URL BASED RETRIEVAL OF PORTIONS OF MEDIA CONTENT
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for retrieving a portion of a content item from a server, the method comprising:
- receiving a Uniform Resource Identifier that specifies a portion of a content item;
parsing the received Uniform Resource Identifier to identify the specified portion of the content item;
opening the content item specified by the Uniform Resource Identifier by accessing the content item from a content store;
reading organizational information associated with the content item that describes an organization of the content item;
extracting the specified content portion from the content item based on information from the organizational information; and
sending the specified portion of the content item to a client in response to the received request,wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A media fragmenting system is described herein that allows requesting portions of a content item through information specified in a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) used to retrieve the content item. Media fragments retrieved using the media fragmenting system are cacheable by existing Internet infrastructure and allow clients to retrieve portions of a content item without retrieving the entire content item. The media fragmenting system adds a content range segment to the URI to specify a portion of the content item. A server receiving the URI accesses the content item, identifies the requested portion, and returns the requested portion in a standard HTTP response to the client. Because no changes to the HTTP protocol are involved, intermediate servers, routers, and proxies, can all handle the request and response as well as cache the response without modification.
61 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for retrieving a portion of a content item from a server, the method comprising:
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receiving a Uniform Resource Identifier that specifies a portion of a content item; parsing the received Uniform Resource Identifier to identify the specified portion of the content item; opening the content item specified by the Uniform Resource Identifier by accessing the content item from a content store; reading organizational information associated with the content item that describes an organization of the content item; extracting the specified content portion from the content item based on information from the organizational information; and sending the specified portion of the content item to a client in response to the received request, wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer system for providing portions of a content item to clients of a web server, the system comprising:
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a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions; a communication component configured to receive Hypertext Transfer Protocol requests and send Hypertext Transfer Protocol responses; a content store configured to provide nonvolatile storage for content items; a portion identification component configured to receive a Uniform Resource Identifier, parse the Uniform Resource Identifier into segments that identify a content item and one or more portions of the content item, and retrieve the requested content item portions from the content store; a parse content component configured to open the identified content item and extract identified portions of the content item based on a received Uniform Resource Identifier. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling a computer system to send a request to retrieve a portion of a content item, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:
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receiving from a user an identification of a content item with which the user wants to interact; receiving from the user an identification of a portion of the content item; creating a content portion request that includes the identification of the content item and the identification of the portion to retrieve; sending the content portion request to a server for processing; receiving the requested content portion from the server; and displaying the received content portion to the user. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification