Session description message extensions

• US 7,809,851 B2
• Filed: 12/13/2005
• Issued: 10/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Klemets, Anders E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart; Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): BEHARRY, NOEL R
• Application Number:
  US11/275,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20060092822A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,757 Days
• Field of Search: 709/231
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6332 directed to client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6437 Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Session description message extensions include information describing a multimedia presentation or a single media presentation. The session description message is typically sent from one device to another device to which the multimedia or single media presentation will be streamed. Several extensions are described that extend the information that can be included in the session description message.

Claims

1. One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

generate a session description message that describes properties of a multimedia presentation to be streamed to a client device, the multimedia presentation having a plurality of media streams, and the session description message having one or more extensions, the one or more extensions including;

a leaky bucket extension that is separate from an ASF file header and that specifies how much data of the multimedia presentation to buffer when playing the multimedia presentation at a particular bit rate;

a bandwidth sharing extension that is separate from the ASF file header and that specifies media streams of the plurality of media streams of the multimedia presentation that share bandwidth such that a maximum bandwidth of the specified media streams is less than a sum of maximum bandwidths of each of the specified media streams; and

a caching information extension that specifies information about caching of the multimedia presentation, the information identifying whether the multimedia presentation can be cached, a length the multimedia presentation is considered fresh, when cached copies of media streams of the multimedia presentation are considered stale, whether to use a stale cached copy of a media stream, and whether to determine if a newer version of the media stream is available when the media stream is stale;

include, as part of data streamed to the client device, the session description message;

identify an object of an ASF file header of the multimedia presentation;

retrieve one or more parameters from the object; and

analyze the retrieved one or more parameters to determine parameters for the leaky bucket extension.

2. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein the session description message is a Session Description Protocol (SDP) message.

3. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 1, wherein a value Rx represents a leak rate for a leaky bucket x, a value Bx represents a size of the leaky bucket x, and the leaky bucket extension comprises:

a=bucketinfo;

Rx;

Bx.

4. One or more computer readable storage media having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:

generate a session description message that describes properties of a multimedia presentation to be streamed to a client device, the multimedia presentation having a plurality of media streams, and the session description message having a bandwidth sharing extension that is separate from an ASF file header and that specifies media streams of the plurality of media streams that share bandwidth such that a maximum bandwidth of the specified media streams is less than a sum of maximum bandwidths of each of the specified media streams, the session description message further including;

a caching information extension that specifies information about caching of the multimedia presentation, the information identifying whether the multimedia presentation can be cached, a length the multimedia presentation is considered fresh, when cached copies of media streams of the multimedia presentation are considered stale, whether to use a stale cached copy of a media stream, and whether to determine if a newer version of the media stream is available when the media stream is stale;

include, as part of data streamed to the client device, the session description message;

identify an object of an ASF file header of the multimedia presentation;

retrieve one or more parameters from the object; and

analyze the retrieved one or more parameters to determine parameters for the bandwidth sharing extension.

5. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein the session description message is a Session Description Protocol (SDP) message.

6. One or more computer readable storage media as recited in claim 4, wherein a value SharingType represents a type of bandwidth sharing, a value R represents a leak rate for a leaky bucket that contains all of the specified media streams, a value B represents a size of the leaky bucket, a value SessionList identifies the specified media streams, and the bandwidth sharing extension comprises:

a=bwshare;

SharingType R B SessionList.