System and method for uninterrupted streaming
First Claim
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1. A method of presenting streaming media data received from a remote data processing apparatus via a communications network, the method comprising:
- presenting with a client computer at least a portion of the streaming media data that is received via the communications network;
detecting with the client computer an interruption to receiving the streaming media data, the interruption causing reception of the streaming media data to terminate;
after the interruption, continuing to present as much of the data as was received prior to the termination of the reception;
determining a connection time in which reconnection is expected to be established;
determining a period of time where the streaming media data received prior to termination of the reception can be presented before the presentation of the received streaming media data is exhausted;
waiting until the remaining rendering time of the presentation is the same as the connection time before reconnecting;
reconnecting to the remote data processing apparatus via the communications network after detecting the interruption to receive at least a remainder of the streaming media data not yet received, wherein the reconnecting to the remote data processing apparatus comprises connecting to at least one alternate server to receive at least the remainder of the streaming media data with at least enough overlap between the streaming media data received from the at least one alternate server and the already received streaming media data to form an ostensibly continuous presentation; and
presenting at least the received remainder of the streaming media data, so the prior presentation and the remainder presentation form an ostensibly continuous presentation of the streaming media data without visible or audible interruption.
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Abstract
A streaming media presentation transmission error recovery system and network. In one embodiment, in the event of a connection failure to a selected server, an alternative “mirrored” server is selected to resume the transmission of a selected streaming media presentation. One embodiment of the present invention provides for transparent switching from an interrupted media data stream to a stream from a newly-created network connection by providing an overlap between media that has been received and the data that is received via the new connection.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method of presenting streaming media data received from a remote data processing apparatus via a communications network, the method comprising:
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presenting with a client computer at least a portion of the streaming media data that is received via the communications network; detecting with the client computer an interruption to receiving the streaming media data, the interruption causing reception of the streaming media data to terminate; after the interruption, continuing to present as much of the data as was received prior to the termination of the reception; determining a connection time in which reconnection is expected to be established; determining a period of time where the streaming media data received prior to termination of the reception can be presented before the presentation of the received streaming media data is exhausted; waiting until the remaining rendering time of the presentation is the same as the connection time before reconnecting; reconnecting to the remote data processing apparatus via the communications network after detecting the interruption to receive at least a remainder of the streaming media data not yet received, wherein the reconnecting to the remote data processing apparatus comprises connecting to at least one alternate server to receive at least the remainder of the streaming media data with at least enough overlap between the streaming media data received from the at least one alternate server and the already received streaming media data to form an ostensibly continuous presentation; and presenting at least the received remainder of the streaming media data, so the prior presentation and the remainder presentation form an ostensibly continuous presentation of the streaming media data without visible or audible interruption. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A computing device comprising a processor and memory having tangibly stored instructions thereon that, when executed by the processor, perform a method to maintain a streaming media data connection to the device after detecting a connection interruption, the method comprising:
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presenting streaming media data, the streaming media data being received over a data communications network from a first server; and responsive to an indication that transmission of the streaming media data over the communications network cannot be sustained or is below a predetermined rate, selecting a second server containing the streaming media data, determining a desired reconnection time based in part on playing time of received unrendered streaming media data and the reconnection time representing anticipated connection time for a new connection to be established with the selected second server so that reconnection creates at least enough overlap between the streaming media data received from the new connection and the streaming media data already received to form an ostensibly continuous presentation of the streaming media data without visible or audible interruption and connecting to said second server to receive streaming media data from the second server that overlaps at least a portion of the streaming media data already received from the first server whenever the unrendered playing time is equal and/or less than the desired reconnection time. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of automatically restoring a failed streaming media connection, the method comprising:
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connecting a client processing apparatus to a first streaming media server to receive a streaming media data over a data communications network; detecting with the client processing apparatus whether an initial network connection for transmission of the streaming media data being received via the data communications network can be sustained, or whether said initial network connection has transmission delays exceeding a predetermined amount; determining a desired reconnection time based in part on playing time of received unrendered streaming media data and the reconnection time representing anticipated connection time for a new network connection to be established so that reconnection creates at least enough overlap between the streaming media data received from the new connection and the streaming media data already received from the initial connection to form an ostensibly continuous presentation of the streaming media data without visible or audible interruption; establishing with the client processing apparatus the new network connection between the client processing apparatus and a reconnection streaming media server to resume reception of the streaming media data whenever the unrendered playing time is less than the desired reconnection time; and identifying a joint point in the streaming media data between information received via the new connection and information received prior to establishing the new connection. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification