Proxy apparatus and method for streaming media information and for increasing the quality of stored media information
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- responsive to a determination that information specified to be comprised by media information is missing from a first copy of media information received by a gateway proxy device from a media server and responsive to missing information received via a request for a second copy of the media information, providing a third copy of the media information to a user device, the third copy of the media information formed via storage of the missing information in a storage device not directly connected to the media server, the first copy of the media information streamed from the media server to the gateway proxy device, the first copy of the media information automatically requested responsive to a user request for the media information, the first copy of the media information associated with a first bandwidth, the gateway proxy device adapted to transmit the first copy of the media information responsive to the user request, the gateway proxy device adapted to automatically request the second copy of the media information from the media server, the automatic request responsive to a meta tag that identifies other versions of the media information that are present on the media server, the second copy of the media information being a second version of the media information associated with a second bandwidth.
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Abstract
A proxy apparatus and method for streaming media information via at least one network and for building-up a good quality version of the media information. When a user device communicates with the proxy apparatus using a particular bandwidth and requests that media information be provided from a media server, the proxy apparatus first determines if a version of the media information encoded for the user device'"'"'s connection bandwidth has been stored in the proxy apparatus. If a version of the media information encoded for the user device'"'"'s bandwidth is not available from the proxy apparatus, the proxy apparatus sends a request to a media server for the media information. Once the media server receives the request, the media server begins to stream a copy of the media information encoded for the user device'"'"'s bandwidth to the user device via the network and proxy device. If a version of the media information for the bandwidth is not available from the media server, the version for the largest bandwidth that does not exceed the bandwidth of the user device connection, is streamed to the user device. If the version of the media information has missing packets, the proxy device sends retransmission requests to the media server to obtain the missing packets, thereby building-up a good quality version of the media information.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
responsive to a determination that information specified to be comprised by media information is missing from a first copy of media information received by a gateway proxy device from a media server and responsive to missing information received via a request for a second copy of the media information, providing a third copy of the media information to a user device, the third copy of the media information formed via storage of the missing information in a storage device not directly connected to the media server, the first copy of the media information streamed from the media server to the gateway proxy device, the first copy of the media information automatically requested responsive to a user request for the media information, the first copy of the media information associated with a first bandwidth, the gateway proxy device adapted to transmit the first copy of the media information responsive to the user request, the gateway proxy device adapted to automatically request the second copy of the media information from the media server, the automatic request responsive to a meta tag that identifies other versions of the media information that are present on the media server, the second copy of the media information being a second version of the media information associated with a second bandwidth. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
Specification