Bidirectional communication on live multimedia broadcasts

• US 9,185,152 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2012
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: Ustream Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Feher, Gyula, Biro, Zsolt, Nyerges, Gabor, Farkas, Gabor
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Viet
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chambers, Michael A
• Application Number:
  US13/592,171
• Publication Number:
  US 20130054743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 707 4- 5, 707/692, 370/352
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/103 with adaptive polling, i.e. dynamically adapting the polling rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/611 for multicast or broadcast systems for broadcast or conference H04L12/18; arrangements for broadcast or distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/00; arrangements for broadcast applications with a direct linkage to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time H04H60/00; selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS], H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

A bidirectional connection between a multimedia stream distribution system and a user is used to communicate operational data to and from the user. The bidirectional connection is separate from a multimedia connection that transfers a multimedia stream from the multimedia stream distribution system to the user. Providing a bidirectional connection separate from the multimedia connection is advantageous, among other reasons, because the operational data can be collected effectively at the multimedia stream distribution system independent of any limitations in the multimedia connection. To organize users and reduce processing load, the multimedia stream distribution system assigns users to user groups based on shared characteristics. Groups may be used to propagate information to the users as well as analyze information collected from the users in an efficient manner.

Claims

1. A method for remotely communicating with a user over a network comprising:

by a connection handling component of a computing device for transmitting multimedia items to a plurality of users, creating a user profile for each of a plurality of users, the user profile describing characteristics of a corresponding user;

by an application component of the computing device, assigning a first subset of the plurality of users to a first user group and a second subset of the plurality of users to a second user group based on user profiles of the plurality of users, the first subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least one common characteristic, the second subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least another common characteristic;

by the connection handling component, establishing a bi-directional connection between the computing device and a user of the first user group or the second user group, the bi-directional connection configured to transmit operational data representing data associated with at least one of content, quality, and process of reproducing the multimedia items at the user;

by the connection handling component, establishing a one-way connection with the user, the one-way connection separate from the bi-directional connection and configured to transmit the multimedia items from the computing device to the user; and

by the connection handling component, sending the multimedia items to the user through the one-way connection responsive to establishing the one-way connection between the computing device and the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user profile comprises characteristics collected from the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to propagating the communication to the first user group or the second user group, receiving feedback data from members of the first user group or the second user group via the bi-directional connection;

processing the feedback data into a set of aggregate statistics; and

updating the aggregate statistics responsive to receiving additional feedback data from additional members of the first user group or the second user group.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising sending the updated aggregate statistics to the members of the first user group or the second user group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the user profile comprises copying the user profile from a first component of the computing device to a second component of the computing device to reduce a computation load at the first component.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmissions of operational data over the first connection are initiated at a source of the operational data.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising copying the user profiles from the connection handling component to the application component.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

updating the user profiles by the connection handling component; and

updating copied user profiles in the application component according to the updating by the connection handling component.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

updating the copied user profiles in the application component;

updating the user profiles in the connection handling component according to the updating by the application component.

7. A computing system for transmitting multimedia items to a plurality of users over a network comprising:

a connection handling component configured to;

establish a bi-directional connection between a user and the computing system, the bi-directional connection configured to transmit operational data representing data associated with at least one of content, quality, and process of reproducing a multimedia item at the user; and

create a user profile for each of the plurality of users, the user profile describing characteristics of a corresponding user;

a streaming component configured to establish a one-way connection with the user, the one-way connection separate from the bi-directional connection and configured to transmit the multimedia items from the computing system to the user; and

an application component configured to;

assign a first subset of the plurality of users to a first user group and a second subset of the plurality of users to a second user group based on user profiles of the plurality of users, the first subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least one common characteristic, the second subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least another common characteristic; and

communicate with the plurality of users by propagating a communication to the first user group or the second user group.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the connection handling component is configured to establish the bi-directional connection responsive to receiving a request for a multimedia item.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the operational data comprises at least one of information describing a network connection quality associated with the user, client device information, and user interaction data.

10. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the user profile comprises characteristics collected from the user.

11. The computing system of claim 7, wherein the application component is further configured to:

responsive to propagating the communication to the first user group or the second user group, receive feedback data from members of the first user group or the second user group via the bi-directional connection;

process the feedback data into a set of aggregate statistics; and

update the aggregate statistics responsive to receiving additional feedback data from additional members of the first user group or the second user group.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instructions, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:

create a user profile for each of a plurality of users, the user profile describing characteristics of a corresponding user;

assign a first subset of the plurality of users to a first user group and a second subset of the plurality of users to a second user group based on user profiles of the plurality of users, the first subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least one common characteristic, the second subset of the plurality of users having user profiles sharing at least another common characteristic;

establish a bi-directional connection between the computing device and a user of the first user group or the second user group, the bi-directional connection configured to transmit operational data representing data associated with at least one of content, quality, and process of reproducing the multimedia items at the user;

establish a one-way connection with the user, the one-way connection separate from the bi-directional connection and configured to transmit the multimedia items from the computing device to the user; and

send the multimedia items to the user through the one-way connection responsive to establishing the one-way connection between the computing device and the user.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the user profile comprises characteristics collected from the user.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 12, further storing instructions to:

responsive to propagating the communication to the first user group or the second user group, receive feedback data from members of the first user group or the second user group via the bi-directional connection;

process the feedback data into a set of aggregate statistics; and

update the aggregate statistics responsive to receiving additional feedback data from additional members of the first user group or the second user group.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 12, further comprising instruction to send the updated aggregate statistics to the members of the first user group or the second user group.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein instructions to create the user profile comprises instructions to copy the user profile from a first component of the computing device to a second component of the computing device to reduce a computation load at the first component.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein transmissions of operational data over the first connection are initiated at a source of the operational data.