Video workflow automation platform for publishing a video feed in multiple formats

• US 8,589,992 B2
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: iStreamPlanet Co. LLC (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: iStreamPlanet
• Inventors: Babic, Mio
• Primary Examiner(s): Goodarzi, Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): GRAHAM, PAUL J
• Application Number:
  US12/789,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20110296474A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 725/87, 709/226, 709/231
• US Class Current: 725/87
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21 Server components or server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6405 Multicasting data broadcast and multicast in packet switching networks H04L12/18

Abstract

A method and system for a video workflow automation platform (VWAP) for publishing a video feed in multiple formats is described.

Claims

1. A method, implemented by a computing system programmed to perform operations, comprising:

receiving a start trigger, at a video workflow automation platform (VWAP) executing on the computing system, to encode a video feed once to publish the video feed to a set of two or more publishing resources for delivery of the video feed in a plurality of different formats over the Internet, and to immediately start the video feed, wherein different ones of a plurality of client devices coupled to the Internet require different ones of the plurality of different formats;

in response to the start trigger at a time of starting the video feed, the VWAP performing the following, communicating with a content acquisition resource to provision the content acquisition resource to acquire raw video of the video feed from a video content source, communicating with an encoding resource to provision the encoding resource to encode the raw video,

automatically without human interaction selecting a first and second ones of the set of publishing resources that are not currently being used, wherein the first selected publishing resource includes a first set of one or more origin servers and the second selected publishing resource includes a second set of one or more origin servers,

communicating with the first selected publishing resource to provision the first selected publishing resource to publish the encoded video in a first one of the plurality of formats before the encoded video in the first format is delivered over the Internet via a delivery network,

communicating with the second selected publishing resource to provision the second selected publishing resource to publish the encoded video in a second one of the plurality of formats before the encoded video in the second format is delivered over the Internet via the delivery network, and

communicating with the encoding resource to provision the encoding resource to route the same encoded video to the first selected publishing resource and the second selected publishing resource.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said VWAP further performing the following in response to said trigger, communicating with a video router to provision the video router to route the raw video from the content acquisition resource to the encoding resource.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring the plurality of publishing resources, comprising tracking, in a VWAP database associated with the VWAP, a publishing status of each of the plurality of publishing resources, wherein the publishing status indicates that the respective acquisition resource is in one of a plurality of states, wherein the plurality of states comprises currently being used, currently failed, and currently not being used.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the video content source is an Internet Protocol (IP) multicast source, the content acquisition resource is a decoder,

said communicating with the decoder comprises sending instructions to the decoder to configure the decoder to subscribe to the video feed, wherein the video feed is a IP multicast feed from the IP multicast source, and

said VWAP further performing the following in response to said trigger determining an input port of the video router that is coupled to the decoder and an output port that is coupled to the encoding resource, and said communicating with the video router comprises sending instructions to the video router to configure the video router to route the raw video between the input and output ports.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the encoding resource is a video encoder, and wherein said communicating with the video encoder comprises sending instructions to the selected video encoder to configure the video encoder to receive the raw video from the output of the decoder.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said communicating with the video encoder comprises sending instructions to the video encoder to configure the video encoder to output the video feed to the first and second sets of origin servers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the video content source is a satellite,

the content acquisition resource is a receiver,

said communicating with the receiver comprises sending instructions to the video encoder to configure the receiver to subscribe to the video feed received by a satellite dish over a satellite link,

