SCALABLE SEAMLESS DIGITAL VIDEO STREAM SPLICING

• US 20100189131A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 07/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Verivue Incorporated (Akamai Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Jean, Frink, Craig, Krishnan, Santosh, Xu, Weidong, Zhu, Qin-Fan, Branam, Steve
• Granted Patent: US 8,743,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23611 Insertion of stuffing data into a multiplex stream, e.g. to obtain a constant bitrate synchronisation arrangements in time-division multiplex systems using bit stuffing for systems with different or fluctuating information rates H04J3/073
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip

Abstract

Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for scalable seamless digital video stream splicing. Data packets in a first video stream of bits are rearranged. Placeholder packets are created in a second video stream of bits. The first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits are combined to generate a spliced stream by inserting data packets from the first video stream of bits into the placeholder packets in the second video stream of bits.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

rearranging data packets in a first video stream of bits;

creating placeholder packets in a second video stream of bits; and

combining the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits to generate a spliced stream, the combining comprising inserting data packets from the first video stream of bits into the placeholder packets in the second video stream of bits.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating the spliced stream comprises achieving a seamless splice.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the rearranging comprises:

identifying one or more data packets located in the first video stream of bits; and

positioning the identified data packets consecutively within the first video stream of bits.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the identifying comprises:

determining a video out-point of the first video stream of bits;

determining an audio out-point of the first video stream of bits; and

locating audio packets between the video out-point and the audio-out point.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining the video out-point and the determining the audio out-point are based on stream metadata from the first video stream of bits.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the stream metadata comprises timing information, picture type information, pull-down information, splicing cue messages, indexing information, or any combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the positioning comprises locating the identified data packets immediately after the video out-point.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating comprising:

determining a video in-point of the second video stream of bits;

determining an audio in-point of the second video stream of bits; and

inserting placeholder packets between the video in-point and the audio in-point.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the video in-point and the determining the audio in-point are based on stream metadata from the second video stream of bits.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the inserting placeholder packets comprises determining a number and position of placeholder packets.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of placeholder packets depends on the rearranged data packets.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the rearranged first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits with placeholder packets in one or more storage devices.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more storage devices comprise a physical storage module, a transient buffer memory, or any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising buffering the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits in a buffer.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

formatting the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits into a packet storage data structure; and

storing the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits according to the packet storage data structure.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the packet storage structure includes a packet type, a timestamp flag, a timestamp offset, a scheduling timestamp, a packet start, a packet end, a data length, and a data payload.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying a video out-point associated with the first video stream of bits to a predetermined condition; and

modifying a video in-point associated with the second video stream of bits to a predetermined condition.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the modifying the video out-point comprises modifying an ending delay associated with the video out-point wherein the ending delay is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the modifying the a video in-point comprises modifying a starting delay associated with the video in-point wherein the starting delay is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the modifying the video out-point, the modifying the video in-point, or both, includes transrating, Program Clock Reference (PCR) restamping, NULL packet removing, or any combination thereof.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the combining further comprises retrieving, in response to a user request, the first video stream of bits, the second video stream of bits, or both.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the combining further comprises changing scheduling timestamps associated with data packets in the second video stream of bits so that said scheduling timestamps are temporally continuous with scheduling timestamps associated with data packets in the first video stream of bits.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

transmitting the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits based on the scheduling timestamps of the packets.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the first video stream, the second video stream, or both are MPEG transport streams.

25. A computer program product tangibly embodied in a machine-readable storage device, the computer program product including instructions operable to cause a data processing apparatus to:

rearrange data packets in a first video stream of bits;

create placeholder packets in a second video stream of bits; and

combine the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits to generate a spliced stream, the combining comprising inserting data packets from the first video stream of bits into the placeholder packets in the second video stream of bits.

26. A system comprising:

means for rearranging data packets in a first video stream of bits;

means for creating placeholder packets in a second video stream of bits; and

means for combining the first video stream of bits and the second video stream of bits to generate a spliced stream, the combining comprising inserting data packets from the first video stream of bits into the placeholder packets in the second video stream of bits.

27. A method comprising:

processing a first compressed video stream of bits, the processing comprising;

receiving a first compressed video stream of bits;

extracting stream metadata from the first compressed video stream of bits;

determining a splice out-point of the first compressed video stream of bits based on the stream metadata;

conditioning the first compressed video stream of bits based on the stream metadata, wherein conditioning comprises rearranging data packets; and

storing the conditioned first compressed video stream of bits in a storage device;

processing a second compressed video stream of bits, the processing comprising;

receiving a second compressed video stream of bits;

extracting stream metadata from the second compressed video stream of bits;

determining a splice in-point of the second compressed video stream of bits based on the stream metadata;

conditioning the second compressed video stream of bits based on the stream metadata, wherein conditioning comprises creating placeholder packets; and

storing the conditioned second compressed video stream of bits in a storage device;

generating a spliced stream, the generating comprising;

retrieving the conditioned first compressed video stream of bits from the storage device;

retrieving the conditioned second compressed video stream of bits from the storage device;

transmitting at least a portion of the conditioned first compressed video stream of bits, the transmission ending at the splice out-point; and

transmitting immediately thereafter at least a portion of the conditioned second compressed video stream of bits, the transmission starting at the splice in-point.