34. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 29, wherein the specific content length value further comprises a number that represents an amount of data that can be streamed to the server in a time period of less than one minute.