said VWAP further performing the following in response to said trigger determining an input port of the video router that is coupled to the receiver and an output port that is coupled to the encoding resource, and said communicating with the video router comprises sending instructions to the video router to configure the video router to route the raw video between the input and output ports.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the encoding resource is a video encoder, and wherein said communicating with the video encoder comprises sending instructions to the selected video encoder to configure the video encoder to receive the raw video from the output of the receiver.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said communicating with the video encoder comprises sending instructions to the video encoder to configure the video encoder to output the video feed to the first and second sets of origin servers.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said VWAP further performing the following in response to the trigger, confirming whether each of the first and second selected publishing resources is receiving the encoded video from the encoding resource and is transmitting the encoded video, if the respective publishing resource is not receiving or transmitting, automatically selecting a different one of the plurality of publishing resources that is not currently being used, communicating with the selected different publishing resource to provision the selected publishing resource to publish the encoded video on the Internet, and communicating with the encoding resource to provision the encoding resource to route the encoded video to the selected different publishing resource, and if the respective publishing resource is receiving and transmitting, extracting an actual start time of the video feed from at least one of the selected encoding resource and the selected publishing resource, and posting a successful start of the video feed and the actual start time of the video feed.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said VWAP further performing the following in response to the trigger, confirming whether the raw video is acquired by the content acquisition resource, and if the raw video is not properly acquired, automatically selecting a different content acquisition resource that is not currently being used, and communicating with the selected different content acquisition resource to provision the selected different content acquisition resource to acquire the video feed.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said VWAP further performing the following in response to the trigger, confirming whether each of the first and second selected publishing resources is provisioned, and if the respective publishing resource is not properly provisioned, automatically selecting a different one of the publishing resources that is not currently being used, and communicating with the selected different publishing resource to provision the selected different publishing resource to publish the video feed.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said VWAP further performing the following in response to the trigger, confirming whether the encoding resource is started, and if the encoding resource is not started, automatically selecting a different encoding resource that is not currently being used, and communicating with the selected different encoding resource to provision the selected different encoding resource to encode the raw video.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second trigger, at the VWAP to stop acquiring, encoding, and publishing the video feed; and

in response to the second trigger, the VWAP performing the following,

communicating with the content acquisition resource to unsubscribe to the video feed,

communicating with the encoding resource to stop encoding the raw video, communicating with a video router to terminate the router connection between the content acquisition resource and the encoding resource,

communicating with the first and second selected publishing resources to instruct the first and second selected publishing resources to move files to a video- on-demand (VOD) directory,

creating a redirecting file to shift publishing points of the first and second selected publishing resources to a VOD publishing point, and

posting a successful stop of the video feed.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said communicating with the first selected publishing resources comprises sending instructions to the first selected publishing resource to configure the first selected publishing resource to package the encoded video according to the first format; and

said communicating with the second selected publishing resources comprises sending instructions to the second selected publishing resource to configure the second selected publishing resource to package the encoded video according to the second format.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating with the first selected publishing resource comprises sending instructions to the first selected publishing resource to configure the first selected publishing resource to transcode the encoded video into the first format.

17. An apparatus, comprising a computing system to execute a video workflow automation platform (VWAP) that causes the acquisition, encoding, publishing and immediate starting of video feeds for delivery to a plurality of client devices over the Internet, the VWAP comprising:

a plurality of resource interfaces configured to communicate with a content acquisition resource, an encoding resource, and a plurality of publishing resources, each of the publishing resources includes a set of one or more origin servers;

a trigger-detecting unit to receive a start trigger to encode one of the video feeds once and to publish the one video feed to a set of two or more publishing resources for delivery of the one video feed in a plurality of different formats over the Internet, wherein different ones of the plurality of client devices coupled to the Internet require different ones of the plurality of different formats; and

a resource allocation and provisioning unit, coupled to the trigger-detecting unit and the plurality of resource interfaces, wherein the resource allocation and provisioning unit, in response to the start trigger at a time of starting the video feed, is operative, automatically cause the provisioning of,

the content acquisition resource to acquire raw video of the one video feed from a video content source and to route the same encoded video to the set of publishing resources, and

the encoding resource to encode the raw video, and,

automatically without human interaction select and automatically cause the provisioning of, a first one of the set of publishing resources to publish the encoded video

