METHOD FOR CONTROLLING DOWNLOAD RATE OF REAL-TIME STREAMING AS NEEDED BY MEDIA PLAYER

• US 20100205318A1
• Filed: 02/09/2009
• Published: 08/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: OptiMorphix, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Melnyk, Miguel, Kidd, Robert, Breg, Fabian, Penner, Andrew, Tidemann, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/242 Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References] arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43072 of multiple content streams on the same device

Abstract

A computer-implemented method including receiving streaming media, wherein the streaming media is requested by a media player at a mobile device; retrieving timing information from the streaming media, wherein the timing information corresponds to real-time playback rate on the media player; framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player; scheduling transmission of the framed streaming media based on the framing, and transmitting the framed streaming media to the media player according to the schedule.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving streaming media, wherein the streaming media is requested by a media player at a mobile device;

retrieving timing information from the streaming media, wherein the timing information corresponds to real-time playback rate on the media player;

framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player;

scheduling transmission of the framed streaming media based on the framing; and

transmitting the framed streaming media to the media player according to the schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the framed streaming media; and

providing the stored-framed streaming media for the transmitting according to the schedule.

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

a header including information about characteristics of media tracks; and

one or more media frames, each carrying a timestamp corresponding to time at which the frame is played on the media player.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting the header to the media player without the framing.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting the header and a first one or more frames to the media player without the framing.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein framing the streaming media comprises framing the parsed streaming media based on the timestamp of each frame.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining optimization parameters; and

framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player and the optimization parameters.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the optimization parameters comprises:

source of the streaming media;

characteristics of the mobile device;

previous usage profile of the mobile device;

time and date when the streaming media is requested by the mobile device; and

bandwidth of network segment where the mobile device is located.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein framing the streaming media comprises:

optimizing the streaming media by altering the streaming media based on one or more of the optimization parameters; and

framing the optimized streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein optimizing the streaming media based on one or more of the optimization parameters results in reduction in size of the streaming media.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting changes in network segment where the mobile device is located;

updating the framing of the streaming media, based on the real-time playback rate on the media player and the changes in the network segment where the mobile device is located; and

transmitting the updated-framed streaming media to the media player.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein changes in the network segment where the mobile device is located comprises increases or decreases in bandwidth of the network segment.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein updating the framing of the streaming media comprises:

optimizing the streaming media by altering the streaming media based on the changes in the network segment where the mobile device is located; and

framing the optimized streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining pre-configured variable multipliers; and

framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player and the pre-configured variable multipliers.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the pre-configured variable multipliers comprise an arbitrary number of multipliers and application period pairs, which can include at least:

a first number factor being used in the framing to control the transmission of the streaming media to the mobile device during a first time period; and

a second number factor being used in the framing to control the transmission of the streaming media to the mobile device during a second time period.

16. A system comprising:

a client device having a media player, wherein the client device is capable of requesting streaming media from a media server; and

an optimization server is configured

to receive the streaming media originated from the media server,

to retrieve timing information from the streaming media, wherein the timing information corresponds to real-time playback rate on the media player,

to frame the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player,

to schedule transmitting the framed streaming media based on the framing, and

to transmit the framed streaming media to the media player according to the schedule.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the optimization server is the media server.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the optimization server comprises:

a de-muxer parsing the streaming media and retrieving the timing information from the streaming media;

a flow control module framing the parsed streaming media and scheduling the transmission of the framed streaming media, based on the retrieved timing information;

a frame scheduler triggering the transmission of the framed streaming media according to the schedule specified by the flow control module; and

a muxer transmitting the framed streaming media to the mobile device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the de-muxer parses the streaming media into:

a header including information about characteristics of media tracks; and

one or more media frames, each carrying a timestamp corresponding to time at which the frame is played on the media player.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the flow control module provides the header to the de-muxer for transmitting to the media player without the framing.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the flow control module provides the header and a first one or more media frames to the de-muxer for transmitting to the media player without the framing.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the flow control module frames the parsed streaming media and schedules the transmission of the framed streaming media, based on the timestamp of each frame.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the optimization server further comprises:

a storage device storing the framed streaming media and providing the stored-framed streaming media to the muxer for the transmitting.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the optimization server further comprises:

a media processor optimizing the streaming media by altering the streaming media, and providing the optimized streaming media to the flow control module for the framing.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the optimization server further comprises:

a network controller detecting changes in network where the mobile device is located, and instructing the media processor to optimize the streaming media based on the changes.

26. A computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method of framing streaming media requested by a media player at a mobile device from a media server, the method comprising:

receiving the streaming media originated from the media server;

retrieving timing information from the streaming media, wherein the timing information corresponds to realtime playback rate on the media player;

framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player;

scheduling transmission of the framed streaming media based on the framing; and

transmitting the framed streaming media to the media player according to the schedule.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising

storing the framed streaming media;

and

providing the stored-framed streaming media for the transmitting according to the schedule.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the streaming media comprises:

a header including information about characteristics of media tracks, and

one or more media frames, each carrying a timestamp corresponding to time at which the frame is played on the media player.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising transmitting the header to the media player without the framing.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising transmitting the header and a first one or more frames to the media player without the framing.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein framing the streaming media comprises framing the parsed streaming media based on the timestamp of each frame.

32. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

obtaining optimization parameters; and

framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player and the optimization parameters.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the optimization parameters comprises:

source of the streaming media;

characteristics of the mobile device;

previous usage profile of the mobile device;

time and date when the streaming media is requested by the mobile device; and

bandwidth of network segment where the mobile device is located.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein framing the streaming media comprises:

optimizing the streaming media by altering the streaming media based on one or more of the optimization parameters; and

framing the optimized streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein optimizing the streaming media based on one or more of the optimization parameters results in reduction in size of the streaming media.

36. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

detecting changes in network segment where the mobile device is located;

updating the framing of the streaming media, based on the realtime playback rate on the media player and the changes in the network segment where the mobile device is located; and

transmitting the updated-framed streaming media to the media player.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein changes in the network segment where the mobile device is located comprises increases or decreases in bandwidth of the network segment.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein updating the framing of the streaming media comprises:

optimizing the streaming media by altering the streaming media based on the changes in the network segment where the mobile device is located; and

framing the optimized streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player.

39. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

obtaining pre-configured variable multipliers; and

framing the streaming media based on the real-time playback rate on the media player and the pre-configured variable multipliers.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the pre-configured variable multipliers comprise an arbitrary number of multipliers and application period pairs, which can include at least:

a first number factor being used in the framing to control the transmission of the streaming media to the mobile device during a first time period; and

a second number factor being used in the framing to control the transmission of the streaming media to the mobile device during a second time period.