Uninterrupted playback of video streams using lower quality cached files

• US 9,326,046 B1
• Filed: 03/19/2015
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Park, Christopher Shingee, Brasch, Erin Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Asanbayev, Oleg
• Application Number:
  US14/662,710
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44029 for generating different versions
• 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 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6131 involving transmission via a mobile phone network wireless downlink channel access H04W74/006
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/631 Multimode Transmission, e.g. transmitting basic layers and enhancement layers of the content over different transmission paths or transmitting with different error corrections, different keys or with different transmission protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/647 Control signaling between network components and server or clients; Network processes for video distribution between server and clients, e.g. controlling the quality of the video stream, by dropping packets, protecting content from unauthorised alteration within the network, monitoring of network load, bridging between two different networks, e.g. between IP and wireless real-time session protocols H04L65/1101
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6473 Monitoring network processes errors for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64738 Monitoring network characteristics, e.g. bandwidth, congestion level data switched network analysis H04L41/14; monitoring functioning in data switched networks H04L43/0817; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8193 dedicated tools, e.g. video decoder software or IPMP tool
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating uninterrupted playback of video streams using lower quality cached files. A video file corresponding to an entirety of a video content feature encoded at a first quality is obtained. A video stream corresponding to the video content feature encoded at a second quality higher than the first quality is then obtained. The video stream is rendered for playback on a display. In response to detecting an unavailability of the video stream at a particular time in the video content feature, the video file is rendered for playback on the display in place of the video stream and commences at the particular time in the video content feature.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying at least one program executable in at least one computing device, wherein when executed the at least one program causes the at least one computing device to at least:

determine a plurality of video files to be predictively cached based at least in part on a viewing history of a user, the plurality of video files corresponding to a plurality of video content features;

obtain the plurality of video files before the user expresses an interest in playing any of the plurality of video content features;

obtain a directive from the user to play a particular video content feature of the plurality of video content features;

in response to the directive, obtain a video stream corresponding to the particular video content feature, the video stream having a higher bitrate than one of the plurality of video files that corresponds to the particular video content feature;

render the video stream upon a display;

detect an interruption in the video stream at a particular time in the particular video content feature;

render the one of the plurality of video files upon the display in place of the video stream beginning at the particular time in response to detecting the interruption; and

resume rendering of the video stream in place of the one of the plurality of video files at a later time in the particular video content feature when the video stream becomes available.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the interruption corresponds to a loss of network connectivity.

3. A system, comprising:

a computing device; and

a video player application executable in the computing device, wherein when executed the video player application causes the computing device to at least;

determine a plurality of video files to be predictively cached based at least in part on a viewing history of a user, the plurality of video files corresponding to a plurality of video content features;

obtain the plurality of video files before the user expresses an interest in playing any of the plurality of video content features;

obtain a directive from the user to play a particular video content feature of the plurality of video content features;

in response to the directive, obtain a video stream corresponding to the particular video content feature, the video stream having a higher bitrate than one of the plurality of video files that corresponds to the particular video content feature;

render the video stream upon a display;

detect an interruption in the video stream at a particular time in the particular video content feature;

render the one of the plurality of video files upon the display in place of the video stream beginning at the particular time in response to detecting the interruption; and

resume rendering of the video stream in place of the one of the plurality of video files at a later time in the particular video content feature when the video stream becomes available.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the video player application further causes the computing device to at least monitor a network connectivity status of the computing device, wherein the interruption in the video stream is detected based at least in part on the network connectivity status.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the video player application further causes the computing device to at least, in response to detecting that the user of the computing device has enabled an offline mode, render the one of the plurality of video files for playback on the display in place of the video stream.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the video player application further causes the computing device to at least, in response to detecting that the computing device has switched from a first type of network connectivity to a second type of network connectivity, render the one of the plurality of video files for playback on the display in place of the video stream.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first type of network connectivity corresponds to a wireless local area network connection, and the second type of network connectivity corresponds to a cellular network connection.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein when executed the video player application further causes the computing device to at least, in response to detecting that the computing device has switched from the second type of network connectivity to the first type of network connectivity, render the video stream for playback on the display in place of the one of the plurality of video files.

9. The system of claim 3, wherein when executed the video player application further causes the computing device to at least:

determine whether the computing device is a type of mobile device; and

wherein the plurality of video files are obtained in response to determining that the computing device is the type of mobile device.

10. The system of claim 3, wherein the one of the plurality of video files is encoded using a first bitrate that is at least an order of magnitude less than a second bitrate at which the video stream is encoded.

11. A method, comprising:

determining, by at least one computing device, a plurality of video files to be predictively cached based at least in part on a viewing history of a user, the plurality of video files corresponding to a plurality of video content features;

obtaining, by the at least one computing device, the plurality of video files before the user expresses an interest in playing any of the plurality of video content features;

obtaining, by the at least one computing device, a directive from the user to play a particular video content feature of the plurality of video content features;

in response to the directive, obtaining, by the at least one computing device, a video stream corresponding to the particular video content feature, the video stream having a higher bitrate than one of the plurality of video files that corresponds to the particular video content feature;

rendering, by the at least one computing device, the video stream upon a display;

detecting, by the at least one computing device, an interruption in the video stream at a particular time in the particular video content feature;

rendering, by the at least one computing device, the one of the plurality of video files upon the display in place of the video stream beginning at the particular time in response to detecting the interruption; and

resuming, by the at least one computing device, rendering of the video stream in place of the one of the plurality of video files at a later time in the particular video content feature when the video stream becomes available.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining, by the at least one computing device, when to obtain the plurality of video files based at least in part on a cost to obtain the plurality of video files via a network.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining, by the at least one computing device, whether to obtain the plurality of video files based at least in part on a measure of available data storage in a data store accessible to the at least one computing device.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising rendering, by the at least one computing device, the one of the plurality of video files instead of the video stream when obtaining the video stream via a network is associated with a cost.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining, by the at least one computing device, a network connectivity status, wherein the interruption in the video stream is detected based at least in part on the network connectivity status.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising rendering, by the at least one computing device, the one of the plurality of video files for playback on the display in place of the video stream in response to detecting that an offline mode has been enabled.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising rendering, by the at least one computing device, the one of the plurality of video files for playback on the display in place of the video stream in response to detecting that a network connectivity has switched from a first type of network connectivity to a second type of network connectivity.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the first type of network connectivity corresponds to a wireless local area network connection, and the second type of network connectivity corresponds to a cellular network connection.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising rendering, by the at least one computing device, the video stream for playback on the display in place of the one of the plurality of video files in response to detecting that the computing device has switched from the second type of network connectivity to the first type of network connectivity.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the one of the plurality of video files is encoded using a first bitrate that is at least an order of magnitude less than a second bitrate at which the video stream is encoded.