Method and system for real-time seeking during playback of remote presentation protocols

• US 20060161959A1
• Filed: 01/14/2005
• Published: 07/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Ryman, Paul, Croft, Richard, Low, Tony
• Granted Patent: US 8,145,777 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/88
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/326 used signal is a video-frame or a video-field (P.I.P.)
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/443 OS processes, e.g. booting an STB, implementing a Java virtual machine in an STB or power management in an STB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate

Abstract

A foreground protocol engine receives a request for rendering the contents of a packet in a recording of a protocol data stream, the protocol data stream comprising a plurality of packets. The foreground protocol engine identifies a state-snapshot having an associated timestamp previous to that of the requested packet. The foreground protocol engine displays the requested packet responsive to the identified state-snapshot.

Claims

1. A method for real-time seeking during playback of remote presentation protocols, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by a foreground protocol engine, a request for rendering the contents of a packet in a recording of a protocol data stream, the protocol data stream comprising a plurality of packets;

(b) identifying, by the foreground protocol engine, a state-snapshot having an associated timestamp previous to that of the requested packet;

(c) displaying, by the foreground protocol engine, the requested packet responsive to the identified state-snapshot.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) further comprises rendering to a buffer the contents of an intermediate packet between the state-snapshot and the requested packet.

3. A method for generating state-snapshots enabling real-time seeking during playback of remote presentation protocols, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving, by a background protocol engine, a recording of a protocol data stream comprising a plurality of packets;

(b) generating, by the background protocol engine, a representation of the recording of a protocol data stream;

(c) generating, by the background protocol engine, at least one state-snapshot during a reading of at least one packet in the recording of the protocol data stream; and

(d) storing, by the background protocol engine, the generated state-snapshot.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein step (c) further comprises generation of the at least one state-snapshot substantially simultaneously with a presentation of the recording of the protocol data stream.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein step (c) further comprises generating, by the background protocol engine, at least one state-snapshot during a sequential reading of the recording of the protocol data stream.

6. A system for real-time seeking during playback of remote presentation protocols comprising:

a background protocol engine, receiving a recording of a protocol data stream and reading the recording of the protocol data stream, comprising a plurality of packets;

a state-snapshot, generated by the background protocol engine, comprising a state of a protocol engine rendering the protocol data stream at a point in time when a recorder copied a packet from the protocol data stream into the recording of the protocol data stream; and

a foreground protocol engine, receiving the recording of the protocol data stream, rendering the contents of the protocol data stream, receiving a request to seek display data represented by a content in a packet in the recording of the protocol data stream, and rendering the content representing the requested display data, using the state-snapshot.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises a data structure describing a state of a screen at a point in time.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises maintaining the state of a visible surface.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises maintaining the state of an off-screen surface.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises maintaining the state of a drawing object.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises maintaining the state of a color palette.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises maintaining the state of a cached object.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the state-snapshot further comprises maintaining the state of a buffer.

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the foreground protocol engine further comprises generating a real-time perceptible representation of the recording of the protocol data stream for presentation to a user.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein the foreground protocol engine further comprises generating a real-time visible representation of the recording of the protocol data stream for presentation to a user.

16. The system of claim 6, wherein the foreground protocol engine further comprises generating a real-time audible representation of the recording of the protocol data stream for presentation to a user.

17. A method for adaptive generation of state-snapshots, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) presenting a representation of a recording of a protocol data stream to a user;

(b) monitoring, by a background protocol engine, an activity of the user during the presentation;

(c) developing, by the background protocol engine, an activity profile responsive to the monitoring of the activity;

(d) generating, by the background protocol engine, at least one state-snapshot, responsive to the activity profile;

18. The method of claim 17, wherein step (b) further comprises identifying a period of inactivity by the user.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein step (c) further comprises identifying a statistical distribution of seek probabilities.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein step (d) further comprises the step of generating the at least one state-snapshot responsive to the statistical distribution of seek probabilities.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein step (c) further comprises developing an activity profile for a usage pattern of the user.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein step (d) further comprises determining to extend an interval between one or more state-snapshots.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein step (d) further comprises determining to reduce an interval between one or more state-snapshots.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of determining, by the background protocol engine, to remove the at least one state-snapshot, responsive to the activity profile.

25. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of determining, by the background protocol engine, to add at least one state-snapshot, responsive to the activity profile.

26. A system for adaptive generation of state-snapshots comprising:

a foreground protocol engine, presenting a representation of a recording of a protocol data stream to a user;

a background protocol engine, monitoring an activity of the user during the presentation and generating a state-snapshot; and

an activity profile, determined by the background protocol engine.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the background protocol engine determines the activity profile responsive to the monitoring.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the background protocol engine maintains the state-snapshot responsive to the activity profile.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the activity profile identifies a usage pattern.