PACKED I-FRAMES

• US 20150350622A1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pantos, Roger N., Li, Zhenheng
• Application Number:
  US14/501,941
• Publication Number:
  US 20150350622A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/34 Indicating arrangements indicating means incorporated in magazine or cassette G11B23/046 and G11B23/0875; indicating measured values in general G01D
• 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: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• 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 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 involving data reduction

Abstract

Systems and methods for enabling playback control functions of a media player are disclosed. For example, a user of a client device receiving streaming playback of a video stream may perform rewind and fast forward control functions. The client device may implement these playback control functions by retrieving an enhanced playback segment. Using the enhanced playback segment, the media player may display selected frames at a predetermined interval while maintaining a visual cadence that is pleasing to a viewer. In the described embodiments, a client device may render a video stream, receive a command to control a fast forward or rewind playback mode for the video stream, and retrieve, from a distribution server or associated edge cache, one or more enhanced playback segments adapted to implement the user command.

Claims

1. A method of rendering a media asset at a media player, comprising:

during a normal playback mode, retrieving from a media source a plurality of transmission segments that contain coded video data of the media asset, the coded video data representing frames of asset content at a first temporal spacing;

during an enhanced playback mode, retrieving from the media source at least one transmission segment that contains coded video data of the media asset, the coded video data representing frames of asset content at a second temporal spacing larger than the first, wherein all frames of the transmission segment are coded by intra-coding;

decoding the coded video data of the retrieved segments; and

rendering the decoded video data on a display of the media player.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmission segment downloaded during the enhanced playback mode is identified based on a portion of the media asset that was being rendered in normal playback mode when the enhanced playback mode was engaged.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising

toggling between the normal playback mode and the enhanced playback mode in response to operator commands,

wherein, on each toggling between playback modes, a next transmission segment to be retrieved is identified based on a portion of the media asset that was being rendered when the toggling occurred.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second temporal spacing is at least double the first temporal spacing.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein all frames of the transmission segment are selected from the plurality of transmission segments.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission segment is generated by re-encoding the plurality of transmission segments using only intra-coding at a reduced frame rate.

2. (canceled)

3. (canceled)

7. (canceled)

8. (canceled)

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a media streaming application having playback control functions, the media streaming application executable by at least one processing system, the media streaming application comprising instructions for:

during a normal playback mode, retrieving from a media source a plurality of transmission segments that contain coded video data of the media asset, the coded video data representing frames of asset content at a first temporal spacing;

during an enhanced playback mode, retrieving from the media source at least one transmission segment that contains coded video data of the media asset, the coded video data representing frames of asset content at a second temporal spacing larger than the first, wherein all frames of the transmission segment are coded by intra-coding;

decoding the coded video data of the retrieved segments; and

rendering the decoded video data on a display of the media player.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the enhanced playback mode is initiated in response to a user command to enter a fast forward playback mode.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the enhanced playback mode is initiated in response to a user command to enter a rewind playback mode.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first transmission segment downloaded during the enhanced playback mode is identified based on a portion of the media asset that was being rendered in normal playback mode when the enhanced playback mode was engaged.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising

toggling between the normal playback mode and the enhanced playback mode in response to operator commands,

wherein, on each toggling between playback modes, a next transmission segment to be retrieved is identified based on a portion of the media asset that was being rendered when the toggling occurred.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein all frames of the transmission segment are selected from the plurality of transmission segments.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the transmission segment is generated by re-encoding the plurality of transmission segments using only intra-coding at a reduced frame rate.

16. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

21. A electronic device comprising:

a processing system;

memory storing one or more programs for execution by the processing system, the one or more programs including instructions for;

during a normal playback mode, retrieving from a media source a plurality of transmission segments that contain coded video data of the media asset, the coded video data representing frames of asset content at a first temporal spacing;

during an enhanced playback mode, retrieving from the media source at least one transmission segment that contains coded video data of the media asset, the coded video data representing frames of asset content at a second temporal spacing larger than the first, wherein all frames of the transmission segment are coded by intra-coding;

decoding the coded video data of the retrieved segments; and

rendering the decoded video data on a display of the media player.

24. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the first transmission segment downloaded during the enhanced playback mode is identified based on a portion of the media asset that was being rendered in normal playback mode when the enhanced playback mode was engaged.

25. The electronic device of claim 21, further comprising

toggling between the normal playback mode and the enhanced playback mode in response to operator commands,

wherein, on each toggling between playback modes, a next transmission segment to be retrieved is identified based on a portion of the media asset that was being rendered when the toggling occurred.

27. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the second temporal spacing is at least four times the first temporal spacing.

28. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the second temporal spacing is at least eight times the first temporal spacing.

29. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein all frames of the transmission segment are selected from the plurality of transmission segments.

30. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the transmission segment is generated by re-encoding the plurality of transmission segments using only intra-coding at a reduced frame rate.

22. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

31. (canceled)