Access control and metering system for streaming media

• US 7,383,229 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2003
• Issued: 06/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Assets LLC
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jacoby, Ronald
• Primary Examiner(s): Fischer; Andrew J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): AGWUMEZIE, CHARLES C
• Application Number:
  US10/680,507
• Publication Number:
  US 20040254887A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,702 Days
• Field of Search: 705/52, 705/1, 705/51, 705/53, 713/171, 713/193
• US Class Current: 705/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82
• 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 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and techniques for transmitting a streaming media file. One of the techniques includes sending a metering uniform resource locator (URL) from a first server to a client player over a network, and sending a streaming media file from a second server to the client player over the network. The streaming media file includes at least one embedded metering event. In response to receiving the metering URL and the embedded metering event at the client player, a user meter is ticked.

Claims

1. A method for streaming a streaming media file from a server to a client player for consumption of the steaming media file at the client player, the method comprising:

transmitting a metering uniform resource locator (URL) from a first server to a client player over a network, wherein the metering URL includes a timestamp as a base reference time for measuring a time period in which the metering URL is valid;

identifying, using the metering URL, a path to a user meter that meters receipt of metadata embedded in the streaming media file at select time locations;

streaming the streaming media file from a second server to the client player over the network;

receiving an embedded metering event comprising a decrement amount in the streaming media file at the client player, wherein the embedded metering event is a portion of the metadata;

appending the metering event to the metering URL by the client player to create a new metering URL;

transmitting the new metering URL to the remote first server

receiving the decrement amount from the new metering URL; and

ticking the user meter in the first server, wherein ticking comprises decrementing the user meter by the decrement amount.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the metering URL is communicated over a first network link and the streaming media file is communicated over a second network link.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting a second metering URL from the first server to the client player over the network, if the decrement amount is received at the user meter within the time period in which the metering URL is valid, wherein the second metering URL identifies the path to the user meter, and wherein the second metering URL includes a second timestamp as a second base reference time for measuring a second time period in which the second metering URL is valid.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising communicating a client media player from the first server to the client player.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

decrementing a user account based on the decrement amount.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising stopping the streaming step if the new metering URL is not communicated from the client player to the first server within a predetermined time.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising signing the metering URL with a message authentication code (MAC).

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

verifying the authenticity of the URL in the first server; and

stopping the streaming step if the URL is not verified.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the MAC is an MD5 hash or a SHA1 hash.

10. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer readable instructions that cause a computing system to perform a plurality of operations, including:

transmitting a metering uniform resource locator (URL) from a first server to a client player over a network, wherein the metering URL includes a timestamp as a base reference time for measuring a time period in which the metering URL is valid;

identifying, using the metering URL, a path to a user meter that meters receipt of metadata embedded in the streaming media file at select time locations;

streaming the streaming media file from a second server to the client player over the network;

receiving an embedded metering event comprising a decrement amount in the streaming media file at the client player, wherein the embedded metering event is a portion of the metadata;

appending the metering event to the metering URL by the client player to create a new metering URL;

transmitting the new metering URL to the remote first server

receiving the decrement amount from the new metering URL; and

ticking the user meter in the first server, wherein ticking comprises decrementing the user meter by the decrement amount.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the metering URL is communicated over a first network link and the streaming media file is communicated over a second network link.

12. The computer program product computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to perform the operation of transmitting a second metering URL from the first server to the client player over the network, if the decrement amount is received at the user meter within the time period in which the metering URL is valid, wherein the second metering URL identifies the path to the user meter, and wherein the second metering URL includes a second timestamp as a second base reference time for measuring a second time period in which the second metering URL is valid.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 further comprising instructions for communicating a client media player from the first server to the client player.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 further comprising instructions for:

decrementing a user account based on the decrement amount.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 further comprising instructions for stopping the computing system from performing the operation of streaming if the new metering URL is not communicated from the client player to the first server within a predetermined time.

16. The computer program product of claim 14 further comprising signing the metering URL with a message authentication code (MAC).

17. The computer program product of claim 16 further comprising:

code for verifying the authenticity of the URL in the first server; and

code for stopping the code for streaming from executing if the URL is not verified.

