File structure techniques for storing multiple bitrate content

• US 9,100,700 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Issued: 08/04/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Major, Robert Drew, Major, Darren
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen-Ba, Hoang-Vu A
• Application Number:
  US13/707,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20130145411A1
• Time in Patent Office: 971 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2183 Cache memory caches in web servers or browsers G06F16/9574; intermediate storage and caching in data networks H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2312 Data placement on disk arrays data placement in general G06F3/0604
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2323 using file mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/61 Network physical structure; Signal processing H04B takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6371 directed to network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6373 for rate control , e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6379 directed to encoder , e.g. for requesting a lower encoding rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 : Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 : Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/80 : Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback

Abstract

A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system is disclosed. The RS-DVR system includes a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network, a file system module coupled to the network interface, an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent media content files encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and a storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the encoded media segments, resulting in stored media segments. The RS-DVR carries out a number of functions and operations to service multiple subscribers and associated subscriber systems, such as various storage device management operations, file structure techniques, assignment of recorded media to subscribers, file system indexing, and supporting shared and per-subscriber content rights.

Claims

1. A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system comprising:

a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network;

a file system module coupled to the network interface;

an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and

a storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the encoded media segments as a single logical file on behalf of the subscriber system and only accessible by that subscriber system, wherein;

the single logical file comprises a plurality of different sets of the encoded media segments;

each set of the plurality of different sets comprises a group of a plurality of the encoded media segments having identical time indices and identical durations;

each encoded media segment of the group is associated with a different bitrate of the plurality of different bitrates; and

a beginning of data representing a respective encoded media segment of a respective group is located at a predefined increment of storage space of the storage architecture to enable the file system module to retrieve a requested encoded media segment for a desired bitrate by consulting a table that indicates a specified offset for the desired bitrate, the specified offset corresponding to the predefined increment of storage space for the requested encoded media segment.

2. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the storage architecture comprises a plurality of memory storage devices, and the single logical file is partitioned for storage across the plurality of memory storage devices.

3. The RS-DVR system of claim 2, wherein the single logical file is partitioned such that data representing encoded media segments for different bitrates are stored on different ones of the plurality of memory storage devices.

4. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the single logical file comprises a sparse file.

5. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the network interface, the file system module, and the storage architecture cooperate to provide the encoded media segments to the subscriber system for presentation using at least one of the plurality of different bitrates.

6. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein:

the group comprises at least three encoded media segments;

each encoded media segment of the at least three encoded media segments has an identical time index and an identical duration as remaining encoded media segments of the at least three encoded media segments; and

each encoded media segment of the at least three encoded media segments is associated with a bitrate different from the bitrates of the remaining encoded media segments of the at least three encoded media segments.

7. A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system comprising:

a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network;

a file system module coupled to the network interface;

an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and

a storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the encoded media segments as a single logical file on behalf of the subscriber system and only accessible by that subscriber system, wherein;

the single logical file comprises a plurality of different sets of the encoded media segments;

each set of the plurality of different sets comprises a group of a plurality of the encoded media segments having identical time indices and identical durations; and

each encoded media segment of the group is associated with a different bitrate of the plurality of different bitrates; and

the single logical file has a file structure arranged such that data representing encoded media segments for any particular bitrate is contiguous within the file structure.

8. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the file structure is arranged such that data representing encoded media segments for different bitrates is located at specified offsets to enable the file system module to retrieve the encoded media segments for any particular bitrate.

9. The RS-DVR system of claim 8, wherein the specified offsets correspond to predefined increments of storage space.

10. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein:

the storage architecture comprises a plurality of memory storage devices; and

the file structure is arranged such that non-contiguous portions of the single logical file are stored on different ones of the plurality of memory storage devices.

11. A method of operating a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system that supports a subscriber system via data communication over a network, the method comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, encoded media segments that represent different versions of a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates;

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, an instruction to record the media content file on behalf of a subscriber; and

in response to receiving the instruction, storing, on behalf of the subscriber, the encoded media segments as a single logical file across a plurality of memory storage devices of the RS-DVR system, wherein;

the single logical file is only accessible by the subscriber;

the single logical file comprises a plurality of different sets of the encoded media segments;

each set of the plurality of different sets comprises a group of a plurality of the encoded media segments having identical time indices and identical durations;

each encoded media segment of the group is associated with a different bitrate of the plurality of different bitrates; and

the single logical file has a file structure arranged such that data representing encoded media segments for any particular bitrate is contiguous within the file structure.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, a request for playback of the media content file at a requested bitrate; and

in response to the request, providing encoded media segments having the requested bitrate to the subscriber system via the network.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the storing step stores the single logical file in a partitioned manner such that data representing encoded media segments for different bitrates are stored on different ones of the plurality of memory storage devices.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the file structure is arranged such that data representing encoded media segments for different bitrates is located at specified offsets to enable a file system module to retrieve the encoded media segments for any particular bitrate.

15. A method of operating a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system that supports a subscriber system via data communication over a network, the method comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, encoded media segments that represent different versions of a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates;

receiving, at the RS-DVR system, an instruction to record the media content file on behalf of a subscriber; and

in response to receiving the instruction, storing, on behalf of the subscriber, the encoded media segments in a storage architecture as a single logical file, wherein;

the single logical file is only accessible by the subscriber;

the single logical file comprises a plurality of different sets of the encoded media segments;

each set of the plurality of different sets comprises a group of a plurality of the encoded media segments having identical time indices and identical durations;

each encoded media segment of the group is associated with a different bitrate of the plurality of different bitrates; and

the single logical file has a file structure arranged such that data representing encoded media segments for any particular bitrate is contiguous within the file structure and data representing encoded media segments for different bitrates is located at specified offsets to enable a file system module to retrieve the encoded media segments for any particular bitrate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the storage architecture comprises a plurality of physically distinct memory storage devices; and

the storing step stores the single logical file in a partitioned manner such that data representing encoded media segments for different bitrates are stored on different ones of the plurality of memory storage devices.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the single logical file comprises a sparse file.