Fast start-up for digital video streams
First Claim
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1. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method comprising:
- selecting a lead-in video stream, wherein the lead-in stream corresponds to a portion of a particular main video-stream transmission, the portion of the particular main video-stream transmission being encoded at a first bit-rate, the selected lead-in video-stream transmission being encoded at a second bit-rate, wherein the second bit-rate represents a lower number of bits per frame than a number of bits per frame represented by the first bit-rate, wherein the lead-in video stream is scheduled for transmission during the scheduled transmission of the portion of the particular main video-stream transmission, wherein the second bit-rate is determined by a function based at least in part on a request time and a next access point transmission time, the request time corresponding to a request to receive the particular main video-stream transmission, the next access point transmission time corresponding to transmission of a next access point in the particular main video-stream following the request time, wherein if a first difference between a first request time and the next access point transmission time is less than a second difference between a second request time and the next access point transmission time, a first calculated bit-rate associated with the first difference is smaller than a second calculated bit-rate associated with the second difference;
receiving the selected lead-in video-stream transmission;
presenting content of the selected lead-in video stream transmission;
switching reception from the lead-in to the main video-stream transmission;
switching presentation from the content of the lead-in to the content of the main video-stream transmission.
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Abstract
Described herein is a technology facilitating the presentation of digital video streams. An implementation, described herein, reduces the effective start-up delay in the presentation of the first frames of the video content that occurs when a system tunes into a video stream. This abstract itself is not intended to limit the scope of this patent. The scope of the present invention is pointed out in the appending claims.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method comprising:
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selecting a lead-in video stream, wherein the lead-in stream corresponds to a portion of a particular main video-stream transmission, the portion of the particular main video-stream transmission being encoded at a first bit-rate, the selected lead-in video-stream transmission being encoded at a second bit-rate, wherein the second bit-rate represents a lower number of bits per frame than a number of bits per frame represented by the first bit-rate, wherein the lead-in video stream is scheduled for transmission during the scheduled transmission of the portion of the particular main video-stream transmission, wherein the second bit-rate is determined by a function based at least in part on a request time and a next access point transmission time, the request time corresponding to a request to receive the particular main video-stream transmission, the next access point transmission time corresponding to transmission of a next access point in the particular main video-stream following the request time, wherein if a first difference between a first request time and the next access point transmission time is less than a second difference between a second request time and the next access point transmission time, a first calculated bit-rate associated with the first difference is smaller than a second calculated bit-rate associated with the second difference; receiving the selected lead-in video-stream transmission; presenting content of the selected lead-in video stream transmission; switching reception from the lead-in to the main video-stream transmission; switching presentation from the content of the lead-in to the content of the main video-stream transmission. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method comprising:
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choosing a particular main video-stream transmission for reception and presentation; before the transmission of the next access point transmitted in the main video-stream transmission, temporarily receiving a lead-in video stream that corresponds to the particular main video-stream transmission, the particular main video-stream transmission being encoded at a first bit-rate, the lead-in video-stream being encoded at a second bit-rate, wherein the second bit-rate represents a lower number of bits per frame than a number of bits per frame represented by the first bit-rate, wherein the second bit-rate is determined by a function based at least in part on a request time and a next access point transmission time, the request time corresponding to choosing the particular main video-stream transmission, the next access point transmission time corresponding to transmission of the next access point transmitted in the main video-stream transmission following the request time, wherein if a first difference between a first request time and the next access point transmission time is less than a second difference between a second request time and the next access point transmission time, a first calculated bit-rate associated with the first difference is smaller than a second calculated bit-rate associated with the second difference; switching reception from the lead-in to the main video-stream transmission. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform a method comprising:
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preparing multiple video-streams based upon the same original video content for an overlapping transmission schedule so that the access point of each is phase-staggered, wherein a bit-rate is determined for each of the multiple video streams based at least in part on a set of request times and a next access point transmission time, the set of request times corresponding to times at which if a request for a main video-stream transmission occurs, the corresponding one of the multiple video-streams is transmitted, the next access point transmission time corresponding to transmission of the next access point transmitted in the main video-stream transmission following the set of request times, wherein a smaller difference between the set of request times and the next access point transmission time corresponds to a smaller bit-rate, the multiple video-streams being lead-in video streams corresponding to a portion of the main video-stream; transmitting one of more of the multiple video-streams over a communications network in accordance with the overlapping transmission schedule. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification