Media Stream Scheduling for Hiccup-Free Fast-Channel-Change in the Presence of Network Chokepoints
First Claim
1. A computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising providing a media-stream delivery deadline schedule that specifies the deadline by which data of one or more media streams being transmitted over a media-stream network must be sent to a media-stream presentation device.
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Abstract
An implementation, as described herein, facilitates fast start-up of a new media stream while avoiding temporal interruption (i.e., “hiccups”) of the presentation of that new media stream. At least one implementation, described herein, coordinates the delivery of multiple simultaneous media streams on a media-stream network. Its coordination accounts for traversal of bandwidth-restricted chokepoints; quickly stopping delivery of one or more media streams from the set of streams; quickly initiating delivery and presentation of one or more new media streams not previously in the set (i.e., a “channel change”); and producing clean playback of all of the streams in the set, despite their different timelines. This abstract itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.
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Citations
8 Claims
- 1. A computer-readable medium having processor-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform a method comprising providing a media-stream delivery deadline schedule that specifies the deadline by which data of one or more media streams being transmitted over a media-stream network must be sent to a media-stream presentation device.
- 7. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a media-stream delivery deadline schedule data structure, comprising multiple data fields representing a succession of timeslots for a defined time interval of one or more media streams, each field containing values that specify the deadline by which data of one or more media streams being transmitted over a media-stream network must be sent to a media-stream presentation device.
Specification