in a first one of the plurality of formats before the encoded video in the first format is delivered over the Internet via a delivery network, and

a second one of the set of publishing resources to publish the encoded video in a second one of the plurality of formats before the encoded video in the second format is delivered over the Internet via the delivery network.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the resource allocation and provisioning unit is further configured to communicate with a video router to provision the video router to route the raw video from the content acquisition resource to the encoding resource.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the VWAP further comprises:

an input interface to receive input from a human operator of the VWAP; and

a storage interface to communicate with the database.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the VWAP further comprises:

a scheduler interface to communicate with a scheduler, wherein the scheduler maintains a schedule of the video feeds, and wherein a plurality of the video feeds start at the same time or approximately at the same time, wherein the trigger-detecting unit is configured to receive a plurality of triggers for the plurality of video feeds that start at the same time or approximately at the same time over the scheduler interface from the scheduler; and

a storage interface to communicate with the database.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the resource allocation and provisioning unit comprises:

a confirmation unit configured to confirm said provisioning of the content acquisition resource, encoding resource, the plurality of publishing resources, and the video router; and

a failover unit coupled to the confirmation unit configured to perform a failover operation when one of the content acquisition resource, encoding resource, the plurality of publishing resources, and the video router fails.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the resource allocation and provisioning unit is further configured to communicate with the first publishing resource to provision the first publishing resource to transcode the encoded video into the first format.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instruction thereon when executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform a method, comprising:

receiving a start trigger, at a video workflow automation platform (VWAP) executing on the computing system, to encode a video feed once, to publish the video feed to a set of two or more publishing resources for delivery of the video feed in a

plurality of different formats over the Internet, and to immediately start the video feed, wherein different ones of a plurality of client devices coupled to the Internet require different ones of the plurality of different formats;

in response to the start trigger at a time of starting the video feed, the VWAP performing the following,

communicating with a content acquisition resource to provision the content acquisition resource to acquire raw video of the video feed from a video content source,

communicating with an encoding resource to provision the encoding resource to encode the raw video,

automatically without human interaction selecting a first and second ones of the set of publishing resources that are not currently being used, wherein the first selected publishing resource includes a first set of one or more origin servers and the second selected publishing resource includes a second set of one or more origin servers,

communicating with the first selected publishing resource to provision the first selected publishing resource to publish the encoded video in a first one of the plurality of formats before the encoded video in the first format is delivered over the Internet via a delivery network

communicating with the second selected publishing resource to provision the second selected publishing resource to publish the encoded video in a second one of the plurality of formats before the encoded video in the

second format is delivered over the Internet via the delivery network, and communicating with the encoding resource to provision the encoding resource to route the same encoded video to the first selected publishing resource and the second selected publishing resource.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein said VWAP further performing the following in response to said trigger, communicating with a video router to provision the video router to route the raw video from the content acquisition resource to the encoding resource.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a second trigger, at the VWAP to stop acquiring, encoding, and publishing the video feed; and

in response to the second trigger, the VWAP performing the following, communicating with the content acquisition resource to unsubscribe to the video feed, communicating with the encoding resource to stop encoding the raw video, communicating with a video router to terminate the router connection between the content acquisition resource and the encoding resource,

communicating with the first and second selected publishing resources to instruct the first and second selected publishing resources to move files to a video-on-demand (VOD) directory, creating a redirecting file to shift publishing points of the first and second selected publishing resources to a VOD publishing point, and

posting a successful stop of the video feed.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein:

said communicating with the first selected publishing resources comprises sending instructions to the first selected publishing resource to configure the first selected publishing resource to package the encoded video according to the first format; and

said communicating with the second selected publishing resources comprises sending instructions to the second selected publishing resource to configure the second selected publishing resource to package the encoded video according to the second format.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 23, wherein said communicating with the first selected publishing resource comprises sending instructions to the first selected publishing resource to configure the first selected publishing resource to transcode the encoded video into the first format.