Monitoring the performance of a content player

• US 9,203,913 B1
• Filed: 05/14/2010
• Issued: 12/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Original Assignee: Conviva Inc.
• Inventors: Pappu, Prashanth, Ganjam, Aditya R., Huebsch, Ryan J., Awan, Asad K.
• Primary Examiner(s): SALAD, ABDULLAHI ELMI
• Application Number:
  US12/780,799
• Time in Patent Office: 2,027 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709220-205, 705 141- 142
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0751 Error or fault detection not based on redundancy power supply failures G06F1/30; network fault management H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3082 the data filtering being achieved by aggregating or compressing the monitored data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/32 with visual or acoustical indication of the functioning of the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2812 describing content present in a home automation network, e.g. audio video content retrieval from the Internet G06F16/95
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/062 related to network traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/067 using time frame reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/75 Media network packet handling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/756 adapting media to device capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2402 : Monitoring of the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. bandwidth available traffic monitoring in data switching networks H04L43/00; monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 : Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• 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 21/44204 : Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44209 : Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 : Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 : Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Improving a content player engagement is described. An engagement of a first content player with respect to a first content item being downloaded by the first client is measured. Performance information associated with the first content player is received. A quantitative relationship between the engagement and the performance information is determined. A setting associated with a download of the first content item by a second client is adjusted.

Claims

1. A system for improving a content player engagement, including:

a processor; and

a memory coupled with the processor, wherein the memory is configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to;

measure an engagement of a first content player with respect to a particular content item being downloaded by a first client associated with the first content player, wherein measuring the engagement includes obtaining one or more quantitative measurements of engagement;

receive performance information associated with the first content player, wherein the performance information comprises one or more measures of at least one of;

a download quality associated with the particular content item; and

a playback quality associated with the particular content item;

determine a quantitative relationship between the measured engagement and the performance information, wherein the determined quantitative relationship indicates how changing a quality at which the particular content item is provided changes engagement;

use the determined quantitative relationship to determine a set of instructions to be transmitted that cause a setting of a second content player with respect to the same particular content item to be adjusted, wherein the second content player is associated with a second client different from the first client, and wherein the setting to be adjusted is associated with obtaining of the particular content item by the second client; and

transmit the determined set of instructions.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more quantitative measurements of engagement includes a length of time that the first content player has been playing the particular content item.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more quantitative measurements of engagement includes a length of time that the first content player has been playing a plurality of content items.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more quantitative measurements of engagement includes a length of time that the first client has been connected to a content distribution network.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more quantitative measurements of engagement includes an amount of data associated with a download of the particular content item.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more quantitative measurements of engagement includes a number of content items viewed.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein measuring the engagement measure comprises capturing a display mode of a video screen.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein measuring the engagement measure comprises capturing a viewer interaction with at least one player control.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein measuring the engagement measure comprises capturing a viewer interaction with an advertisement.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a join failure.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a join time.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a number of buffering events.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a duration of buffering events.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a frequency of buffering events.

15. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a frequency of frames per second of video rendered.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a rendering quality.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises information associated with a video bit rate.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein the setting is a bitrate.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the setting is a source of the particular content item.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the source is a content delivery network.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein the setting is a buffer size.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein the adjusted setting is associated with a download of the particular content item by the first client.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein the determined set of instructions is transmitted to the second client.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information is a first information and wherein the processor is configured to receive additional performance information associated with a plurality of respective additional content players.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein the processor is further configured to obtain measurements of engagement of a plurality of content players with respect to the particular content item.

26. The system of claim 1 further comprising obtaining one or more measurements of engagement of a third content player with respect to a content item different from the particular content item.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the first and third content player are different.

28. The system of claim 1 wherein the memory is further configured to provide the processor with instructions which when executed cause the processor to determine a quality metric based at least in part on the received performance information.

29. The system of claim 1 wherein the received performance information comprises a quality metric.

30. A method of improving a content player engagement, including:

measuring an engagement of a first content player with respect to a particular content item being downloaded by a first client associated with the first content player, wherein measuring the engagement includes obtaining one or more quantitative measurements of engagement;

receiving performance information associated with the first content player, wherein the performance information comprises one or more measures of at least one of;

a download quality associated with the particular content item; and

a playback quality associated with the particular content item;

determining a quantitative relationship between the measured engagement and the performance information, wherein the determined quantitative relationship indicates how changing a quality at which the particular content item is provided changes engagement;

using the determined quantitative relationship to determine a set of instructions to be transmitted that cause a setting of a second content player with respect to the same particular content item to be adjusted, wherein the second content player is associated with a second client different from the first client, and wherein the setting to be adjusted is associated with obtaining of the particular content item by the second client; and

transmitting the determined set of instructions.

31. A computer program product for improving a content player engagement, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

measuring an engagement of a first content with respect to a particular content item being downloaded by a first client associated with the first content player, wherein measuring the engagement includes obtaining one or more quantitative measurements of engagement;

receiving performance information associated with the first content player, wherein the performance information comprises one or more measures of at least one of;

a download quality associated with the particular content item; and

a playback quality associated with the particular content item;

determining a quantitative relationship between the measured engagement and the performance information, wherein the determined quantitative relationship indicates how changing a quality at which the particular content item is provided changes engagement;

using the determined quantitative relationship to determine a set of instructions to be transmitted that cause a setting of a second content player with respect to the same particular content item to be adjusted, wherein the second content player is associated with a second client different from the first client, and wherein the setting to be adjusted is associated with obtaining of the particular content item by the second client; and

transmitting the determined set of instructions.