MAXIMIZING THROUGHPUT OF STREAMING MEDIA BY SIMULTANEOUSLY CONNECTING TO STREAMING MEDIA SERVER OVER MULTIPLE INDEPENDENT NETWORK CONNECTIONS

• US 20140325024A1
• Filed: 04/25/2013
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Lyle, Ruthie D., Price, Dana L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,356,820 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• 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: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for maximizing throughout of streaming media. The client device simultaneously establishes multiple independent network connections with a server (e.g., streaming video server) to access various segments of a file (e.g., video file). The client device requests a different segment of the file to be downloaded from the server across each of these network connections based on the throughput of each network connection. The received segments of the file are buffered and combined to provide continuous uninterrupted access to the received segments of the file. In this manner, the user will be able to view the contents of the file without any interruptions or pauses while at the same time without requiring any coordination between the client device and the server and without any degradation in the quality of the viewed content of the file.

Claims

1. A method for maximizing throughout of streaming media, the method comprising:

establishing a first network connection with a server to access a first segment of a file;

establishing a second network connection with said server to access a second segment of said file, wherein said first and second network connections are independent from one another, wherein said first network connection is established simultaneously as said second network connection;

receiving said first and second segments of said file from said server via said first and second network connections, respectively;

buffering said first and second segments of said file received from said server; and

combining, by a processor, said buffered first and second segments of said file to provide continuous uninterrupted access to said first and second segments of said file.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said file comprises one of the following:

a video file, an audio file, a document, an image and text.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising:

determining an amount of throughput for each of said first and second network connections.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 further comprising:

determining a size of said first and second segments of said file to be requested from said server based on said determined amount of throughput of said first and second network connections, respectively.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 further comprising:

requesting said first and second segments of said file from said server with said size of said first and second segments of said file corresponding to said determined amount of throughput of said first and second network connections, respectively.

6. The method as recited in claim 5 further comprising:

requesting an additional segment of said file from said server via said first network connection upon completion of buffering said first segment of said file.