Grid Encoded Media Asset Data

• US 20110274179A1
• Filed: 05/09/2011
• Published: 11/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Holden, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 9,271,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/240.25
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2335 involving reformatting operations of audio signals, e.g. by converting from one coding standard to another details of audio signal transcoding G10L19/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2343 involving reformatting operations of video signals for distribution or compliance with end-user requests or end-user device requirements video transcoding H04N19/40; media packet handling at the source H04L65/762
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2389 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream encrypting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4385 Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream decrypting
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6377 directed to server one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

Metadata can identify temporal segments of content associated with a media asset and can identify asset data types. In response to a request for a particular asset, a central office may identify a data type and a temporal segment based on metadata associated with the request.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing data in a memory, said data including, for each of multiple media assets,

temporal metadata identifying temporal segments of a video content associated with the asset,

video metadata identifying types of video data, each video data type corresponding to a different encoded representation of the video content,

multiple video data sets, each video data set corresponding to a different one of the video data types and including video data of the corresponding type, each video data set being divided into fragments, and each fragment of a video data set including data for a portion of the video content encoded according to the corresponding video data type and corresponding to a different one of the temporal segments, and

for each of the video data sets, data mapping each of the fragments to a portion of the temporal metadata identifying a corresponding temporal segment and to a portion of the video metadata identifying the corresponding video data type;

responsive to a request for an asset, identifying a first video data type and a first temporal segment based on video metadata and temporal metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the video data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising data for a portion of the asset video content encoded according to the identified first video data type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing data in the memory, said data including, for each of the multiple media assets,

audio metadata identifying types of audio data, each audio data type corresponding to a different encoded representation of an audio content,

multiple audio data sets, each audio data set corresponding to a different one of the audio data types and including audio data of the corresponding audio data type, each audio data set divided into fragments, and each fragment of an audio data set including data for a portion of the audio content encoded according to the corresponding audio data type and corresponding to a different one of the temporal segments, and

for each of the audio data sets, data mapping each of the fragments to a portion of the temporal metadata identifying a corresponding temporal segment and to a portion of the audio metadata identifying the corresponding audio data type;

responsive to the request for the asset, identifying a first audio data type based on audio metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the audio data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising data for a portion of the asset audio content encoded according to the identified first audio data type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments of the asset audio content.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing data in the memory, said data including, for each of the multiple media assets,

enhancement metadata identifying types of enhancement layer data, each enhancement layer data type including a different type of data,

multiple enhancement layer data sets, each enhancement layer data set corresponding to a different one of the enhancement layer data types and including enhancement layer data of the corresponding enhancement layer data type, each enhancement layer data set divided into fragments, and each fragment of an enhancement layer data set including enhancement layer data corresponding to a different one of the temporal segments, and

for each of the enhancement layer data sets, data mapping each of the fragments to a portion of the temporal metadata identifying a corresponding temporal segment and to a portion of the enhancement layer metadata identifying the corresponding enhancement layer data type;

responsive to the request for the asset, identifying a first enhancement layer data type based on enhancement metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the enhancement layer data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising enhancement layer data of the identified first type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the fragments in a video data set is divided from another fragment of the video data set on a Group of Pictures boundary.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the video data types corresponds to data encoded with a first COder DECoder (CODEC) and another of the data types corresponds to data encoded with a second CODEC that is different from the first CODEC.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a first of the video data types corresponds to data encoding at least a portion of a three dimensional representation of the requested asset video content and a second of the data types corresponds to data encoding a two dimensional representation of the requested asset video content.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first video data type includes a first set of data encoding a first sequence of frames corresponding to one of a left eye or a right eye perspective of the asset video content, and

a third data type includes a third set of data encoding a second sequence of frames corresponding to the other of the left or right eye perspectives, the second sequence of frames encoding a difference between the left and right eye perspective for each frame.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

linearly multicasting each of the video data sets.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the linearly multicasting comprises publishing each of the video data sets to a topic queue and streaming each of said published video data sets in response to subscriptions originating from individual user devices.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

linearly multicasting each of the video data sets; and

linearly multicasting each of the audio data sets.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein

the linearly multicasting each of the video data sets comprises publishing each of the video data sets to a topic queue and streaming each of said published video data sets in response to subscriptions originating from individual user devices;

and

the linearly multicasting each of the audio data sets comprises publishing each of the audio data sets to a topic queue and streaming each of said published audio data sets in response to subscriptions originating from individual user devices.

12. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

linearly multicasting each of the video data sets;

linearly multicasting each of the audio data sets; and

linearly multicasting each of the enhancement layer data sets.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein

the linearly multicasting each of the video data sets comprises publishing each of the video data sets to a topic queue and streaming each of said published video data sets in response to subscriptions originating from individual user devices;

the linearly multicasting each of the audio data sets comprises publishing each of the audio data sets to a topic queue and streaming each of said published audio data sets in response to subscriptions originating from individual user devices; and

the linearly multicasting each of the enhancement layer data sets comprises publishing each of the enhancement layer data sets to a topic queue and streaming each of said published enhancement layer data sets in response to subscriptions originating from individual user devices.

14. A machine-readable storage medium storing machine-executable instructions for performing a method comprising:

storing data in a memory, said data including, for each of multiple media assets,

temporal metadata identifying temporal segments of a video content associated with the asset,

video metadata identifying types of video data, each video data type corresponding to a different encoded representation of the video content,

multiple video data sets, each video data set corresponding to a different one of the video data types and including video data of the corresponding type, each video data set being divided into fragments, and each fragment of a video data set including data for a portion of the video content encoded according to the corresponding video data type and corresponding to a different one of the temporal segments, and

for each of the video data sets, data mapping each of the fragments to a portion of the temporal metadata identifying a corresponding temporal segment and to a portion of the video metadata identifying the corresponding video data type;

responsive to a request for an asset, identifying a first video data type and a first temporal segment based on video metadata and temporal metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the video data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising data for a portion of the asset video content encoded according to the identified first video data type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, storing machine-executable instructions for performing:

storing data in the memory, said data including, for each of the multiple media assets,

audio metadata identifying types of audio data, each audio data type corresponding to a different encoded representation of an audio content,

multiple audio data sets, each audio data set corresponding to a different one of the audio data types and including audio data of the corresponding audio data type, each audio data set divided into fragments, and each fragment of an audio data set including data for a portion of the audio content encoded according to the corresponding audio data type and corresponding to a different one of the temporal segments, and

for each of the audio data sets, data mapping each of the fragments to a portion of the temporal metadata identifying a corresponding temporal segment and to a portion of the audio metadata identifying the corresponding audio data type;

responsive to the request for the asset, identifying a first audio data type based on audio metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the audio data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising data for a portion of the asset audio content encoded according to the identified first audio data type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments of the asset audio content.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, storing machine-executable instructions for performing:

storing data in the memory, said data including, for each of the multiple media assets,

enhancement metadata identifying types of enhancement layer data, each enhancement layer data type including a different type of data,

multiple enhancement layer data sets, each enhancement layer data set corresponding to a different one of the enhancement layer data types and including enhancement layer data of the corresponding enhancement layer data type, each enhancement layer data set divided into fragments, and each fragment of an enhancement layer data set including enhancement layer data corresponding to a different one of the temporal segments, and

for each of the enhancement layer data sets, data mapping each of the fragments to a portion of the temporal metadata identifying a corresponding temporal segment and to a portion of the enhancement layer metadata identifying the corresponding enhancement layer data type;

responsive to the request for the asset, identifying a first enhancement layer data type based on enhancement metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the enhancement layer data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising enhancement layer data of the identified first type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein each of the fragments in a video data set is divided from another fragment in the video data set on a Group of Pictures boundary.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein a first of the video data types corresponds to data encoding at least a portion of a three dimensional representation of the requested asset video content and a second of the data types corresponds to data encoding a two dimensional representation of the requested asset video content.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein

the first video data type includes a first set of data encoding a first sequence of frames corresponding to one of a left eye or a right eye perspective of the asset video content, and

a third data type includes a third set of data encoding a second sequence of frames corresponding to the other of the left or right eye perspectives, the second sequence of frames encoding a difference between the left and right eye perspective for each frame.

20. A method comprising:

storing data in a memory, said data including, for each of multiple media assets,

temporal metadata identifying temporal segments of a video content,

video metadata identifying types of video data, and

multiple video data sets, each video data set corresponding to a different one of the video data types and being divided into fragments, the fragments being encoded according to the corresponding video data type and corresponding to different ones of the temporal segments;

responsive to a request for an asset, identifying a first video data type and a first temporal segment based on video metadata and temporal metadata associated with the request; and

transmitting fragments from one of the video data sets stored for the asset, the transmitted fragments comprising data for a portion of the asset video content encoded according to the identified first video data type and corresponding to the identified first temporal segment and to succeeding temporal segments.