MEDIA STREAMING WITH SMOOTH FAST-FORWARD AND REWIND

• US 20100135636A1
• Filed: 12/02/2008
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Virdi, Gurpratap, Zhang, Wenbo
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/343
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• 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 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

Media streaming with smooth fast-forward and rewind is disclosed. One embodiment receives a media stream encoded at a first bit rate over a network connection, and in response to an input to fast-forward or rewind the media stream, the media stream may be retrieved at a second bit rate, and rendered at the second bit rate for fast-forward or rewind playback. By receiving the media stream at multiple bit rates, a media stream may be rendered at increased forward or reverse speeds without dropping frames in the media stream.

Claims

1. A method of rendering a media stream to provide a smooth fast-forward or rewind, the method comprising:

receiving a media stream encoded at a first bit rate over a network connection;

receiving an input to fast-forward or rewind the media stream;

retrieving the media stream encoded at a second bit rate;

rendering the media stream at the second bit rate for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ramping the second bit rate of the media stream to an intermediate bit rate; and

rendering the media stream at the intermediate bit rate for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring performance of the network connection;

receiving an input for a fast-forward or rewind playback speed; and

rendering the media stream for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback at the playback speed at a bit rate supported by the network connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring performance of a playback device playing the rendered media stream; and

rendering a portion of frames in the media stream for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the media stream is encoded in a plurality of independently decodable chunks in at least the first bit rate and the second bit rate.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the plurality of independently decodable chunks have a similar playback duration.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising rendering a portion of the plurality of independently decodable chunks in the media stream at the second bit rate for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

setting a download bandwidth threshold on the media stream; and

retrieving the media stream at or below the download threshold bandwidth.

9. A method for providing a media stream from a media server for smooth fast-forward or rewind on a playback device, the method comprising:

encoding a media stream at a plurality of bit rates, the plurality of bit rates including a first bit rate and a second bit rate;

sending the media stream at the first bit rate to a playback device over a network connection;

in response to a fast-forward or rewind input, sending the media stream encoded at the second bit rate to the playback device to be rendered at the second bit rate for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

ramping the second bit rate of the media stream to an intermediate bit rate; and

sending the media stream to the playback device at the intermediate bit rate for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving information from the playback device related to performance of the network connection;

receiving an input from the playback device for a fast-forward or rewind playback speed; and

sending the media stream to a playback device for rendering smooth fast-forward or rewind playback at the playback speed at a bit rate supported by the network connection.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein if the performance of the network connection or a playback device do not support a smooth fast-forward or rewind at the second bit rate, the method further comprising sending a portion of frames in the media stream to the playback device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the media stream is encoded in a plurality of independently decodable chunks in at least the first bit rate and the second bit rate.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of chunks have a similar playback duration.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising sending a portion of the plurality of chunks in the media stream to the playback device for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

setting a download bandwidth threshold on the media stream; and

sending the media stream to a playback device at or below the download threshold bandwidth.

17. A computing device to provide a smooth fast-forward or rewind of a media stream, comprising:

an index file containing attributes of a plurality of media chunks encoded at a plurality of bit rates including a first bit rate and a second bit rate, each media chunk having a similar playback duration;

a network module to receive a media stream encoded at the first bit rate over a network connection; and

a platform module to receive the media stream from the network module, and in response to a fast-forward or rewind input for the media stream, the platform module to retrieve the media stream encoded at a second bit rate and to render the media stream for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback at the second bit rate.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the platform module is configured to ramp the second bit rate of the media stream to an intermediate bit rate, and render the media stream at the intermediate bit rate for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.

19. The computing device of claim 17, further comprising a heuristics module configured to dynamically monitor playback performance of the computing device based on at least one of a receive buffer fullness, network bandwidth, computing device bandwidth, or media stream quality, wherein the platform module is configured to render the media stream for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback at a supported bit rate in the index file in response to a command from the heuristics module.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein if the playback performance does not support a smooth fast-forward or rewind at a bit rate, the platform module is configured to retrieve a portion of frames in the media stream and to render the media stream for smooth fast-forward or rewind playback.