CACHING MEDIA IN A MEDIA FLING SYSTEM

• US 20150052565A1
• Filed: 08/15/2014
• Published: 02/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Farrell, Corey, Hounsell, Randall, Connelly, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 9,948,690 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/74
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43615 Interfacing a Home Network, e.g. for connecting the client to a plurality of peripherals home Audio Video Interoperability [HAVI] data switching networks H04L12/2805
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4363 Adapting the video stream to a specific local network, e.g. a Bluetooth® network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44227 Monitoring of local network, e.g. connection or bandwidth variations; Detecting new devices in the local network configuring of peripheral devices in general G06F9/4411; monitoring connectivity in data switched networks H04L43/0811
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/632 using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure relate to a content (e.g., media) transfer or fling platform system and method. In a media fling platform system, media items may be cached at a rendering device prior to any selection of media items to fling. The determination of which media to cache may be based on a variety of factors including a user fling history, a currently viewed media item, and a navigation point in the media files. A fling request may take priority over caching, and the fling request may interrupt any caching processes.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a computing device, at least one content item stored in the computing device to cache at a rendering device based at least on a user fling history;

processing, by the computing device, the at least one content item for caching;

transmitting, to the rendering device, the at least one content item for caching.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a fling count for each content item stored in the computing device, and

wherein determining the at least one content item to cache comprises determining based on the fling count.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a selection of a content item to fling; and

in response to receiving the selection of the content item to fling, interrupting content caching and processing a fling request for the content item to fling.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

completing processing of the fling request;

in response to completing the processing of the fling request, continuing processing of content to cache.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after each fling request, updating content to cache based on most recently flung content.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising:

detecting presence of the rendering device;

in response to detecting presence of the rendering device, associating the computing device with the rendering device; and

wherein determining, by a computing device, at least one content item stored in the computing device to cache at a rendering device based at least on user fling history comprises;

in response to associating the computing device with the rendering device, determining the at least one content item to cache.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein processing, by the computing device, the at least one content item for caching comprises:

processing the at least one content item for caching in order of highest fling count to lowest fling count.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, user input for navigating through content items, wherein the content items are available for flinging to a rendering device;

determining at least one available content item to cache based on a currently viewed content item; and

in response to receiving a selection of the currently viewed content item for flinging, interrupting caching of the at least one available content item to process the currently viewed content item for flinging.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

storing a fling count for each content item.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

changing the currently viewed content item to a different content item;

updating a next content item to cache based on the different content item;

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to exceeding a caching threshold, processing previously cached content to upgrade quality of the cached content;

transmitting, to the rendering device, upgraded cached content for caching.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining an estimated idle period based on a user browsing rate; and

determining content to cache based on the estimated idle period.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving a fling request for video content;

in response to receiving the fling request for the video content, transmitting, to the rendering device, instructions to clear the cache; and

transmitting, to the rendering device, to be buffered in the cache.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

preparing the content items for previewing on a display of the computing device;

presenting a preview of a first content item on the computing device;

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining at least one available content item to cache based on a currently viewed content item comprises:

determining content to cache based on the first content item.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the currently viewed item is stored in a first folder, and wherein determining content to cache based on the currently viewed content item comprises:

determining to cache all of the content items stored in the first folder.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving, from a computing device, a first cache request identifying a first content item to store in a cache;

processing the cache request to store the first content item in the cache;

while processing the cache request, receiving a first fling request identifying a second content item to output on an output device;

in response to receiving the first fling request, interrupting the processing of the cache request; and

processing the fling request.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, from the computing device, a second cache request comprising a third content item being a higher quality version of the first content item; and

storing the third content item in the cache in place of the first content item.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving, from the computing device, a second fling request comprising an identifier of the first content item.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

retrieving the first content item from the cache; and

transmitting, to an output device, the first content item.