Streaming playback and dynamic ad insertion

• US 9,043,484 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2010
• Issued: 05/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Manzari, Giuseppe, Longwell, Robert, Liu, Chang, Bauch, Andrew, Brueck, David
• Primary Examiner(s): DAILEY, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US12/928,016
• Publication Number:
  US 20110246661A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,638 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/127 Prioritisation of hardware or computational resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/152 by measuring the fullness of the transmission buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/187 the unit being a scalable video layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/196 being specially adapted for the computation of encoding parameters, e.g. by averaging previously computed encoding parameters processing of motion vectors H04N19/513
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

There is provided a system and method for dynamically generated client side streaming playlists. There is provided a method comprising receiving a request to stream a video asset for playback, retrieving, from a network, a video asset playlist corresponding to the video asset and an ad campaign playlist, generating a consolidated video playlist including the video asset playlist and the ad campaign playlist, and processing the consolidated video playlist using a media playback framework to stream a plurality of video files from the network for decoding and output to a display. Discontinuity tags within the video asset playlist may be utilized as insertion points for portions of the ad campaign playlist. The consolidated video playlist may be accessed through a local HTTP web server, advantageously allowing the use of commonly installed media playback framework models such as QuickTime X to trigger adaptive bitrate support through HTTP Live Streaming.

Claims

1. A device for playback of streaming video through a dynamically generated client side streaming playlist, the device comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a request to stream a video asset for playback;

retrieve, from a network, a video asset playlist referencing segmented sections of the video asset and not referencing any ad segments;

retrieve, from the network, an ad campaign playlist separate from the video asset playlist, wherein the ad campaign playlist references the ad segments;

generate a consolidated video playlist by utilizing the video asset playlist and the ad campaign playlist, the consolidated video playlist referencing the segmented sections of the video asset and the ad segments;

process the consolidated video playlist using a media playback framework to stream the segmented sections of the video asset and the ad segments for decoding and outputting to a display, wherein the consolidated video playlist comprises a plurality of playlists with different encoding profiles, and wherein the media playback framework is configured to adaptively select a playlist from the plurality of playlists depending on a status of the network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein each of the segmented sections has a runtime of 10 seconds or less.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to process the consolidated video playlist by executing a local web server to provide the media playback framework access to the consolidated video playlist by Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the video asset playlist, the ad campaign playlist, and the consolidated video playlist are each specified in the M3U or M3U8 playlist format.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the video asset playlist, the ad campaign playlist, and the consolidated video playlist are each specified in the Extended M3U or Extended M3U8 playlist format, and wherein the processor is configured to generate the consolidated video playlist by using a plurality of discontinuity tags within the video asset playlist to insert portions of the ad campaign playlist.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the media playback framework utilizes HTTP Live Streaming.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the ad campaign playlist is targeted for the device.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the segmented sections are hosted on a content delivery network (CDN).

17. The device of claim 1, wherein the video asset playlist is retrieved from a content web server and the ad campaign playlist is retrieved from an ad web server.

9. A method for playback of streaming video through a dynamically generated client side streaming playlist, the method comprising:

retrieving, from a network, a video asset playlist referencing segmented sections of the video asset and not referencing any ad segments;

retrieving, from the network, an ad campaign playlist separate from the video asset playlist, wherein the ad campaign playlist references the ad segments;

generating a consolidated video playlist by utilizing the video asset playlist and the ad campaign playlist, the consolidated video playlist referencing the segmented sections of the video asset and the ad segments;

processing the consolidated video playlist using a media playback framework to stream the segmented sections of the video asset and the ad segments for decoding and outputting to a display, wherein the consolidated video playlist comprises a plurality of playlists with different encoding profiles; and

adaptively selecting, by the media playback framework, a playlist from the plurality of playlists depending on a status of the network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each of the segmented sections has a runtime of 10 seconds or less.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the processing of the consolidated video playlist is further by executing a local web server to provide the media playback framework access to the consolidated video playlist by Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the video asset playlist, the ad campaign playlist, and the consolidated video playlist are each specified in the M3U or M3U8 playlist format.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the video asset playlist, the ad campaign playlist, and the consolidated video playlist are each specified in the Extended M3U or Extended M3U8 playlist format, and wherein the generating of the consolidated video playlist is further by using a plurality of discontinuity tags within the video asset playlist to insert portions of the ad campaign playlist.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the media playback framework utilizes HTTP Live Streaming.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the ad campaign playlist is targeted for the device.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the segmented sections are hosted on a content delivery network (CDN).

18. The method of claims 9, wherein the video asset playlist is retrieved from a content web server and the ad campaign playlist is retrieved from an ad web server.