Method of providing replay on demand for streaming digital multimedia

• US 6,496,980 B1
• Filed: 12/07/1998
• Issued: 12/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kirby, John J., Tillman, Rachel E., Kidder, Jeff N., Hazra, Rajeeb, Gardos, Thomas R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): LONSBERRY, HUNTER B
• Application Number:
  US09/206,791
• Time in Patent Office: 1,471 Days
• Field of Search: 708/203, 725/88, 725/90, 725/102, 375/240.1, 375/240.11, 375/240.19, 348/397.1, 348/398.1, 382/234
• US Class Current: 725/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64792 Controlling the complexity of the content stream, e.g. by dropping packets intermediate media network packet handling H04L65/765; proxy provisioning conversion or adaptation for reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data H04L67/5651; negotiation of resources in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

High quality replay of a streaming multimedia video segment on demand is provided. The multimedia segment may be transmitted as a stream by a server system and received by a client system over a fixed bandwidth communications path. The client system receives a base layer of the stream, decodes the base layer and displays the decoded base layer at a first quality level. The client system stores at least a portion of the base layer in a cache. When a request for replay service for the multimedia segment is received from a user, for high quality replay, the client system may receive at least one enhancement layer of the stream corresponding to the stored portion of the base layer. The client system may then read the stored portion of the base layer from the cache, decode the stored portion of the base layer and the at least one enhancement layer, and display the decoded base and enhancement layers at a second quality level, higher than the first quality level.

Claims

1. A method of replaying on demand of a multimedia segment received in a digital multimedia stream representing the multimedia segment on a limited bandwidth communications path, the method comprising:

storing at least a portion of a first layer of the digital multimedia stream in a memory;

requesting transmission of a second layer from a server system;

receiving the second layer of the digital multimedia stream corresponding to the stored portion of the first layer over the limited bandwidth communications path;

reading the stored portion of the first layer from the memory;

decoding the stored portion of the first layer and the received second layer; and

displaying the decoded first and second layers to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first layer comprises a base layer and the second layer comprises an enhancement layer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the enhancement layer comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layer, a spatial enhancement layer, and a temporal enhancement layer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia segment represents live events captured and transmitted to a client system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the multimedia segment represents pre-recorded multimedia content.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request to replay the multimedia segment at a higher quality than an original display of the multimedia segment.

7. A method of providing replay on demand of a multimedia segment obtained from a signal source by a server system, a first portion of the multimedia segment being transmitted as a first layer in a digital multimedia stream on a limited bandwidth communications path to a client system, the method comprising:

storing a second portion of the multimedia segment as at least one second layer in a memory in the server system;

receiving a request for replay service of the multimedia segment from the client system;

reading the at least one second layer from the memory; and

transmitting the at least one second layer in the digital multimedia stream to the client system.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the first layer to the client system concurrently with storing the second portion.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising encoding the at least one second layer prior to transmission.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the first layer comprises a base layer and the second layer comprises an enhancement layer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the enhancement layer comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layer, a spatial enhancement layer, and a temporal enhancement layer.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the multimedia segment represents live events captured and transmitted to the client system.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the multimedia segment represents pre-recorded multimedia content.

14. A method of providing replay on demand of a video segment having digital video data signals, the video segment being transmitted as a stream, the stream being received by a client system from a server system on a limited bandwidth communications path, the method comprising:

receiving a base layer of the stream, decoding the base layer and displaying the decoded base layer at a first quality level;

storing at least a portion of the base layer in a memory in the client system;

receiving a request for replay for the video segment from a user of the client system;

receiving at least one enhancement layer of the stream corresponding to the stored portion of the base layer;

reading the stored portion of the base layer from the memory;

decoding the stored portion of the base layer and the at least one enhancement layer; and

displaying the decoded base and enhancement layers at a second quality level.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the base and enhancement layers represent live events captured and transmitted to the client system in real-time.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the enhancement layer comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layer, a spatial enhancement layer, and a temporal enhancement layer.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the second quality level is higher than the first quality level.

18. A method of providing replay on demand of a video segment having digital video data signals, the video segment being transmitted as a stream by a server system to a client system on a limited bandwidth communications path, the method comprising:

transmitting a first portion of the video segment as a base layer of the stream to the client system;

storing a second portion of the video segment, the second portion corresponding to the first portion, as at least one enhancement layer in a memory in the server system;

receiving a request for replay service of the video segment;

reading the second portion from the memory; and

transmitting the second portion as the at least one enhancement layer in the stream to the client system.

19. An apparatus for providing replay on demand of a multimedia segment having digital multimedia data signals comprising:

a decoder to receive and decode a base layer of a stream representing the multimedia segment and to receive and decode an enhancement layer of the stream, the enhancement layer corresponding to the base layer; and

a graphical user interface, coupled to the decoder to display the decoded base layer of the stream as an original display of the multimedia segment at a first quality level, to receive a request for replay of the multimedia segment, and to display the decoded base layer and the decoded enhancement layer of the multimedia segment at a second quality level in response to the request.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the second quality level is higher than the first quality level.

