Modified media download with index adjustment

• US 8,856,218 B1
• Filed: 02/13/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Inskip, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): ALGIBHAH, HAMZA N
• Application Number:
  US13/372,049
• Time in Patent Office: 967 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440245 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/440281 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. by frame skipping television signal recording using magnetic recording on tape for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format

Abstract

A method and corresponding apparatus or system, in which a computing device may obtain an index of a media file, the computing device may use the index as a basis to download just part of the media file as a modified media file, the computing device may adjust the index to account for omission of the remainder of the media file, and the computing device may use the modified index as a basis to play out content of the modified media file.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon program instructions executable by a processor to cause a client device to carry out functions comprising:

downloading to the client device an index of a media file, wherein the media file contains a plurality of units of data representing media content and the index correlates each of a plurality of pieces of the media content with a respective unit of the plurality of units of data, indicating a file offset where the respective unit is located in the media file;

using the downloaded index as a basis to request and download to the client device a proper subset of the units of the media file while excluding from download to the client device one or more remaining units of the media file, and storing in data storage a modified media file comprising the downloaded proper subset of the units of data but excluding each remaining unit of the media file;

modifying the downloaded index to create a modified index corresponding with the modified media file, wherein modifying the downloaded index comprises adjusting at least one file offset of the proper subset of units to account for exclusion of the one or more remaining units of the media file;

storing the modified index in the data storage; and

using the modified index as a basis to play out at least part of the modified media file on a user interface of the client device.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein using the modified index as a basis to play out at least part of the modified media file comprises:

receiving a request to play out a particular piece of the media content, the particular piece of media content corresponding with a particular unit of the modified media file;

responsive to the request, using the modified index to determine a particular file offset of the particular unit, the particular file offset being one that was adjusted to account for exclusion of the one or more remaining units of the media file; and

using the determined file offset to retrieve and play out data of the modified media file.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2,

wherein the particular piece of the media content comprises a particular time point in the media content.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3, wherein the request is a seek-function request.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2,

wherein the particular piece of the media content comprises a trick-play track corresponding with underlying media content.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the request is a trick-play request.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein the functions further comprise:

downloading to the client device one or more supplemental units of data representing supplemental media content; and

supplementing the downloaded proper subset of units with the one or more downloaded supplemental units, so as to include in the modified media file the one or more downloaded supplemental units in addition to the downloaded proper subset of units,

wherein modifying the downloaded index accounts for addition of the one or more supplemental units.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7,

wherein the media content comprises visual media content, and wherein the supplemental media content comprises audio media content corresponding with the video media content.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 7,

wherein the media content comprises audio and video media content, and wherein the supplemental media content comprises subtitle content corresponding with the audio and video media content.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein storing the modified index in the data storage comprises storing the modified index as a header of the modified media file.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,

wherein media content represented by the plurality of units of data of the media file includes a plurality of different bit-rate versions, and

wherein using the downloaded index as a basis to request and download to the client device a proper subset of the units of the media file while excluding from download to the client device one or more remaining units of the media file comprises using the downloaded index as a basis to request and download to the client device one or more of the units representing a single bit-rate version of the plurality of bit-rate versions and excluding from download to the client device one or more units representing each other bit-rate version of the plurality of bit-rate versions.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the single bit-rate version is selected from the group consisting of a highest bit-rate version of the plurality of bit-rate versions and a lowest bit-rate version of the plurality of bit-rate versions.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the media content represented by the plurality of units of data of the media file includes one or more trick-play tracks, and

wherein excluding from download to the client device one or more remaining units of the media file comprises excluding from download to the client device one or more units representing the one or more trick-play tracks.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,

wherein the media content represented by the plurality of units of data of the media file includes a plurality of language versions, and

wherein using the downloaded index as a basis to request and download to the client device a proper subset of the units of the media file while excluding from download to the client device one or more remaining units of the media file comprises using the downloaded index as a basis to request and download to the client device one or more of the units representing a single language version of the plurality of language versions and excluding from download to the client device one or more units representing each other language version of the plurality of bit-rate versions.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2,

wherein the media content represented by the plurality of units of data of the media file includes a subtitle data, and

wherein excluding from download to the client device one or more remaining units of the media file comprises excluding from download to the client device one or more units representing the subtitle data.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1,

wherein using the downloaded index as a basis to request and download to the client device a proper subset of the units of the media file while excluding from download to the client device one or more remaining units of the media file comprises (i) referring to the downloaded index to determine a file offset range for at least one portion of the media file and (ii) transmitting to a network server a request for the at least one portion of the media file, the request specifying the determined file offset range, and (iii) receiving in response from the network server the at least one portion of the media file.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the request is a Hypertext Transfer Protocol request having a range header specifying the determined file offset range.

18. A computing device comprising:

a network communication interface;

a user interface;

a processor;

data storage; and

program instructions stored in the data storage and executable by the processor to cause the computing device to carry out functions comprising;

(a) downloading to the computing device, via the network communication interface, an index of a media file, wherein the media file has a plurality of units and the index correlates each unit of the plurality with a respective file offset indicating where the unit is located in the media file,

(b) using the downloaded index as a basis to download to the computing device, via the network communication interface, a proper subset of the units of the media file while excluding from download to the computing device a remainder of the media file, and storing in the data storage a modified media file comprising the downloaded proper subset of the units but excluding the remainder of the media file, and

(c) modifying the downloaded index to create a modified index corresponding with the modified media file, wherein modifying the downloaded index comprises adjusting the file offset of each of at least one of the units to account for exclusion of the remainder of the media file from the modified media file, and wherein the modified index correlates each unit of the modified media file with a respective file offset indicating where the unit is located in the modified media file,

(d) storing the modified index in the data storage.

19. The computing device of claim 18, wherein the functions further comprise using the modified index as a basis to play out at least part of the modified media file on the user interface.

20. A method comprising:

a client device receiving an index specifying a sequence of media units cooperatively defining media content;

after receiving the index, the client device adjusting the index to account for a change comprising at least one of (i) omission of part of the media content and (ii) addition to the media content, thereby establishing an adjusted index specifying an adjusted sequence of media units cooperatively defining adjusted media content;

the client device downloading media units of the adjusted sequence and persistently storing in data storage the downloaded media units; and

using the adjusted media index as a basis to play out the downloaded media units according to the adjusted sequence.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein receiving the index comprises downloading the index from a server.

22. The method of claim 20,

wherein the index defines for each media unit a respective file offset indicating where the media unit is to be located logically within a media container, and

wherein adjusting the index to account for the change comprises shifting the file offset of at least one of the media units to account for the change.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein using the adjusted media index as a basis to play out the downloaded media units according to the adjusted sequence comprises using the shifted file offset of the at least one media unit as a basis to retrieve from the data storage and play out the at least one media unit.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the media content includes at least one trick-play track, and wherein the change comprises omission of the trick-play track.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the media content includes multiple bit-rate versions of media, and wherein the change comprises omission of all but one of the bit-rate versions.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the media content includes multiple language versions, and wherein the change comprises omission of all but one of the language versions.

27. The method of claim 20, wherein the change comprises addition of supplemental media to the media content.