Seamless Arbitrary Data Insertion for Streaming Media
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Accused Products
Abstract
An arrangement for inserting advertisement media into a streaming multimedia file destined for an end-user uses a caching inserter including a first cache for storing a loaded advertisement file and a second cache for holding the streaming multimedia file that needs to be buffered as the advertisement file is sent to the end-user. The advertisement file may be inserted at the beginning of the multimedia file, the end, or at any point during the stream. Once the advertisement begins to be sent to the end-user, the incoming multimedia stream is cached and then is played out of the cache once the advertisement has ended. As a result of the time delay associated with the advertisement, the remainder of the multimedia file must be cached then played out until the stream is complete.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. (canceled)
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2. An arrangement for inserting an alteration media into a streaming multimedia file destined for at least one predetermined end-user, the arrangement comprising
a first cache for storing a received alternative media file; -
a second cache for storing a streaming multimedia file;
a control unit for receiving as a first input a control signal from said first cache and generating as an output a switching control signal indicative of the presence or absence of a complete alternative media file being stored in said first cache; and
a switching mechanism, coupled to each one of said control unit, said first cache, said second cache and said streaming multimedia file for providing as an output, directed to the at least one end-user, a stream selected from one of said first cache, said streaming multimedia file and said second cache, as controlled by said switching output signal from said control unit so as to insert the alternative media file at a predetermined location in the stream, including either one of the beginning and the end of the streaming multimedia file, wherein the control signal output from the first cache indicates that a complete alternative file is stored and is ready for transmission to the predetermined at least one end-user, or will be ready in time to transmit. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21-30. -30. (canceled)
Specification