METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSMITTING A DATA FILE OVER A DATA NETWORK

• US 20090319536A1
• Filed: 08/31/2007
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pacbyte Software Pty., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Pacbyte Software Pty., Ltd.
• Inventors: Parker, Bruce, Holder, Robert Ward
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8402 involving a version number, e.g. version number of EPG data arrangements for version control in computers G06F8/71
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

In one form the invention provides a method of modifying a data file for transmission over a data network. The method comprises the steps of receiving the original data file and creating a header file, the header file including the length in bytes of the original data file. At least one repetition byte sequence is identified within the original data file, the repetition byte sequence comprising a byte value that is repeated consecutively within the repetition byte sequence. A modified data file is created by replacing the repetition byte sequence with a repetition marker, the repeated byte value, and a repeat frequency value representing the number of times the repeated byte value occurs within the repetition byte sequence. The repetition marker is added to the header file. The invention further provides a method of transmitting a data file to a remote device over a data network.

Claims

1. A method of modifying a data file comprising:

receiving the original data file, the original data file having a length in bytes with each byte having a bit-length;

dividing the data file into data groups of sequential bytes; and

modifying one or more of the data groups separately, wherein modifying a data group comprises the steps of;

a) designating byte offset values to respective bytes within the data group;

b) applying a data transformation to the bytes within the data group based at least partly on the byte offset values;

c) calculating the number of unique byte values within the data group;

d) comparing the calculated number of unique byte values with a predetermined threshold value; and

e) repeating steps (a) to (d) until the calculated number of unique byte values equals the predetermined threshold value.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of dividing the data file into data groups of sequential bytes comprises dividing the data file into equal length data groups of N sequential bytes.

3. A method according to claim 2 wherein step a) comprises designating each consecutive byte (b) with a corresponding byte offset value (n), where n is in the range of 1 to N.

4. A method according to claim 3 wherein step b) comprises applying the following data transformation to each byte:

b_n=b_n+(n−

1) modulo x., and wherein the value of x is based on the bit-length of the bytes.

5. A method according to claim 4 wherein each byte has bit-length of 8 bits and x=256.

6. A method according to claim 4 wherein each byte has a bit-length of 7 bits and x=128.

7. A method according to claim 4 wherein each byte has a bit-length of 10 bits and x=1024.

8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the predetermined threshold value is based on approximately the most commonly occurring number of unique values within a data group of N sequential bytes.

9. A method according to claim 1 wherein N=256.

10. A method according to claim 9 wherein the predetermined threshold value is 162.

11. A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of modifying a data group further comprises the step of:

incrementing a data transformation counter each time the data transformation of step b) is applied to the data group.

12. A method according to claim 11 wherein the final data transformation counter for each data group is written to a header file associated with the data file.

13. A method according to claim 11 wherein the final data transformation counter for each data group is inserted into the data file at the start or end of each data group.

14. A method according to claim 1 further comprising the step of creating a header file comprising the length in bytes of the data file and an index of the data groups within the data file.

15. A method of streaming a data file to a remote device over a data network, the data file comprising a plurality of ordered data segments having associated respective ordinal values and a header file, the header file including a segment frequency value representing the number of segments in the data file, and/or other values required for decompression, the method comprising:

transmitting the header file to the remote device over the data network;

transmitting the first data segment of the plurality of ordered data segments over the data network to the remote device at the request of a first execution thread, operating on the remote device, concurrently with the second or subsequent data segments;

transmitting the second data segment of the plurality of ordered data segments over the data network to the remote device at the request of a second execution thread, operating on the remote device, concurrently with the first or additional data segments;

transmitting subsequent alternate data segments over the data network to the remote device at the request of the first and second execution threads concurrently;

increasing the value of a counter value on the remote device to the ordinal value associated with the data segment most recently transmitted over the data network following complete transmission of each data segment; and

sorting each transmitted data segment into order at the remote device based on the counter value following complete transmission of each data segment.

16. A method according to claim 15 wherein the header file includes a buffer number, the buffer number representing a threshold number of segments.

17. A method according to claim 15 wherein the data file represents a video data file.

18. A method according to claim 17 further comprising the step of playing one or more segments of the video data file to the user on the remote device while transmitting further data segments of the video data file over the data network.

19. A method according to claim 15 further comprising the step of applying one or more data transformations to the data file or part thereof.

20. A method according to claim 19 wherein the one or more data transformations includes a data transformation that increases the number of unique byte values in at least part of one or more of the segments.

21. A method according to claim 19 wherein the one or more data transformations includes a data compression technique.

22. A method according to claim 19 wherein the one or more data transformations includes an encryption technique.

23. A data modification system operable to modify a data file, the system comprising a file modifier that is configured to:

receive the original data file, the original data file having a length in bytes with each byte having a bit-length;

divide the data file into data groups of sequential bytes; and

modify one or more of the data groups separately, wherein each data group modification comprises;

a) designating byte offset values to respective bytes within the data group;

b) applying a data transformation to the bytes within the data group based at least partly on the byte offset values;

c) calculating the number of unique byte values within the data group;

d) comparing the calculated number of unique byte values with a predetermined threshold value; and

e) repeating steps (a) to (d) until the calculated number of unique byte values equals the predetermined threshold value.

24. A data file streaming system operable to stream a data file to a remote device over a data network, the data file comprising a plurality of ordered data segments having associated respective ordinal values and a header file, the header file including a segment frequency value representing the number of segments in the data file, and/or other values required for decompression, the system being configured to:

transmit the header file to the remote device over the data network;

transmit the first data segment of the plurality of ordered data segments over the data network to the remote device at the request of a first execution thread, operating on the remote device, concurrently with the second or subsequent data segments;

transmit the second data segment of the plurality of ordered data segments over the data network to the remote device at the request of a second execution thread, operating on the remote device, concurrently with the first or additional data segments;

transmit subsequent alternate data segments over the data network to the remote device at the request of the first and second execution threads concurrently;

increase the value of a counter value on the remote device to the ordinal value associated with the data segment most recently transmitted over the data network following complete transmission of each data segment; and

sorting each transmitted data segment into order at the remote device based on the counter value following complete transmission of each data segment.