LIVE MEDIA PROCESSING AND STREAMING SERVICE

• US 20140351871A1
• Filed: 05/22/2013
• Published: 11/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bomfim, Rodrigo Maialle, Hegde, Rajesh, Duggaraju, Prakash, Suess, Jason, Goulet, Steven, Shaporov, Ivan
• Application Number:
  US13/900,517
• Publication Number:
  US 20140351871A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/93
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions

Abstract

A live media processing and streaming service provides a content provider with media processing and distribution capabilities for live events. The service provides capabilities for capturing a live event, configuring programs from the live event, formatting the programs into a mezzanine format suitable for streaming, storage of the presentation manifest and fragments corresponding to a program into a cloud storage, and distribution of the presentation manifest and fragments to media consumers in real time.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, the method comprising:

configuring a live streaming service with at least one channel and at least one delivery service, the channel used to receive a live stream feed from a live broadcast and to generate a program from the live stream, the program formatted into multiple fragments which are streamed, the delivery service used to access one or more fragments from a web-accessible remote data store, the channel associated with a first server, the delivery service associated with a second server, the first server and the second server distinct;

programming the channel to start receiving a live stream from a remote source;

converting the live stream feed into one or more fragments in real time; and

storing the fragment in the remote data store.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the delivery service, a request to stream a fragment to a remote device; and

streaming the requested fragment from a local cache in the delivery service.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the delivery service, a request to stream a fragment to a remote device; and

streaming the fragment from the web-accessible remote data store when not obtained from the local cache in the delivery service.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

streaming the fragment from the channel, when the requested fragment is not obtained from a local cache in the delivery service, or the web-accessible remote data store.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to converting the live stream feed into a fragment in real time, providing a preview of the fragment; and

altering the fragment in accordance with input received during the preview.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting one or more fragments from the delivery service using a playback URL that includes a host name of a delivery server associated with the delivery service.

8. A computer system comprising:

a channel server having a plurality of channel sinks and a local cache, each channel sink processing a first live stream feed concurrently, each channel sink including at least one preview module and at least one program module, each preview module receiving the first live stream feed which is formatted into fragments and stored in the local cache, and each program module storing each of the fragments into cloud storage and retrieving a requested fragment from the local cache in response to a request for the requested fragment.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the fragments stored in the local cache are accessed using a program universal resource locator (URL).

10. The computer system of claim 8, further comprising:

a plurality of delivery servers, each delivery server streaming one or more of the fragments to a playback device from a select one of the cloud storage, the local cache, or a delivery server cache.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the first live stream feed includes multiple bit rate streams.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein each of the channel sinks is implemented as a separate virtual machine.

13. The computer system of claim 8, wherein each fragment is formatted in accordance with a smooth streaming protocol.

14. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the preview module accept inputs to alter the fragments prior to storing the fragments.

15. A computer-readable storage medium including processor executable instructions that when executed on a processor:

configures a first channel for processing a first live stream feed from a live event and to generate a program from the live stream, the program formatted into multiple fragments which are streamed by a delivery server, the delivery server remote from the first channel;

programs the first channel to start receiving a live stream;

converts the live stream feed into one or more fragments in real time; and

stores the fragment in a local cache and in a remote data store.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising executable instructions that when executed on a processor:

provides a requested fragment from the local cache when not available in the remote data store.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising executable instructions that when executed on a processor:

configures the first channel to receive a first live stream feed at a first start time and to receive a second live stream feed at a second start time, wherein the first start time and the second start time do not overlap.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising executable instructions that when executed on a processor:

configures the first channel to receive a first live stream feed at a first start time and to receive a second live stream feed at a second start time, wherein the second start time starts at the end time of the first live stream feed.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising executable instructions that when executed on a processor:

configures the first channel to receive a first live stream feed at a first start time and configures a second channel to receive a second live stream feed at a second start time, wherein the second start time overlaps with duration of receipt of the first live stream feed.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising executable instructions that when executed on a processor:

configures the first channel to receive a continuous live stream feed and constructs one or more programs from the continuous live stream feed.