Media container file management

• US 8,185,794 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2007
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Lohmar, Thorsten, Westerlund, Magnus, Fröjdh, Per
• Primary Examiner(s): DUNCAN, MARC M
• Application Number:
  US12/160,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20090089535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,965 Days
• Field of Search: 714/752, 714/776, 714/781
• US Class Current: 714/752
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/004 by using forward error control H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0084 Formats for payload data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1877 Measures taken prior to transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/61 in combination with predictive coding
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/66 involving data partitioning, i.e. separation of data into packets or partitions according to importance
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/67 involving unequal error protection [UEP], i.e. providing protection according to the importance of the data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2381 Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6181 involving transmission via a mobile phone network arrangements for providing broadcast or conference services to substation in data switching networks in combination with wireless systems H04L12/189; wireless uplink channel access H04W74/004
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6375 for requesting retransmission , e.g. of data packets lost or corrupted during transmission from serverARQ protocols H04L1/18; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6377 directed to server one-way streaming services wherein the source is controlled by the destination H04L65/613
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64315 DVB-H
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format

Abstract

The invention teaches a media container file comprising media data organized into media source blocks. The media source blocks are partitioned into source symbols that can be processed by a forward error correction (FEC) algorithm for generation of FEC redundancy data. Information of this source block partitioning is included in the file in addition to the source blocks. The container file also comprises meta data providing an association between the media source blocks and the partitioning information. The container file can be employed by a media server in a media session for compiling media data packets to be transmitted to requesting clients without the need of extensive data processing before calculating FEC data.

Claims

1. A method of generating a media container file, said method comprising the steps of:

providing at least one media source block comprising media data;

wherein said at least one media source block is pre-partitioned into a number of source symbols based at least partly on information of a forward error correction, FEC, algorithm to be applied to said at least one media source block;

wherein partitioning information descriptive of said partitioning is pre-generated;

organizing said at least one media source block in said media container file;

organizing said pre-generated partitioning information in said media container file; and

providing, in said media container file, meta data providing an association between said at least one media source block and said pre-generated partitioning information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said step of providing said at least one media source block comprises the steps of:

providing a media source file;

dividing said media source file into said at least one media source block;

generating division information descriptive of said dividing;

organizing said division information in said media container file.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said dividing step comprises dividing said media source file into said at least one media source block based at least partly on information of said FEC algorithm.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing, in said media container file, information of said FEC algorithm.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing, in said media container file, a property table comprising storage location information of said at least one media source block within said media container file.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating FEC calculation instruction defining calculation of FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said partitioning information; and

organizing said FEC calculation instruction in said media container file.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

generating compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a media stream of data packets; and

organizing said compiling instruction in said media container file.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein said step of generating compiling instruction comprises the steps of:

generating a first set of compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a first media stream of data packets having a first level of FEC redundancy overhead; and

generating a second set of compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a second media stream of data packets having a second level of FEC redundancy overhead.

9. A media content server comprising:

a media block provider arranged for providing at least one media source block comprising media data;

a media block partitioner arranged for pre-partitioning said at least one media source block into a number of source symbols based at least partly on information of a forward error correction, FEC, algorithm to be applied to said at least one media source block;

wherein partitioning information descriptive of said partitioning is pre-generated;

a media block manager arranged for organizing said at least one media source block in said media container file;

a partitioning information manager arranged for organizing said pre-generated partitioning information in said media container file; and

a meta data manager arranged for providing, in said media container file, meta data providing an association between said at least one media source block and said pre-generated partitioning information.

10. The media content server according to claim 9, wherein said media block provider comprises:

a media file provider arranged for providing a media source file;

a media file divider arranged for dividing said media source file into said at least one media source block;

a division information generator arranged for generating division information descriptive of said dividing;

a division information manager arranged for organizing said division information in said media container file.

11. The media content server according to claim 10, wherein said media file divider is arranged for dividing said media source file into said at least one media source block based at least partly on information of said FEC algorithm.

12. The media content server according to claim 9, further comprising:

a FEC information manager arranged for providing, in said media container file, information of said FEC algorithm.

13. The media content server according claim 9, further comprising:

a table manager arranged for providing, in said media container file, a property table comprising storage location information of said at least one media source block within said media container file.

14. The media content server according to claim 9, further comprising:

a FEC instruction manager arranged for

i) generating FEC calculation instruction defining calculation of FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said partitioning information, and

ii) organizing said FEC calculation instruction in said media container file.

15. The media content server according to claim 14, further comprising:

a compilation instruction manager arranged for

i) generating compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a media stream of data packets, and

ii) organizing said compiling instruction in said media container file.

