METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STREAMING VIDEO

• US 20120030723A1
• Filed: 07/27/2010
• Published: 02/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Baum, Kevin L., Bonta, Jeffrey D., Calcev, George, Fonseca, Benedito J. Jr.
• Application Number:
  US12/843,930
• Publication Number:
  US 20120030723A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4621 Controlling the complexity of the content stream or additional data, e.g. lowering the resolution or bit-rate of the video stream for a mobile client with a small screen arrangements for using the results of monitoring on user's side in broadcast systems H04H60/65; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transmitting video is provided herein. A video representation is segmented into video chunks, with each chunk spanning a different time interval. Each chunk may be divided into two or more sub-chunks. During operation, the client requests a sub-chunk of a particular video chunk and then possibly requests an additional sub-chunk of the video chunk. The client then combines and decodes the sub-chunks to provide a reconstructed video chunk for playback on a device. In an embodiment, I-frames of a video chunk are made available in a separate sub-chunk file than P-frames (or B-frames).

Claims

1. A method for streaming video, the method comprising the steps of:

requesting a first sub-chunk of video, wherein the first sub-chunk of video comprises one or more video frames of at least a first type;

requesting a second sub-chunk of video, wherein the second sub-chunk of video comprises one or more video frames of only a second type;

receiving the first and the second sub-chunk of video; and

assembling the video by combining the first sub-chunk and the second sub-chunk of video.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first sub-chunk of video comprises one or more I-frames.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the second sub-chunk of video comprises one or more predicted frames.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the predicted frames comprise only P frames, only B frames, or a combination of P and B frames.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of requesting the first sub-chunk of video is made using an HTTP GET request, and wherein the step of receiving comprises receiving over a TCP connection.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and the second sub-chunk of video represent an overlapping time period of video.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the video sub-chunks further comprises audio data.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

receiving metadata comprising information that can be used to assist in determining how to combine the first and second sub-chunks.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein only a portion of the second sub-chunk of video is received, and wherein the step of assembling the video by combining the first sub-chunk and the second sub-chunk of video comprises the step of combining at least part of the obtained portion of the second sub-chunk of video with the first sub-chunk of video.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second sub-chunks are requested by a single request, and further comprising the step of:

cancelling the single request before the second sub-chunk is fully received.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

determining if sufficient bandwidth is available for requesting the second sub-chunk of video, and

requesting the second sub-chunk of video only when the sufficient bandwidth is available.

12. A method comprising the steps of:

determining an amount of bandwidth available;

requesting a sub-chunk of video to be transmitted based on the amount of bandwidth available, wherein video frames in the sub-chunk requested comprise only predicted frames.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of:

receiving the sub-chunk of video comprising only predicted frames.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the predicted frames comprise only P frames.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the predicted frames comprise only P and B frames.

16. An apparatus for streaming video, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver requesting a first sub-chunk of video, wherein the first sub-chunk of video comprises one or more video frames of at least a first type, the transceiver requesting a second sub-chunk of video, wherein the second sub-chunk of video comprises one or more video frames of only a second type, the transceiver receiving the first and the second sub-chunk of video; and

a combiner assembling the video by combining the first sub-chunk and the second sub-chunk of video.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first sub-chunk of video comprises one or more I-frames.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the second sub-chunk of video comprises one or more predicted frames.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the predicted frames comprise only P frames, only B frames, or a combination of P and B frames.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the first and the second sub-chunk of video represent an overlapping time period of video.