Deterministically skewing transmission of content streams

• US 9,565,397 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2009
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Frink, Craig, Hluchyj, Michael G., Krishnan, Santosh, Lawler, Christopher, Pond, Daniel, Ryan, Robert, Zhu, Qin-Fan
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): THOMAS, JASON M
• Application Number:
  US12/393,900
• Publication Number:
  US 20100218231A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,903 Days
• Field of Search: 725 86-103, 725/117, 725/105, 725114-116, 725/135, 725/138, 725143-146, 370229-231, 370/235, 370/351, 370/390
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/242 Synchronization processes, e.g. processing of PCR [Program Clock References] arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2625 for delaying content or additional data distribution, e.g. because of an extended sport event
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4384 involving operations to reduce the access time, e.g. fast-tuning for reducing channel switching latency
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44004 involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6437 Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64784 Data processing by the network data processing in packet switching systems H04L12/56; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; intermediate storage or scheduling H04L49/90; provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Described are computer-based methods and apparatuses, including computer program products, for deterministically skewing transmission of content streams. A content stream comprising one or more video frames is received. The content stream is buffered in a buffer, wherein the buffer allows simultaneous read access to the content stream at a plurality of locations. One or more video frames of the content stream are transmitted from the buffer to a first device associated with a first subscriber beginning at a first location in the buffer based on a first transmission delay parameter. One or more video frames of the content stream are transmitted from the buffer to a second device associated with a second subscriber beginning at a second location in the buffer based on a second transmission delay parameter.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

receiving, by a video delivery system, a content stream comprising one or more video frames;

buffering, by the video delivery system, the content stream in a buffer, wherein the buffer allows simultaneous read access to the content stream at a plurality of locations;

receiving, by the video delivery system, a first request for the content stream from a first device and a second request for the content stream from a second device;

determining, by the video delivery system, a first transmission delay parameter to use for the first device based on a first internal system value;

determining, by the video delivery system, a second transmission delay parameter to use for the second device based on a second internal system value;

associating, by the video delivery system, the first transmission delay parameter with the first device and the second transmission delay parameter with the second device, so as to stagger transmission of the content stream to the first device and the second device;

transmitting, by the video delivery system, one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device associated with a first subscriber beginning at a first location in the buffer based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmitting, by the video delivery system, one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the second device associated with a second subscriber beginning at a second location in the buffer based on the second transmission delay parameter;

wherein the video delivery system determines the first transmission delay parameter and associates the first transmission delay parameter with the first device at any of;

a time that the first device connects to the video delivery system, and a time that the first subscriber connects to the video delivery system;

wherein the first internal system value, which the video delivery system uses to determine the first transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined first provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the first device and the first subscriber, the first provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the first subscriber and the first device connects to the video delivery system, (ii) a first random number within a range having a maximum value limit based on a length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding an incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the first device connects and based on a sequence in which devices connect to the video delivery system, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the first device'"'"'s connection to the video delivery system, and the time of the first subscriber'"'"'s connection to the video delivery system;

wherein the video delivery system determines the second transmission delay parameter and associates the second transmission delay parameter with the second device at any of;

a time that the second device connects to the video delivery system, and a time that the second subscriber connects to the video delivery system;

wherein the second internal system value, which the video delivery system uses to determine the second transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined second provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the second device and the second subscriber, the second provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the second subscriber and the second device connects to the video delivery system, (ii) a second random number within the range having the maximum value limit based on the length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding the incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the second device connects and based on the sequence in which devices connect to the video delivery system, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the second device'"'"'s connection to the video delivery system, and the time of the second subscriber'"'"'s connection to the video delivery system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the first transmission delay for a plurality of devices associated with the first subscriber.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising using a different transmission delay for each device from a plurality of devices associated with the first subscriber.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device comprises:

pointing a read pointer associated with the first device at a location in the buffer based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device beginning with a video frame at the location pointed to by the read pointer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

buffering comprises generating index information for the content stream, the index information comprising location data for the one or more video frames in the buffer; and

wherein transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device comprises;

pointing a read pointer associated with the first device at a location in the buffer based on the first transmission delay parameter and the index information; and

transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device beginning with a video frame at the location pointed to by the read pointer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the second device comprises:

pointing a read pointer associated with the second device at a location in the buffer based on the second transmission delay parameter; and

transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the second device beginning with a video frame at the location pointed to by the read pointer.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the video delivery system, a content request from the first device, wherein the content associated with the content request is buffered in a second buffer; and

