Method and apparatus for delivery of adapted media

• US 20100268836A1
• Filed: 03/16/2010
• Published: 10/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Onmobile Global Limited
• Original Assignee: Dilithium Holdings, Inc. (Dilithium Networks, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Wei, Jack, David, Jabri, Marwan, Gupta, Kshitij, Kenrick, Brody
• Granted Patent: US 8,838,824 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/38 by adapting coding or compression rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365

Abstract

A method of transmitting media to a client by an infrastructure device in a packet-switched network includes receiving a media stream at the infrastructure device. The method also includes determining an adaptation strategy according to at least one of one or more pieces of network information associated with the packet-switched network, one or more pieces of client information associated with the client, or one or more policies. The method further includes adapting the media stream according to the adaptation strategy to produce an output media stream.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting media to a client by an infrastructure device in a packet-switched network, the method comprising:

receiving a media stream at the infrastructure device;

determining an adaptation strategy according to at least one of one or more pieces of network information associated with the packet-switched network, one or more pieces of client information associated with the client, one or more pieces of media information associated with the media stream, or one or more policies; and

adapting the media stream according to the adaptation strategy to produce an output media stream.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining an adaptation strategy further comprises analyzing at least one of one or more feedback messages and one or more network messages.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the one or more feedback messages or the one or more network messages are provided by at least one of:

one or more components of the packet-switched network, the one or more components being external to the infrastructure device;

or

one or more protocols between the client and the network infrastructure.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining an adaptation strategy comprises reading one or more polices from a file or a database.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining an adaptation strategy comprises determining one or more techniques for media bit-rate reduction.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising modifying the adaptation strategy upon receiving at least one of one or more additional pieces of network information associated with the packet-switched network or one or more additional pieces of client information associated with the client.

7. An apparatus for transmitting media to a client by an infrastructure device in a packet-switched network, the apparatus comprising:

a media adaptation module adapted to execute a media adaptation strategy;

an input module coupled to the media adaptation module, the input module adapted to receive a media stream;

an output module coupled to the media adaptation module, the output module adapted to transmit an output media stream;

a network information analyzer module coupled to the media adaptation module, the network information analyzer module adapted to analyze one or more pieces of network information;

a client information analyzer module coupled to the media adaptation module, the client information analyzer module adapted to analyze one or more pieces of client information; and

a policy module coupled to the media adaptation module.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the adaptation module is further adapted to receive an adaptation command from at least one of the network information analyzer module or client information analyzer module.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the policy module is coupled to a policy configuration interface.

10. An apparatus for transmitting media to a client by an infrastructure device in a packet-switched network, the apparatus comprising:

a media optimization module adapted to execute a media adaptation process;

a proxy module coupled to the media optimization module, the input module adapted to receive a media stream, wherein the proxy module is adapted to receive a request from a client directed to a server, and redirect one or more media elements of the request to the media optimization module.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the one or more media elements are a video file, wherein the video file is in a progressive download format.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein one or more non-media elements are passed directly to the client.

13. A method of modifying a media playlist to be delivered to a client by an infrastructure device in a packet-switched network, the method comprising:

receiving from a server, a media playlist comprising of two or more alternative encodings of a media stream;

modifying the media playlist to produce a modified media playlist; and

delivering the modified media playlist to the client.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein modifying the media playlist comprises removing one or more of the alternative media encodings.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein modifying the media playlist comprises adding one or more additional alternative media encodings not provided in the media playlist.

16. A method of transmitting media to a client by an infrastructure device in a packet-switched network, the method comprising:

determining one or more first seek points associated with a first media stream;

determining one or more second seek points associated with a second media stream;

determining one or more third seek points associated with a third media stream;

producing an element containing the one or more first seek points, the one or more second seek points and the one or more third seek points; and

delivering the element to the client; and

delivering media from the first media stream, the second media stream and the third media stream.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the one or more second seek points comprises an initial frame seek point for the initial frame in the second media stream and the one or more third seek points comprise one or more seek points that are at least N seconds after the initial frame in the third media stream.