16. The media content server according to claim 15, wherein said compiling instruction manager is arranged for

i) generating a first set of compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a first media stream of data packets having a first level of FEC redundancy overhead, and

ii) generating a second set of compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a second media stream of data packets having a second level of FEC redundancy overhead.

17. A media session managing method comprising the steps of:

providing a media container file comprising;

at least one media source block, wherein said at least one media source block is pre-partitioned into a number of source symbols;

partitioning information descriptive of said partitioning, wherein said partitioning information is pre-generated; and

meta data providing an association between said at least one media source block and said pre-generated partitioning information;

pre-calculating forward error correction, FEC, redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said pre-generated partitioning information;

compiling data packets by extracting media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data; and

transmitting said data packets to at least one user terminal during a media session.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein said media container file further comprises FEC calculation instruction defining calculation of FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said partitioning information, and said calculating step comprises calculating said FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block, said partitioning information and said FEC calculation instruction.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein said media container file further comprises division information descriptive of a division of a media source file into said at least one media source block, and said calculating step comprises calculating said FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block, said partitioning information and said division information.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein said media container file further comprises FEC algorithm information, and said calculating step comprises the steps of:

selecting a FEC algorithm from multiple available FEC algorithms based on said FEC algorithm information; and

calculating said FEC redundancy data using said selected FEC algorithm and based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said partitioning information.

21. The method according to claim 17, wherein said media container file further comprises compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a media stream of data packets, and said compiling step comprises compiling said data packets by extracting, based on said compiling instruction, media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein said compiling instruction comprises multiple sets of compiling instruction, where each compiling instruction set is associated with a defined FEC redundancy overhead, said method comprising the steps of:

estimating a FEC redundancy overhead capacity for said media session; and

selecting a compiling instruction set from said multiple compiling instruction set based on said estimated FEC redundancy overhead capacity, wherein said compiling step comprises compiling said data packets by extracting, based on said selected compiling instruction set, media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data.

23. The method according to claim 17, wherein said media container file further comprises a property table comprising storage information of said at least one media source block within said media container file, and said compiling step comprises compiling said data packets by extracting, based on said property table, media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data.

24. A media session server comprising:

a media file provider for providing a media container file comprising;

at least one media source block, wherein said at least one media source block is pre-partitioned into a number of source symbols;

partitioning information descriptive of said partitioning, wherein said partitioning information is pre-generated; and

meta data providing an association between said at least one media source block and said pre-generated partitioning information;

a forward error correction, FEC, calculator arranged for pre-calculating FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said pre-generated partitioning information;

a data packet compiler arranged connected to said media file provider and FEC calculator for compiling data packets by extracting media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data; and

a transmitter arranged connected to said data packet compiler for transmitting, to at least one user terminal during a media session, said data packets compiled by said data packet compiler.

25. The media session server according to claim 24, wherein said media container file further comprises FEC calculation instruction defining calculation of said FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said partitioning information, and said FEC calculator is arranged for calculating said FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block, said partitioning information and said FEC calculation instruction.

26. The media session server according to claim 24, wherein said media container file further comprises division information descriptive of a division of a media source file into said at least one media source block, and said FEC calculator is arranged for calculating said FEC redundancy data based on said meta data, said at least one media source block, said partitioning information and said division information.

27. The media session server according to claim 24, wherein said media container file further comprises FEC algorithm information, and said FEC calculator is arranged for

i) selecting a FEC algorithm from multiple available FEC algorithms based on said FEC algorithm information, and

ii) calculating said FEC redundancy data using said selected FEC algorithm and based on said meta data, said at least one media source block and said partitioning information.

28. The media session server according to claim 24, wherein said media container file further comprises compiling instruction defining compilation of media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data to form a media stream of data packets, and said data packet compiler is arranged for compiling said data packets by extracting, based on said compiling instruction, media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data.

29. The media session server according to claim 28, wherein said compiling instruction comprises multiple sets of compiling instruction, where each compiling instruction set is associated with a defined FEC redundancy overhead, said media session server further comprises:

a FEC capacity”

estimator arranged for estimating a FEC redundancy overhead capacity for said media session; and

a set selector arranged connected to said FEC capacity estimator for selecting a compiling instruction set from said multiple compiling instructions sets based on said FEC redundancy overhead capacity estimated by said FEC capacity estimator, wherein said data packet compiler is arranged for compiling said data packets by extracting, based on said compiling instruction set selected by said set selector, media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data.

30. The media session server according to claim 24, wherein said media container file further comprises a property table comprising storage information of said at least one media source block within said media container file, and said data packet compiler is arranged for compiling said data packets by extracting, based on said property table, media data from said at least one media source block and said FEC redundancy data.