Asynchronously streaming video of a live event from a handheld device

• US 9,445,150 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2015
• Issued: 09/13/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quixotic Path, LLC
• Original Assignee: Spacebar, Inc.
• Inventors: Cottrell, Jonathan, Miller, Gregory, Cottrell, David, Nash, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Flanders, Andrew C
• Application Number:
  US14/925,283
• Publication Number:
  US 20160050453A1
• Time in Patent Office: 321 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/02 Arrangements for generating broadcast information; Arrangements for generating broadcast-related information with a direct linking to broadcast information or to broadcast space-time; Arrangements for simultaneous generation of broadcast information and broadcast-related information
• 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 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23406 involving management of server-side video buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234309 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01
• 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 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments

Abstract

A video streaming system includes a handheld computing device that asynchronously streams video to a storage subsystem. The handheld computing device receives and buffers video data of contiguous video samples and, after a predefined amount of contiguous video samples has been buffered, assigns an index for that predefined amount of contiguous video samples and asynchronously transmits the index and those contiguous video samples to a storage subsystem of a broadcast server system. The handheld computing device, upon determining that the predefined amount of contiguous video samples has been received by the storage subsystem, transmits a notification message to an application server of the broadcast server system that includes the assigned index and indicates that the corresponding contiguous video samples are stored on the storage subsystem. The notification message causes the application server to fetch those video samples according to the index and process them for broadcasting to client computing devices.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a handheld computing device that is configured to perform the following on a periodic basis when in an asynchronous streaming mode for a streaming video session;

receive and buffer video data, wherein the buffered video data includes a plurality of contiguous video samples;

after a predefined amount of contiguous video samples have been buffered, perform the following;

assign an index for the predefined amount of contiguous video samples, and

asynchronously transmit that predefined amount of contiguous video samples and the assigned index for that predefined amount of contiguous video samples to a storage subsystem of a broadcast server system, wherein the storage subsystem is located remotely from the handheld computing device; and

upon a determination that the predefined amount of contiguous video samples and the corresponding assigned index have been received by the storage subsystem, transmit a notification message to an application server of the broadcast server system that includes the assigned index and indicates that the predefined amount of contiguous video samples is stored on the storage subsystem of the broadcast server, wherein the notification message is configured to cause the application server to fetch the predefined amount of contiguous video samples according to the index included in the notification message and process those video samples for broadcasting to a plurality of client computing devices.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the handheld computing device is further configured to be connected to a mixing console and receive the video data through the connection to the mixing console.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the handheld computing device is configured to receive the video data via a camera integrated into the handheld computing device or attached to the handheld computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the handheld computing device is configured to transmit the predefined amount of contiguous video samples and the assigned index for that predefined amount of contiguous video samples to the storage subsystem using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST request.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the contiguous video samples are received from a live event or performance.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein prior to the handheld computing device transmitting the predefined amount of contiguous video samples to the storage subsystem, the handheld computing device is configured to encode the predefined amount of contiguous video samples into a compressed format.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the handheld computing device is further configured to adapt the encoding of future contiguous video samples received during the streaming video session based on current network conditions.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising the application server that is configured to perform the following upon receipt of the notification message:

fetch the predefined amount of contiguous video samples according to the index in the notification message;

decode the contiguous video samples;

process the decoded video samples including encoding the contiguous video samples into a plurality of bit rates;

upload the processed video samples to the storage subsystem; and

create or update one or more streaming video playlists for the streaming video session that identifies a location of the processed video samples and an order in which to play those processed video samples, wherein the one or more streaming video playlists are configured to be used by the client computing devices to download the processed video samples for playback.

9. A method for asynchronously streaming video from a handheld computing device, comprising the steps of:

receiving, at the handheld computing device, video data captured from a camera integrated into the handheld computing device or attached to the handheld computing device, wherein the received video data includes a plurality of contiguous video samples;

appending the plurality of contiguous video samples into a buffer on the handheld computing device;

responsive to determining that the amount of plurality of contiguous video samples in the buffer reaches a predetermined threshold, the handheld computing device performing the following;

assigning an index to that amount of contiguous video samples, and

asynchronously transmitting that amount of contiguous video samples and index to a storage subsystem of a broadcast server system; and

responsive to the handheld computing device determining that the amount of contiguous video samples and index have been received by the storage subsystem, the handheld computing device transmitting a notification message to an application server of the broadcast server system that includes the index and indicates that the amount of contiguous video samples is stored on the storage subsystem of the broadcast server system, wherein the notification message is configured to cause the application server to fetch the amount of contiguous video samples according to the index and process those contiguous video samples for broadcasting to a plurality of client computing devices.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the amount of contiguous video samples and index are transmitted to the storage subsystem of the broadcast server system using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST request.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the steps are performed on a periodic basis when the handheld computing device is in an asynchronous streaming mode.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the contiguous video samples are part of a live event or performance.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the notification message is transmitted to the application server of the broadcast server system using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) POST request.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein prior to transmitting that amount of contiguous video samples and index to the storage subsystem of the broadcast server system, the handheld computing device encoding that amount of contiguous video samples in a compressed format.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the handheld computing device further performs the following step:

adjusting the encoding of future contiguous video samples based on current network conditions.

16. A method for streaming video transmitted by a handheld computing device during a streaming video session, comprising the steps of:

receiving, from a handheld computing device, a notification message that includes an index value and indicates that an video segment corresponding to that index value is stored in a storage subsystem, wherein the video segment includes a plurality of contiguous video samples that have been captured and transmitted to the storage subsystem by the handheld computing device;

in response to receiving the notification message, performing the following steps;

fetching the video segment from the storage subsystem according to the index value;

processing the fetched video segment including,

decoding the fetched video segment, and

encoding the video segment into a plurality of encoded video segments encoded in a plurality of bit rates respectively;

transmitting the plurality of encoded video segments to the storage subsystem;

creating or updating a plurality of streaming video playlists for the plurality of encoded video segments respectively, wherein each streaming video playlist identifies at least a location of the corresponding encoded video segment and an order in which to play that encoded video segment; and

transmitting the plurality of streaming video playlists to the storage subsystem.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising providing an interface for listeners to locate and download at least one of the streaming video playlists for playback of the corresponding video segment.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein processing the fetched video segment further includes adjusting a level of the decoded video segment.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the steps are performed periodically during the streaming video session while receiving notification messages from the handheld computing device that indicate that video segments have been uploaded to the storage subsystem.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the streaming video session is video from a live event or performance.