Variant streams for real-time or near real-time streaming

• US 8,301,725 B2
• Filed: 01/12/2012
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Biderman, David, May, William Jr., Tseng, Alan, Pantos, Roger, Batson, James David
• Primary Examiner(s): DINH, KHANH Q
• Application Number:
  US13/349,206
• Publication Number:
  US 20120110141A1
• Time in Patent Office: 292 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/220, 709/225, 709/228
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234327 by decomposing into layers, e.g. base layer and one or more enhancement layers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4394 involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of audio in broadcast systems H04H60/58
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for real-time or near real-time streaming of content using transfer protocols such as an HTTP compliant protocol. In one embodiment, a method includes dividing a stream of data, representing the contiguous time based content of a program (e.g. a live video broadcast), into a plurality of distinct media files, and generating a playlist file having a plurality of tags and Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an order of presentation of the plurality of distinct media files. The plurality of media files and the playlist file can be made available for transmission to a client device which can retrieve the media files using the playlist file.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

dividing a stream of data for a contiguous time based stream of content for a same single program into multiple media files, wherein the multiple media files comprise a first group of one or more media files and a second group of one or more media files, wherein the first group of media files are configured to be stored with a first encoding in a transfer protocol compliant format and wherein the second group of media files are configured to be stored with a second encoding in the transfer protocol compliant format;

generating a first playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an ordering of media content in the first group of media files to recreate the stream of data;

generating a second playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating an ordering of media content in the second group of media files to recreate the stream of data; and

generating a variant playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating the first playlist file and the second playlist file.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transfer protocol comprises a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-compliant protocol and wherein the first encoding and the second encoding are different in that they are one of:

encodings with the same codec but at different data rates or encodings with different codecs at the same or different data rates.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

generating an updated variant playlist file corresponding to an updated first playlist file or an updated second playlist file, wherein the updated first playlist file or the updated second playlist file includes at least one updated URI indicating at least one change to the first or second group of media files.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media files comprises adding media content and the updated first or second playlist file includes URIs to the media files and the added media content.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media files comprises modifications to the media content and the updated first or second playlist file comprises URIs to the media content, and one or more of the tags in the plurality of tags is updated to reflect the modifications to the media content.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media files comprises removal of selected media content and the addition of further media content to result in remaining media content and the updated first or second playlist file comprises URIs to the remaining media content.

7. An article comprising a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

divide a stream of data for a contiguous time based stream of content for a same single program into multiple media files, wherein the multiple media files comprise a first group of one or more media files and a second group of one or more media files, wherein the first group of media files are configured to be stored with a first encoding in a transfer protocol compliant format and wherein the second group of media files are configured to be stored with a second encoding in the transfer protocol compliant format;

generate a first playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an ordering of media content in the first group of media files to recreate the stream of data;

generate a second playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating an ordering of media content in the second group of media files to recreate the stream of data;

generate a variant playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating the first playlist file and the second playlist file.

8. The article of claim 7 wherein the transfer protocol comprises a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-compliant protocol and wherein the first encoding and the second encoding are different in that they are one of:

encodings with the same codec but at different data rates or encodings with different codecs at the same or different data rates.

9. The article of claim 7 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

generate an updated variant playlist file corresponding to an updated first playlist file or an updated second playlist file, wherein the updated first playlist file or the updated second playlist file includes at least one updated URI indicating at least one change to the first or second group of media files.

10. The article of claim 9 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media files comprises adding media content and the updated first or second playlist file includes URIs to the media files and the added media content.

11. The article of claim 9 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media files comprises modifications to the media content and the updated first or second playlist file comprises URIs to the media content, and one or more of the tags in the plurality of tags is updated to reflect the modifications to the media content.

12. The article of claim 9 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media files comprises removal of selected media content and the addition of further media content to result in remaining media content and the updated first or second playlist file comprises URIs to the remaining media content.

13. An apparatus comprising:

means for dividing a stream of data for a contiguous time based stream of content for a same single program into multiple media files, wherein the multiple media files comprise a first group of one or more media files and a second group of one or more media files, wherein the first group of media files are configured to be stored with a first encoding in a transfer protocol compliant format and wherein the second group of media files are configured to be stored with a second encoding in the transfer protocol compliant format;

means for generating a first playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an ordering of media content in the first group of media files to recreate the stream of data;

means for generating a second playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating an ordering of media content in the second group of media files to recreate the stream of data; and

means for generating a variant playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating the first playlist file and the second playlist file.