21. An apparatus for providing replay on demand service for a streaming multimedia segment having digital multimedia data signals, comprising:

a source of the multimedia segment;

a memory to store at least a first portion of the multimedia segment; and

an encoder, coupled to the source and the memory, to receive the multimedia segment from the source, to encode a second portion of the multimedia segment as a first layer in a stream, to transmit the first layer of the stream to a client system for an original display of the multimedia segment, to receive a request for replay service, and to retrieve the first portion of the multimedia segment from the memory and transmit the first portion as a second layer in the stream to the client system for a replay display of the multimedia segment in response to the request.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the source comprises a storage medium having pre-recorded multimedia content.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the source comprises a camera capturing live events.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the first layer comprises a base layer and the second layer comprises an enhancement layer.

25. An article comprising a machine readable medium having a plurality of machine readable instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions cause a multimedia segment received in a digital multimedia stream representing the multimedia segment on a limited bandwidth communications path to be replayed by storing at least a portion of a first layer of the digital multimedia stream in a memory, requesting transmission of a second layer from a server system, by receiving the second layer of the digital multimedia stream corresponding to the stored portion of the first layer over the limited bandwidth communications path, by reading the stored portion of the first layer from the memory, by decoding the stored portion of the first layer and the received second layer, and by displaying the decoded first and second layers to the user.

29. The article of claim 25, wherein the first layer comprises a base layer and the second layer comprises an enhancement layer.

30. The article of claim 29, wherein the enhancement layer comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layer, a spatial enhancement layer, and a temporal enhancement layer.

31. The article of claim 25, wherein the multimedia segment represents live events captured and transmitted to a client system.

32. The article of claim 25, wherein the multimedia segment represents pre-recorded multimedia content.

33. The article of claim 25, further comprising instructions for receiving a request to replay the multimedia segment at a higher quality than an original display of the multimedia segment.

26. An article comprising a machine readable medium having a plurality of machine readable instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions cause replay of a multimedia segment obtained from a signal source by a server system, a first portion of the multimedia segment being transmitted as a first layer in a digital multimedia stream over a limited bandwidth communications path to a client system, by storing a second portion of the multimedia segment as at least one second layer in a memory in the server system, by receiving a request for replay service of the multimedia segment from the client system, by reading the at least one second layer from the memory, and by transmitting the at least one second layer in the digital multimedia stream to the client system.

34. The article of claim 26, further comprising instructions for transmitting the first layer to the client system concurrently with storing the second portion.

35. The article of claim 26, further comprising instructions for encoding the at least one second layer prior to transmission.

36. The article of claim 26, wherein the first layer comprises a base layer and the second layer comprises an enhancement layer.

37. The article of claim 36, wherein the enhancement layer comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layer, a spatial enhancement layer, and a temporal enhancement layer.

38. The article of claim 26, wherein the multimedia segment represents live events captured and transmitted to the client system.

39. The article of claim 26, wherein the multimedia segment represents pre-recorded multimedia content.

40. The article of claim 26, wherein the base and enhancement layers represent live events captured and transmitted to the client system in real-time.

27. An article comprising a machine readable medium having a plurality of machine readable instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions cause replay of a multimedia segment having digital multimedia data signals, the multimedia segment being transmitted as a stream, the stream being received by a client system from a server system on a limited bandwidth communications path, by receiving a base layer of the stream, by decoding the base layer and displaying the decoded base layer at a first quality level, by storing at least a portion of the base layer in a memory in the client system, by receiving a request for replay service for the multimedia segment from a user of the client system, by receiving at least one enhancement layer of the stream corresponding to the stored portion of the base layer, by reading the stored portion of the base layer from the cache;

by decoding the stored portion of the base layer and the at least one enhancement layer, and by displaying the decoded base and enhancement layers at a second quality level.

41. The article of claim 27, wherein the enhancement layer comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) enhancement layer, a spatial enhancement layer, and a temporal enhancement layer.

42. The article of claim 27, wherein the second quality level is higher than the first quality level.

28. An article comprising a machine readable medium having a plurality of machine readable instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions cause replay of a multimedia segment having digital multimedia data signals, the multimedia segment being transmitted as a stream by a server system to a client system on a limited bandwidth communications path, by transmitting a first portion of the multimedia segment as a base layer of the stream to the client system, by storing a second portion of the multimedia segment, the second portion corresponding to the first portion, as at least one enhancement layer in a memory in the server system, by receiving a request for replay service of the multimedia segment, by reading the second portion from the memory, and by transmitting the second portion as the at least one enhancement layer in the stream to the client system.