Content interruptions

• US 9,223,643 B2
• Filed: 03/04/2010
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Cooper, Paul R., Van der Staay, Matt Henry, Williams, Chad Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): HUYNH, AN SON PHI
• Application Number:
  US12/717,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20110219258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,126 Days
• Field of Search: 714/2, 714/48, 714/747, 709/231, 725/142
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/07 Responding to the occurrence of a fault, e.g. fault tolerance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus

Abstract

Techniques that address content interruptions are described. In an implementation, an interruption is detected at the client device in receipt of a stream of content from a distribution system that is to be recorded locally in memory at the client device. A stream of content is generated at the client device and the generated stream of content is recorded to fill the interruption in the stream of content from the distribution system in the memory of the client device.

Claims

1. A method implemented by one or more modules of a client device, the method comprising:

receiving a stream of content from a distribution system that is to be recorded locally in memory at the client device using a media sink;

detecting an interruption of receipt of the stream of content from the distribution system that results in a loss of at least some of the content of the stream;

determining minimum content stream characteristics based on a predetermined threshold that enable the media sink to continue recording the stream of content to the memory of the client device;

generating a stream of supplemental content at the client device that has at least the determined minimum characteristics to supplement the loss of the at least some content, including generating program clock reference (PCR) values for the stream of supplemental content and configuring the generated PCR values according to an internal clock maintained at the client device to follow PCR values of the stream of content;

combining the supplemental content with portions of the stream of content that are received from the distribution system to form an uninterrupted stream of content, the supplemental content filling a gap in the stream of content caused by the interruption; and

using the media sink to record the uninterrupted stream of content in the memory of the client device.

2. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the combining includes recording the stream of supplemental content in conjunction with recording the portions of the stream of content that are received from the distribution system to form the uninterrupted stream of content in the memory of the client device.

3. The method as described in claim 2, wherein the uninterrupted stream of content is configured in accordance with one or more MPEG2transport stream protocols.

4. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the generating utilizes content that is pre-cached in the memory of the client device.

5. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the generating includes generating PAT/PMT values for the stream of supplemental content at the client device.

6. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising causing a notification to be output that indicates the interruption occurred, and the causing being performed responsive to a flag that was inserted while recording the stream of content to indicate that recordation of the content streamed from the distribution system includes the interruption.

7. The method as described in claim 6, wherein the flag causes the notification to be output at an approximate beginning of an output of the uninterrupted stream of content.

8. The method as described in claim 7, wherein the notification includes an option to delete the recordation.

9. The method as described in claim 7, wherein the notification describes an amount of time the interruption occurred or where in the recordation of the content from the distribution system the interruption is located.

10. The method as described in claim 1, wherein the stream of supplemental content includes an error message.

11. The method as described in claim 10, wherein the error message describes a likely cause of the interruption.

12. The method as described in claim 1, further comprising configuring the generated PCR values in the supplemental content to build an audio/visual timeline that is compatible with a timeline of the stream of content from the distribution system.

13. A client device comprising one or more modules implemented at least in part by hardware to:

identify an error condition that exists with respect to reception of a stream of content from a distribution system at the client device, the error condition causing the reception of the stream of content to be interrupted, the interrupted reception causing a loss of at least some content of the stream of content at the client device;

select from content that is stored locally at the client device that corresponds to the identified error condition to generate a stream of supplemental content, the stream of supplemental content generated to fill a gap in the stream of content that results from the at least some content that is lost;

generate Program Clock Reference (PCR) values for the stream of supplemental content, the PCR values generated using an internal clock maintained at the client device and to build an audio/visual timeline for the stream of supplemental content that is compatible with a timeline of the stream of content from the distribution system;

stream the supplemental content to a media sink of the client device for consumption, the supplemental content streamed in place of the stream of content from the distribution system until the error condition is resolved, the supplemental content combined with portions of the stream of content received before and after the reception is interrupted to stream an uninterrupted stream of content to the media sink by filling the gap in the stream of content, the media sink consuming content streams that have at least a level of continuity that meets a predetermined threshold and to stop consuming content streams that do not have the level of continuity, the uninterrupted stream of content enabling the media sink to continue consuming the stream of content; and

responsive to receipt of a request for the media sink to output the uninterrupted stream of content from the client device, causing the media sink to output a notification for viewing by a user that indicates the error condition occurred.

14. The client device as described in claim 13, wherein the error condition interrupts the reception of the stream of content from the distribution system at the client device.

15. The client device as described in claim 13, wherein the one or more modules configure the generated PCR values in the supplemental content to build the audio/visual timeline.

16. A client device comprising one or more modules implemented at least in part by hardware and configured to perform operations comprising:

responsive to a request to output a recording of content that was recorded locally at the client device using a media sink, determining that an interruption occurred in streaming of at least one portion of the content from a distribution system to the media sink of the client device, the interruption resulting in a loss of content from the at least one portion, the recording of the content including the at least one portion of the content and at least one other portion comprising a stream of supplemental content that is generated at the client device to fill a gap caused by the interruption that occurred in the streaming by replacing the content that was lost, the at least one other portion having minimum content stream characteristics that are determined based on a predetermined threshold that enables the media sink to output the recording, and generation of the supplemental content including generating program clock reference (PCR) values for the stream of supplemental content and configuring the generated PCR values according to an internal clock maintained at the client device to follow PCR values of the at least one portion; and

outputting a notification via the media sink, for viewing by a user, of the existence of the interruption in the recording of the content.

17. The client device as described in claim 16, wherein the determining is performed by detecting a flag in the content.

18. The client device as described in claim 16, wherein the streaming is performed from a distribution system that is remote to the client device and assessable via a network.

19. The client device as described in claim 16, wherein the outputting of the notification is performed before outputting the content.

20. The client device as described in claim 16, wherein the notification describes a likely cause of the interruption and an amount of time consumed by the interruption.