14. A machine implemented method comprising:

requesting, with a client device, a variant playlist file over a network using a transfer protocol;

receiving, in response to the requesting, the variant playlist file comprising a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating a first playlist file and a second playlist file, wherein one or more of the plurality of tags indicates a first bandwidth parameter associated with the first playlist file and a second bandwidth parameter associated with the second playlist file, wherein the first bandwidth parameter is less than the second bandwidth parameter, and wherein the first playlist file and the second playlist file each is configured to be used at the client device to recreate a contiguous time based stream of content for a same single program;

selecting, from the variant playlist file with the client device, the first playlist file or the second playlist file;

requesting, using the transfer protocol, the selected first or second playlist file with the client device, wherein the requesting uses a URI from the variant playlist file corresponding to the selected playlist file;

receiving, with the client device, the requested playlist file, the requested playlist file having URIs indicating a plurality of media content and a plurality of tags having parameters related to playback of the plurality of media content;

requesting using the transfer protocol, the media content in an order indicated by the URIs in the requested playlist file;

receiving the requested media content over the network using the transfer protocol.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

generating an audio and/or video output representing the stream of content by playing the media content with the client device in the order indicated by the requested playlist file, and wherein selecting, with the client device, the first playlist file or the second playlist file comprises selecting the first playlist file having the first bandwidth parameter.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:

monitoring available bandwidth on the client device while receiving the requested media content over the network wherein the requested media content is received over the transfer protocol;

comparing the available bandwidth and the bandwidth parameter associated with the selected playlist file;

wherein the requesting the first or the second playlist file comprises requesting the second playlist file if the second bandwidth parameter is within the available bandwidth and the available bandwidth exceeds the first bandwidth parameter;

wherein the requesting of the media content comprises requesting media content utilizing URIs in the second playlist file.

17. An article comprising a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

requesting, with a client device, a variant playlist file over a network using a transfer protocol;

receiving, in response to the requesting, the variant playlist file comprising a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating a first playlist file and a second playlist file, wherein one or more of the plurality of tags indicates a first bandwidth parameter associated with the first playlist file and a second bandwidth parameter associated with the second playlist file, wherein the first bandwidth parameter is less than the second bandwidth parameter, and wherein the first playlist and the second playlist each is configured to be used at the client device to recreate a contiguous time based stream of content for a same single program;

selecting, from the variant playlist file with the client device, the first playlist file or the second playlist file;

requesting, using the transfer protocol, the selected first or second playlist file with the client device, wherein the requesting uses a URI from the variant playlist file corresponding to the selected playlist file;

receiving, with the client device, the requested playlist file, the requested playlist file having URIs indicating a plurality of media content and a plurality of tags having parameters related to playback of the plurality of media content;

requesting, using the transfer protocol, the media content in an order indicated by the URIs in the requested playlist file;

receiving the requested media content over the network using the transfer protocol.

18. The article of claim 17 further comprising generating an audio and/or video output representing the stream of content by playing the media content with the client device in the order indicated by the requested playlist file, and wherein selecting, with the client device, the first playlist file or the second playlist file comprises selecting the first playlist file having the first bandwidth parameter.

19. The article of claim 17 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to perform a further method comprising:

monitoring available bandwidth on the client device while receiving the requested media content over the network wherein the requested media content is received over the transfer protocol;

comparing the available bandwidth and the bandwidth parameter associated with the selected playlist file;

wherein the requesting the first or the second playlist file comprises requesting the second playlist if the second bandwidth parameter is within the available bandwidth and the available bandwidth exceeds the first bandwidth parameter;

wherein the requesting of the media content comprises requesting media content utilizing URIs in the second playlist file.

20. An apparatus comprising:

means for requesting, with a client device, a variant playlist file over a network using a transfer protocol;

means for receiving, in response to the request, the variant playlist file comprising a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating a first playlist file and a second playlist file, wherein one or more of the plurality of tags indicates a first bandwidth parameter associated with the first playlist file and a second bandwidth parameter associated with the second playlist file, wherein the first bandwidth parameter is less than the second bandwidth parameter, and wherein the first playlist file and the second playlist file each is configured to be used at the client device to recreate a contiguous time based stream of content for a same single program;

means for selecting, from the variant playlist file with the client device, the first playlist file or the second playlist file;

means for requesting, using the transfer protocol, the selected first or second playlist file with the client device, wherein the requesting uses a URI from the variant playlist file corresponding to the selected playlist file;

means for receiving, with the client device, the requested playlist file, the requested playlist file having URIs indicating a plurality of media content and a plurality of tags having parameters related to playback of the plurality of media content;

means for requesting, using the transfer protocol, the media content in an order indicated by the URIs in the requested playlist file;

means for receiving the requested media content over the network using the transfer protocol;

means for generating an audio and/or video output representing the stream of content by playing the media content with the client device in the order indicated by the requested playlist file.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 further comprising:

means for monitoring available bandwidth on the client device while receiving the requested media content over the network, wherein the requested media content is received through the transfer protocol, and wherein the transfer protocol is non-streaming;

means for comparing the available bandwidth and the bandwidth parameter associated with the selected playlist file;

means for requesting the second playlist if the second bandwidth parameter is within the available bandwidth and the available bandwidth exceeds the first bandwidth parameter;

means for requesting media content utilizing URIs in the second playlist file.

