MEDIA SESSION HEARTBEAT MESSAGING

• US 20140108497A1
• Filed: 10/15/2012
• Published: 04/17/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Yao, Xuefeng, Hao, Jack Jianxiu, Jin, Zhiying, Rathi, Sandeep G.
• Granted Patent: US 9,071,887 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/106 using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] H04L51/04; selective video distribution H04N21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format

Abstract

A client device plays streaming media, and obtains a media playback position of the media at a first time. The client device sends a first message from the client device to a server, wherein the first message includes the media playback position and where the media playback position includes a time reference associated with playback of the media at the first time. The client device receives a first reply message from the server, wherein the first reply message indicates a time period. The client device sends a second message from the first client to the server, based on expiration of the time period, wherein the second message includes a media playback position of the media at a second time during the playing of the streaming media that is different than the first time.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving media associated with a streaming media session at a first device associated with a user;

playing the media at the first device; and

sending, at intervals during the playing of the media, messages from the first device to a network device that is separate from the first device, wherein each of the messages includes a session identifier (ID) associated with the streaming media session and a current playback position of the playing media at one of the intervals at which a respective one of the messages is sent.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the messages during the playing of the media at the first device occurs at periodic intervals.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, responsive to sending the messages from the first device to the network device, reply messages from the network device that specify a length of an interval between a most recent one of the messages and a next one of the messages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the messages are sent from the first device to the network device at the intervals as specified by the reply messages.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the session ID included in each of the messages for controlling a number of active streaming media sessions permitted for the user at a given period of time.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the current playback position of the media included in each of the messages for enabling the user to shift the streaming media session from the first device to a second device associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current playback position includes a current media Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) in a playlist file associated with the media, and wherein the current media URI refers to a specific media file that is a segment of a continuous media stream.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the media is received at the first device via a streaming media protocol that comprises Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the current playback position includes a time reference associated with playing of the media.

10. A method, comprising:

starting playback of media at a first client;

sending, from the first client to a network device, a first message that includes a session identifier associated with the media and a current playback position of the media;

retrieving, at a second client from the network device, the current playback position of the media based on the session identifier; and

resuming playback of the media, at the second client, from the retrieved current playback position of the media.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving the media from a media server via a streaming media protocol, wherein the streaming media protocol comprises Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS).

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the current playback position includes a current media Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) in a playlist file associated with the media streamed via the streaming media protocol, and wherein the current media URI refers to a specific media file that is a segment of a continuous media stream.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the current playback position includes a time reference associated with playback of the media.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending, from the first client to the network device, a second message that includes the session identifier, the current playback position of the media, and the current playback status, wherein sending the second message occurs at an interval after sending the first message during the playback of the media at the first client.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, at the first client, a value that defines the interval from the network device.

16. A device, comprising:

a communication interface connected to a network via a wired or wireless link;

a display;

a processing unit configured to;

play, via the display, streaming media,

obtain a playback position of the media at a first time,

send, via the communication interface, a first message from the device to a server, wherein the first message includes the media playback position,

receive, via the communication interface, a first reply message from the server, wherein the first reply message indicates a time period, and

send, via the communication interface, a second message to the server, based on expiration of the time period, wherein the second message includes a media playback position of the media at a second time during the playing of the streaming media that is different than the first time.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the first message includes a playback status and an access token.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the playback status comprises an indication of the media being stopped, the media being paused, the media being finished, or the media currently being played.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the media playback position includes a time reference associated with playback of the media.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

receive, via the communication interface, a second reply message from the server, wherein the second reply message indicates a second time period, and

send, via the communication interface, a third message from the device to the server, based on expiration of the second time period, wherein the third message includes a playback position of the media at a third time.

21. A network device, comprising:

a communication interface; and

a processing unit configured to;

receive, via the communication interface, periodic messages from one or more clients associated with a user during media playback sessions at the one or more clients,

receive, via the communication interface, a request for another media playback session for the user,

determine a number of active media playback sessions based on the received periodic messages, and

determine whether to grant or deny the request for another media playback session based on the determined number of active media playback sessions.

22. The network device of claim 21, wherein, when determining whether to grant or deny the request for another media playback session, the processing unit is further configured to:

compare the determined number of active media playback sessions with a threshold level; and

grant or deny the request for another media playback session based on the comparison.

23. The network device of claim 22, wherein, when granting or deny the request for another media playback session, the processing unit is further configured to:

grant the request for another media playback session if the determined number of active media playback sessions is equal to or less than the threshold level, or

deny the request for another media playback session if the determined number of active media playback sessions is greater than the threshold level.

24. The network device of claim 21, wherein each of the periodic messages includes a session identifier associated with one of the media playback sessions.