FAST-START STREAMING AND BUFFERING OF STREAMING CONTENT FOR PERSONAL MEDIA PLAYER
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A personal media broadcasting system enables video distribution over a computer network and allows a user to view and control media sources over a computer network from a remote location. A personal broadcaster receives an input from one or more types of media sources, digitizes and compresses the content, and streams the compressed media over a computer network to a media player running on any of a wide range of client devices for viewing the media. The system may allow the user to issue control commands (e.g., “channel up”) from the media player to the broadcaster, causing the source device to execute the commands. The broadcaster and the media player may employ several techniques for buffering, transmitting, and viewing the content to improve the user'"'"'s experience.
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Citations
42 Claims
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1-22. -22. (canceled)
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23. A method to play a media stream received over a network, the method comprising:
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receiving the media stream; storing the media stream in a buffer; playing the media stream from the buffer; receiving a user command to control content in the media stream; and responsive to receiving the user command, entering a control mode in which the buffer is flushed. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A computer program product for playing a media stream received over a network, the computer program product comprising a computer-readable medium containing computer program code for performing the method comprising:
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receiving the media stream; storing the media stream in a buffer; playing the media stream from the buffer; receiving a user command to control content in the media stream; and responsive to receiving the user command, entering a control mode in which the buffer is flushed. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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36. A system for playing a media stream for a user, wherein the media stream is received over a network from a source, the system comprising:
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an interface configured to receive the media stream; a buffer configured to store the media stream; an input device configured to receive an input representing a user command to control the content of the media stream; and a processor configured to receive the input and, in response to receiving the input, to enter a control mode in which the buffer is flushed.
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Specification