maintaining, by the video delivery system, the first transmission delay parameter for the first device with the second buffer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein maintaining comprises:

pointing a read pointer associated with the first device at a location in the second buffer based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmitting one or more video frames of a content stream from the second buffer to the first device beginning with a video frame at the location pointed to by the read pointer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content stream is a live broadcast.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location and the second location comprise a random access point.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein buffering comprises:

buffering a first frame of the one or more video frames of the content stream in the buffer; and

advancing a write pointer of the buffer to a next location in the buffer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device comprises:

transmitting a video frame beginning at the first location from the buffer to the first device, the first location pointed to by a read pointer associated with the first device; and

advancing the read pointer to a next location in the buffer.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining, by the video delivery system, a size of the buffer based on a maximum transmission delay parameter, wherein the first transmission delay parameter and the second transmission delay parameter are less than or equal to the maximum transmission delay parameter.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising modifying the maximum transmission delay parameter based on a number of read pointers associated with the buffer, a processing performance value, or any combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising modifying the size of the buffer based on the modified maximum transmission delay parameter.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the content stream is a MPEG-2 transport stream, an Adobe RTMP-based stream, an interleaved RTSP-based stream, or any combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the first internal system value is a predetermined provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the first device or the first subscriber, the provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of a subscriber or a device connects to the video delivery system.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the first internal system value is a random number within a range having a maximum value limit based on the length of the buffer.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the first internal system value is calculated by adding an incremental value to a previously determined transmission delay parameter and based on the sequence in which devices connect to the video delivery system.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing content processing of the content stream, wherein content processing comprises performing ad insertions, graphical overlays, transrating, transformations, or any combination thereof.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein:

using comprises using the first transmission delay parameter for transmitting to the first device and the second transmission delay parameter for transmitting to the second device, so as to stagger transmission of unicast delivery of the content stream to the first device and the second device;

transmitting the one or more video frames of the content stream to the first device comprises transmitting the one or more video frames in a first unicast stream to the first device based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmitting the one or more video frames of the content stream to the second device comprises transmitting the one or more video frames in a second unicast stream to the second device based on the second transmission delay parameter.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the first internal system value is based on current loading of the video delivery system.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the first request is associated with the content stream at a particular write time of the buffer, and the second request is associated with the content stream at the same particular write time of the buffer, but due to the transmitting step to the first client device being based on the first transmission delay parameter, and the transmitting step to the second client device being based on the second transmission delay parameter, the video delivery system transmits the content stream to the first client device at a different write time than the write time at which the video delivery system transmits the content stream to the second device.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmission delay parameter corresponds to an amount of delay from a most recent write time of the content stream in the buffer.

21. A system comprising:

one or more microprocessors and one or more storage devices holding first and second computer program instructions for execution on at least one of the one or more microprocessors;

an ingest module comprising the first computer program instructions for receiving a content stream comprising one or more video frames;

a buffer in communication with the ingest module configured to buffer the content stream, wherein the buffer allows simultaneous read access to the buffered content stream at a plurality of locations; and

a delivery module in communication with the buffer, the delivery module comprising the second machine-readable instructions for;

receiving a first request for the content stream from a first device and a second request for the content stream from a second device;

determining a first transmission delay parameter to use for the first device based on a first internal system value;

determining a second transmission delay parameter to use for the second device based on a second internal system value;

associate the first transmission delay parameter with the first device and the second transmission delay parameter with the second device, so as to stagger transmission of the content stream to the first device and the second device;

transmit one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device associated with a first subscriber beginning at a first location in the buffer based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmit one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the second device associated with a second subscriber beginning at a second location in the buffer based on the second transmission delay parameter;

wherein the determining of the first transmission delay parameter and associating of the first transmission delay parameter with the first device at any of;

a time that the first device connects to the system, and a time that the first subscriber connects to the system;

wherein the first internal system value, which the system uses to determine the first transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined first provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the first device and the first subscriber, the first provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the first subscriber and the first device connects to the system, (ii) a first random number within a range having a maximum value limit based on a length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding an incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the first device connects and based on a sequence in which devices connect to the system, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the first device'"'"'s connection to the system, and the time of the first subscriber'"'"'s connection to the system;

wherein the determining of the second transmission delay parameter and associating of the second transmission delay parameter with the second device at any of;

a time that the second device connects to the system, and a time that the second subscriber connects to the system;

wherein the second internal system value, which the system uses to determine the second transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined second provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the second device and the second subscriber, the second provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the second subscriber and the second device connects to the system, (ii) a second random number within the range having the maximum value limit based on the length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding the incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the second device connects and based on the sequence in which devices connect to the system, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the second device'"'"'s connection to the system, and the time of the second subscriber'"'"'s connection to the system.