22. A method comprising:

transmitting a variant playlist file to a client device using a transfer protocol, the variant playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating a first playlist file and a second playlist file and wherein the first playlist file has a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an ordering of a first group of media content, having a first encoding, to recreate a stream of data for a contiguous time based stream of content of a same single program, and wherein the second playlist file has a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating an ordering of a second group of media content, having a second encoding, to recreate the stream of data for the contiguous time based stream of content of the same single program;

transmitting, using the transfer protocol, either the first playlist file or the second playlist file to the client device in response to a request from the client device utilizing a URI from the variant playlist file;

transferring, using the transfer protocol, at least one of;

(a) media content from the first group of media content to the client device in response to one or more requests from the client device utilizing URIs from the first playlist file, or (b) media content from the second group of media content to the client device in response to one or more requests from the client device utilizing URIs from the second playlist file.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the transfer protocol comprises a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-compliant protocol.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

transmitting an updated variant playlist file to the client device, the updated variant playlist file including updates to the first playlist file and the second playlist file, and wherein the updated playlist file includes at least one updated URI indicating at least one change to the first group or second group of media content.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media content comprises adding media content and the updated first or second playlist file includes URIs to the media content and the added media content.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media content comprises modifications to the media content and the updated first or second playlist file comprises URIs to the media content, and one or more of the tags in the plurality of tags is updated to reflect the modifications to the media content.

27. The method of claim 24 wherein the at least one change to the first or second group of media content comprises removal of selected media content and the addition of further media content to result in remaining media content and the updated first playlist file comprises URIs to the remaining media content.

28. An article comprising a computer readable non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to:

transmit a variant playlist file to a client device using a transfer protocol, the variant playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating a first playlist file and a second playlist file, and wherein the first playlist file has a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an ordering of a first group of media content, having a first encoding, to recreate a stream of data for a contiguous time based stream of content of a same single program, and wherein the second playlist file has a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating an ordering of a second group of media content, having a second encoding, to recreate the stream of data for the contiguous time based stream of content of the same single program;

transmit, using the transfer protocol, either the first playlist file or the second playlist file to the client device in response to a request from the client device utilizing a URI from the variant playlist file;

transfer, using the transfer protocol, at least one of (a) media content from the first group of media content to the client device in response to one or more request from the client device utilizing URIs from the first playlist file;

or (b) media content from the second group of media content to the client device in response to one or more requests from the client device utilizing URIs from the second playlist file.

29. The article of claim 28 wherein the transfer protocol comprises a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-compliant protocol.

30. The article of claim 28 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

transmit an updated variant playlist file to the client device, the updated variant playlist file including updates to the first playlist file and updates to the second playlist file and wherein the updates to the first playlist file include a plurality of updated URIs indicating changes to the first group of media content stored with the first encoding in the transfer protocol compliant format and the updates to the second playlist file include changes to the second group of media content stored with the second encoding in the transfer protocol compliant format.

31. The article of claim 30 wherein the changes to the media content comprises adding media content and the updates to the first playlist file include URIs to the media content and the added media content.

32. The article of claim 30 wherein the changes to the media content comprises modifications to the media content and the updates to the first or second playlist file comprise URIs to the media content, and one or more of the tags in the plurality of tags is updated to reflect the modifications to the media content.

33. The article of claim 30 wherein the changes to the media content comprises removal of selected media content and the addition of further media content to result in remaining media content and the updates to the first or second playlist file comprise URIs to the remaining media content.

34. An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting a variant playlist file to a client device using a transfer protocol, the variant playlist file having a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating a first playlist file and a second playlist file and wherein the first playlist file has a plurality of tags and a plurality of Universal Resource Indicators (URIs) indicating an ordering of a first group of media content, having a first encoding, to recreate a stream of data for a contiguous time based stream of content of a same single program, and wherein the second playlist file has a plurality of tags and a plurality of URIs indicating an ordering of a second group of media content, having a second encoding, to recreate the stream of data for the contiguous time based stream of content of the same single program;

means for transmitting either the first playlist file or the second playlist file to the client device in response to a request from the client device utilizing the URIs from the variant playlist file using the transfer protocol;

means for transferring at least one of (a) media content from the first group of media content to the client device in response to one or more requests from the client device utilizing URIs from the first playlist file using the transfer protocol;

or (b) media content from the second group of media content to the client device in response to one or more requests from the client device utilizing URIs from the second playlist file using the transfer protocol.