INTEGRATING CONTINUOUS AND SPARSE STREAMING DATA

• US 20110083144A1
• Filed: 11/05/2009
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Sood, Vishal, Liu, Lin, Bocharov, John A., Zhang, Geqiang (Sam), Roy, Anirban, Freelander, Jack E., Duggaraju, Krishna Prakash
• Granted Patent: US 9,438,861 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2183 Cache memory caches in web servers or browsers G06F16/9574; intermediate storage and caching in data networks H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A sparse streaming system provides a first-class means for sparse metadata to be added to streaming media presentations and to be delivered using an integrated data channel that is cacheable using readily available HTTP-based Internet caching infrastructure for increased scalability. The sparse streaming system stores a reference to a sparse track within a continuous track. If a continuous fragment arrives at the client that refers to a sparse fragment that the client has not yet retrieved, then the client requests the sparse fragment. In addition, each sparse fragment may include a backwards reference to the sparse fragment created immediately prior. The references in the continuous fragments make the client aware of new sparse track fragments, and the backwards references in the sparse track fragments ensure that the client has not missed any intervening sparse track fragments.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for preparing sparse data for retrieval by a client, the method comprising:

receiving a current sparse track fragment;

identifying a previous sparse track fragment received prior to the current sparse track fragment;

storing a reference to the identified previous sparse track fragment in association with the received current sparse track fragment;

identifying a current continuous track fragment associated with the current sparse track fragment;

storing a reference to the received current sparse track fragment in association with the identified current continuous track fragment; and

providing the identified current continuous track fragment including the stored reference to the received current sparse track fragment to at least one client,

wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the current sparse track fragment includes aggregating sparse track fragments from multiple sources.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the identified current continuous track fragment includes providing an HTTP-cacheable delivery of textual metadata associated with a video presentation.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the identified current continuous track fragment includes providing an on-demand version of a previous live media presentation.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the current sparse track fragment includes receiving multiple localized versions of a sparse data track.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the reference to the received current sparse track fragment in association with the identified current continuous track fragment comprises storing the reference in a way that allows multiple sparse tracks to be associated with a single continuous track fragment.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing the received current sparse track fragment in response to a client request.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a manifest to the client that allows the client to retrieve a subset of the sparse track fragments available to the client.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing a manifest to the client that informs the client of previously missed sparse track fragments.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the current sparse track fragment includes information that can trigger a client to perform one or more actions.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the current sparse track fragment includes spatial information to inform a client of advertisement insertion points in a continuous video track.

12. A computer system for integrating sparse and continuous streaming data, the system comprising:

a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions;

an encoder interface component configured to provide an interface between the system and one or more encoders that provide encoded media data as continuous media fragments;

an index fragment component configured to create and maintain an index table of media fragments received from encoders;

a fragment data store configured to store received media fragments and the created index table of fragments to provide to clients based on received client requests;

a sparse fragment component configured to receive sparse fragments from one or more data sources and prepare the fragments for retrieval by clients; and

a client interface component configured to receive client requests for continuous and sparse fragments and provide manifest data and requested fragments to clients.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the sparse fragment component is further configured to receive sparse data from a variety of sources and aggregate the data.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the sparse fragment component is further configured to receive data associated with an announcer commenting on a live sporting event.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein the sparse fragment component is further configured to prepare the sparse fragments for retrieval by associating each sparse fragment with at least one continuous fragment and by associating each sparse fragment with at least one previous sparse fragment.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein the sparse fragment component identifies sparse fragments by at least a track name and a timestamp.

17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling a computer system to request sparse track fragments associated with a continuous data track, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:

requesting a continuous track fragment associated with the continuous data track of a media presentation;

receiving the requested continuous track fragment;

identifying a reference to a sparse track fragment associated with the continuous track fragment;

if the sparse track fragment has not previously been received, requesting the identified sparse track fragment;

receiving the requested sparse track fragment; and

displaying the received continuous track fragment and any newly received sparse track fragment.

18. The medium of claim 17 further comprising, after receiving the requested sparse track fragment, identifying a reference to a previous sparse track fragment associated with the received sparse track fragment and if the previous sparse track fragment has not previous been received, retrieving the previous sparse track fragment.

19. The medium of claim 17 wherein receiving the requested continuous track fragment comprises receiving error recovery information that allows discovering missed sparse track fragments by following a stored reference between a current sparse track fragment and a previous sparse track fragment without retrieving intervening continuous track fragments.

20. The medium of claim 17 wherein receiving the requested continuous track fragment comprises receiving the continuous track fragment from an edge server cache.