22. A computer program product, tangibly embodied in a computer readable non-transitory storage medium, the computer program product including instructions being operable to cause a data processing apparatus to:

receive a content stream comprising one or more video frames;

buffer the content stream in a buffer, wherein the buffer allows simultaneous read access to the content stream at a plurality of locations;

receive a first request for the content stream from a first device and a second request for the content stream from a second device;

determine a first transmission delay parameter to use for the first device based on a first internal system value;

determine a second transmission delay parameter to use for the second device based on a second internal system value;

associate the first transmission delay parameter with the first device and the second transmission delay parameter with the second device, so as to stagger transmission of the content stream to the first device and the second device;

transmit one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the first device associated with a first subscriber beginning at a first location in the buffer based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmit one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffer to the second device associated with a second subscriber beginning at a second location in the buffer based on the second transmission delay parameter;

wherein the data processing apparatus determines the first transmission delay parameter and associates the first transmission delay parameter with the first device at any of;

a time that the first device connects to the data processing apparatus, and a time that the first subscriber connects to the data processing apparatus;

wherein the first internal system value, which the data processing apparatus uses to determine the first transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined first provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the first device and the first subscriber, the first provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the first subscriber and the first device connects to the data processing apparatus, (ii) a first random number within a range having a maximum value limit based on a length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding an incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the first device connects and based on a sequence in which devices connect to the data processing apparatus, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the first device'"'"'s connection to the data processing apparatus, and the time of the first subscriber'"'"'s connection to the data processing apparatus;

wherein the data processing apparatus determines the second transmission delay parameter and associates the second transmission delay parameter with the second device at any of;

a time that the second device connects to the data processing apparatus, and a time that the second subscriber connects to the data processing apparatus;

wherein the second internal system value, which the data processing apparatus uses to determine the second transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined second provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the second device and the second subscriber, the second provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the second subscriber and the second device connects to the data processing apparatus, (ii) a second random number within the range having the maximum value limit based on the length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding the incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the second device connects and based on the sequence in which devices connect to the data processing apparatus, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the second device'"'"'s connection to the data processing apparatus, and the time of the second subscriber'"'"'s connection to the data processing apparatus.

23. A system comprising:

means for receiving a content stream comprising one or more video frames;

means for buffering the content stream, wherein the buffering means allows simultaneous read access to the buffered content stream at a plurality of locations; and

means for;

receiving a first request for the content stream from a first device and a second request for the content stream from a second device;

determining a first transmission delay parameter to use for the first device based on a first internal system value;

determining a second transmission delay parameter to use for the second device based on a second internal system value;

associating the first transmission delay parameter with the first device and the second transmission delay parameter with the second device, so as to stagger transmission of the content stream to the first device and the second device;

transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffering means to the first device associated with a first subscriber beginning at a first location of the buffering means based on the first transmission delay parameter; and

transmitting one or more video frames of the content stream from the buffering means to the second device associated with a second subscriber beginning at a second location of the buffering means based on the second transmission delay parameter;

wherein the determining of the first transmission delay parameter and associating of the first transmission delay parameter with the first device at any of;

a time that the first device connects to the system, and a time that the first subscriber connects to the system;

wherein the first internal system value, which the system uses to determine the first transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a first predetermined provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the first device and the first subscriber, the first provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the first subscriber and the first device connects to the system, (ii) a first random number within a range having a maximum value limit based on a length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding an incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the first device connects and based on a sequence in which devices connect to the system, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the first device'"'"'s connection to the system, and the time of the first subscriber'"'"'s connection to the system;

wherein the determining of the second transmission delay parameter and associating of the second transmission delay parameter with the second device at any of;

a time that the second device connects to the system, and a time that the second subscriber connects to the system;

wherein the second internal system value, which the system uses to determine the second transmission delivery parameter, is one or more of;

(i) a predetermined second provisioning parameter stored in a table for at least one of the second device and the second subscriber, the second provisioning parameter accessed when at least one of the second subscriber and the second device connects to the system, (ii) a second random number within the range having the maximum value limit based on the length of the buffer, (iii) calculated by adding the incremental value to a transmission delay parameter determined before the second device connects and based on the sequence in which devices connect to the system, and (iv) based on current system loading, where current means any of;

at the time of the second device'"'"'s connection to the system, and the time of the second subscriber'"'"'s connection to the system.