18. The computer program product of claim 16 wherein the MAC is an MD5 hash or a SHA1 hash.

19. A method for streaming a streaming media file to a client player, the method comprising:

transmitting a metering uniform resource locator (URL) from a first server to a client player over a network, wherein the metering URL includes a timestamp as a base reference time for measuring a time period in which the metering URL is valid;

identifying, using the metering URL, a path to a user meter configured to meter receipt of metadata embedded in the streaming media file at select time locations,

streaming the streaming media file from the first server to the client player over the network;

receiving an embedded metering event comprising a decrement amount embedded in the streaming media file at the client player wherein the embedded metering event is a portion of the metadata;

appending the metering event to the metering URL by the client player to create a new metering URL;

transmitting the new metering URL to a remote second server

receiving the decrement amount from the new metering URL; and

ticking the user meter in the second server, wherein ticking comprises decrementing the user meter by the decrement amount.

20. A streaming media system for streaming a streaming media file from a server to a client browser for consumption of the steaming media file at the client browser, the system comprising:

a client browser configured to tick a user meter that meters receipt of metadata embedded in the streaming media file at select time locations;

a first server configured to communicate a metering uniform resource locator (URL) from the first server to the client browser over a network, wherein the metering URL includes an argument that identifies a path to a user meter at a network location other than the client browser, and wherein the metering URL includes a timestamp as a base reference time for measuring a time period in which the metering URL is valid; and

a second server configured to communicate the streaming media file from the second server to the client browser over the network;

wherein the streaming media file includes at least one embedded metering event at a selected time location within the streaming media file, wherein the at least one embedded metering event is a portion of the metadata, and wherein the at least one embedded metering event includes a decrement amount indicating an amount of time that the user meter is to be decremented when ticked, and wherein the client browser is configured to tick the user meter in response to receiving the metering URL from the first server and the at least one embedded metering event from the second server, and wherein the client browser appends the metering event to the metering URL to create a new metering URL that is transmitted to the remote user meter, which receives the decrement amount from the new metering URL and is ticked by being decremented by the decrement amount.

21. The system of claim 20 further comprising a third server configured to generate the user meter.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the client browser includes a client media player configured to play the streaming media file;

and wherein the client media player playing the streaming media file encounters the embedded metering event and appends the embedded metering event to the metering URL.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein:

the client browser is configured to append the embedded metering event to the metering URL to form the new metering URL and communicate the new metering URL to the first server; and

the first server is configured to decrement a user account.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein the metering URL is signed with a message authentication code (MAC).

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the MAC is an MD5 hash, a SHA1 hash, or a ghost key.

26. A streaming media system wherein a media presentation is streamed to a client system while tracking usage of the media presentation by the client system, the system comprising:

a mediaframe server that transmits a metering uniform resource locator (URL) to a client player over a network, wherein the metering URL includes an argument that identifies a path to a usage meter that meters receipt of metadata embedded in the streamed media presentation, and wherein the metering URL includes a timestamp as a base reference time for measuring a time period in which the metering URL is valid;

a client player that is programmed to present to a user the streamed media presentation;

a streaming server programmed to transfer the streamed media presentation to the client player, including embedded metering events represented by the metadata in the streamed media presentation, wherein the embedded metering events are dispersed at select time locations in the streamed media presentation, and wherein the embedded metering events include decrement amounts indicating amounts of time that the usage meter is to be decremented when ticked;

an extractor, at the client system, programmed to extract the embedded metering events from the streamed media presentation, append each metering event to the metering URL to create a new metering URL, and send the new metering URL to the remote usage meter;

the usage meter programmed to adjust a user account based on each decrement amount in the received-metering event; and

a controller programmed to discontinue the media presentation if the time period lapses such that the metering URL is no longer valid.

27. A method for streaming a streaming media file for consumption of the steaming media file by a client player, the method comprising:

transmitting a metering uniform resource locator (URL) to the client player over a network, wherein a target specified in the metering URL is a user meter at a network location other than the client player and wherein the user meter meters consumption of the streaming media file by the client player;

embedding a metering indicator in the streaming media file to create an embedded streaming media file, wherein the metering indicator includes a decrement amount indicating an amount of time that the user meter is to be decremented when ticked;

streaming the embedded streaming media file to the client player over the network;

receiving at the user meter the embedded metering indicator appended to the metering URL by the remote client player; and

ticking the user meter server based on receipt of the embedded metering indicator, wherein ticking comprises decrementing the user meter by the decrement amount.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

verifying an authenticity of the metering URL that is received at the user meter, based on at least one message authentication code (MAC) applied to at least one of the following;

the metering URL and the embedded metering indicator appended to the metering URL; and

stopping the streaming step if the metering URL is not verified.