ADAPTIVE BITRATE MODIFICATION OF A MANIFEST FILE

• US 20150201042A1
• Filed: 01/15/2014
• Published: 07/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Shah, Jigar, Zhu, Peter, Iyer, Jayaraman, Bhupalam, Bhaskar
• Granted Patent: US 9,923,771 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements

Abstract

A system includes a media optimizer that adaptively generates and transmits a modified manifest file based on an original manifest file corresponding to an associated media asset from a content provider in response to a media content request from a client for the associated media asset. The original manifest file specifies bitrates. The media optimizer extracts parameters associated with the media content request and applies bitrate policies based on the extracted parameters to adaptively modify the original manifest file to generate the modified manifest file. The media optimizer is further configured to transmit the modified manifest file to the client for selection by the client of a bitrate associated with delivery of the associated media asset.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a media optimizer configured to adaptively generate and transmit a modified manifest file based on an original manifest file, corresponding to an associated media asset, provided from a content provider in response to a media content request from a client for the associated media asset, the original manifest file specifying a plurality of bitrates, the media optimizer configured to;

extract parameters associated with the media content request;

apply bitrate policies based on the extracted parameters to adaptively modify the original manifest file to generate the modified manifest file; and

transmit the modified manifest file to the client for selection by the client of a selected bitrate for delivery of the associated media asset.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the media optimizer is configured to determine at least one additional bitrate based on applying the bitrate policies to the extracted parameters, and to add the at least one additional bitrate to the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file to generate the modified manifest file.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising a transcoder, the transcoder being configured to transcode the associated media asset to the selected bitrate based on one of the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file for the delivery of the associated media asset at the selected bitrate to the client in response to the client selecting one of the at least one additional bitrate as the selected bitrate.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the media optimizer is configured to transcode the associated media asset to the selected bitrate for the delivery of the associated media asset from a highest one of the plurality of bitrates specified in the original manifest file.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the media optimizer comprises a memory configured to store the associated media asset that has been transcoded to the selected bitrate, wherein the media optimizer is configured to deliver the stored transcoded media asset to another client in response to a subsequent media content request for the respective associated media asset at or below the selected bitrate.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the media optimizer is configured to apply the bitrate policies based on the extracted parameters to adaptively generate the at least one additional bitrate between consecutive bitrates in the modified manifest file relative to the original manifest file based on a bitrate difference between the consecutive bitrates exceeding a maximum bitrate difference parameter associated with the bitrate policies.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the media optimizer is configured to delete at least one of the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file based on the at least one of the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file being less than a minimum bitrate parameter associated with the bitrate policies or greater than a maximum bitrate parameter associated with the bitrate policies.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein, in response to the client selecting one of at least one additional bitrate from the modified manifest file, the media optimizer is configured to transcode the associated media asset to the selected bitrate based on one of the plurality of bitrates specified in the original manifest file to enable the delivery of the associated media asset from the content provider to the client, the at least one additional bitrate being generated by the media optimizer based on application of the bitrate policies.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein, in response to the client selecting one of the plurality of bitrates specified in the original manifest file, the media optimizer is configured to enable the delivery of the associated media asset from the content provider to the client at the selected one of the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the media optimizer comprises a policy manager comprising a parameter extractor configured to extract the parameters associated with the media content request, the parameters comprising header data associated with the media content request and data provided by a service provider associated with the client.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the policy manager is further configured to evaluate the extracted parameters relative to a predetermined set of rules and to calculate at least one additional bitrate that is provided in the modified manifest file for the associated media asset based on the evaluation of the parameters relative to the predetermined set of rules.

12. A method comprising:

processing a media content request from a client for delivery of a media asset requested from a content provider;

retrieving an original manifest file comprising a plurality of bitrates associated with delivery of the media asset requested from the content provider via a network;

extracting parameters associated with the media content request;

evaluating the parameters relative to a predetermined set of rules;

calculating at least one additional bitrate based on the evaluation of the parameters relative to the predetermined set of rules;

generating a modified manifest file that includes the at least one additional bitrate; and

transmitting the modified manifest file to the client for selection by the client of a selected bitrate for delivery of the media asset requested from the content provider.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transcoding the media asset to the selected bitrate based on one of the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file in response to the client selecting one of the at least one additional bitrate; and

enabling the delivery of the of the media asset requested from the content provider to the client at the selected bitrate.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein transcoding the media asset to the selected bitrate comprises transcoding the selected bitrate for the delivery of the media asset from the content provider to the client based on a highest one of the plurality of bitrates specified in the original manifest file for the media asset.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

storing the transcoded bitrate in a memory; and

accessing the stored transcoded bitrate from the memory to fulfill a subsequent media content request for the respective associated media asset at the selected bitrate or a lower bitrate.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein extracting parameters associated with the media content request further comprises:

extracting a first portion of the parameters from a header of the media content request; and

retrieving a second portion of the parameters from a service provider associated with the client.

17. A media optimizer system comprising:

a network interface configured to receive a media content request corresponding to an associated media asset from a client and to access an original manifest file from a content provider that stores the associated media asset, the original manifest file specifying a plurality of bitrates for the associated media asset;

a policy manager comprising;

a parameter extractor configured to extract parameters associated with the media content request;

a rule evaluation engine configured to evaluate the extracted parameters based on a predetermined set of rules;

a bitrate calculator configured to adaptively generate at least one additional bitrate based on the evaluation; and

a manifest file modification engine configured to add the at least one additional bitrate to the plurality of bitrates in the original manifest file to generate a modified manifest file, the policy manager sending the modified manifest file to the client via the network interface for selection by the client of a selected bitrate for the delivery of the associated media asset requested from the content provider.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a transcoder configured to transcode the associated media asset to the selected bitrate based on a highest one of the plurality of bitrates specified in the original manifest file for the delivery of the associated media asset from the content provider to the client at the selected bitrate.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the policy manager further comprises a memory configured to store the transcoded media asset at the selected bitrate based on a quantity of prior media content requests for the associated media asset exceeding a predetermined popularity threshold, wherein the policy manager provides the stored transcoded media asset from the memory at or below the selected bitrate in response to a subsequent media content request for the respective associated media asset.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the parameter extractor is configured to extract a first portion of the parameters from a header of the media content request and to retrieve a second portion of the parameters from a service provider associated with the client.