Locating points of interest using references to media frames within a packet flow

• US 9,762,640 B2
• Filed: 02/18/2015
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: VerSteeg, William C., Oran, David, Drisko, Robert, Gahm, Joshua
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin, Jason K
• Application Number:
  US14/624,604
• Publication Number:
  US 20150163274A1
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/764 at the destination reformatting of additional data in video clients H04N21/4355
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234381 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2381 Adapting the multiplex stream to a specific network, e.g. an Internet Protocol [IP] network transmission of MPEG streams over ATM H04L12/5601
• 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 21/6437 Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• 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 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a stream of transport packets encapsulating media packets, and generating a reference to the point-of-interest media packet relative to the location of the point-of-interest within the transport packet stream. The reference is generated for each media packet that is identified as a point-of-interest.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a transport packet stream encapsulating a first plurality of media packets;

generating, for a first media packet that is identified as a point-of-interest (POI) media packet, a first reference to the POI media packet relative to the location of the first media packet within the transport packet stream, wherein generating the first reference comprises;

generating a first flow identifier identifying a first transport packet of the transport packet stream that encapsulates the first media packet, wherein the first transport packet comprises a second plurality of media packets, and wherein the first flow identifier comprises a destination address, a destination port, and a synchronization source identifier (SSRC), and

generating a first transport packet reference comprising a first position reference in the first transport packet for the first media packet;

generating a second reference for a second media packet that is identified as the POI media packet;

adding the first reference to an auxiliary stream, the auxiliary stream being separate from the transport packet stream, the auxiliary stream comprising one or more references to one or more media packets in the transport packet stream identified as the POI media packet, wherein adding the first reference comprises adding the first flow identifier and the first transport packet reference to the auxiliary stream; and

adding the second reference to the auxiliary stream, wherein adding the second reference comprises adding, when the second media packet is located in the first transport packet, a second transport packet reference comprising a second position reference in the first transport packet for the second media packet.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the one or more media packets as the point-of-interest media packet.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the transport packet stream comprises receiving the transport packet stream comprising a stream of UDP packets.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the first reference comprises generating the reference comprising a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein generating the first reference comprises setting the first portion of the reference to a UDP flow identifier of the UDP packet encapsulating the first media packet.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein generating the first reference comprises generating a checksum over the UDP packet encapsulating the first media packet.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein generating the first reference comprises setting the second portion of the first reference to the checksum.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the first reference comprises setting the third portion of the first reference to a sequence number of the first media packet within the first transport packet.

9. A system comprising:

a memory storage; and

a processor coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive a transport packet stream encapsulating a first plurality of media packets;

generate, for a first media packet that is identified as a point-of-interest (POI), a first reference to the first media packet relative to the location of the first media packet within the transport packet stream, wherein the processor being configured to generate the first reference comprises the processor being configured to;

generate a first flow identifier identifying a first transport packet of the transport packet stream that encapsulates the first media packet, wherein the first transport packet comprises a second plurality of media packets, and wherein the first flow identifier comprises a destination address, a destination port, and a synchronization source identifier (SSRC), and

generate a first transport packet reference comprising a first position reference in the first transport packet for the first media packet;

generate a second reference for a second media packet that is identified as the POI;

add the first reference to an auxiliary stream, the auxiliary stream being separate from the transport packet stream, the auxiliary stream comprising one or more references to one or more media packets in the transport packet stream identified as the POI, wherein the processor being configured to add the first reference comprises the processor being configured to add the first flow identifier and the first transport packet reference to the auxiliary stream; and

add the second reference to the auxiliary stream, wherein the processor being configured to add the second reference comprises the processor being configured to add, when the second media packet is located in the first transport packet, a second transport packet reference comprising a second position reference in the first transport packet for the second media packet.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured with the logic to identify the one or more media packets as the point-of-interest.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor configured with the logic to receive the transport packet stream comprises the processor configured with the logic to receive the transport packet stream comprising a stream of UDP packets.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor configured with the logic to generate the reference comprises the processor configured with the logic to generate the reference comprising a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor configured with the logic to generate the reference comprises the processor configured with the logic to set the first portion of the reference to a UDP flow identifier of the UDP packet encapsulating the POI media packet.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the processor configured with the logic to generate the reference comprises the processor configured with the logic to generate a checksum over the UDP packet encapsulating the POI media packet.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the processor configured with the logic to generate the reference comprises the processor configured with the logic to set the second portion of the reference to the checksum.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor configured with the logic to generate the reference comprises the processor configured with the logic to set the third portion of the reference to a sequence number of the POI media packet within the encapsulating one of the transport packets.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

receiving a transport packet stream encapsulating a first plurality of media packets;

generating, for a first media packet that is identified as a point-of-interest (POI), a first reference to the first media packet relative to the location of the first media packet within the transport packet stream, wherein generating the first reference comprises;

generating a first flow identifier identifying a first transport packet of the transport packet stream that encapsulates the first media packet, wherein the first transport packet comprises a second plurality of media packets, and wherein the first flow identifier comprises a destination address, a destination port, and a synchronization source identifier (SSRC), and

generating a first transport packet reference comprising a first position reference in the first transport packet for the first media packet; and

generating a second reference for a second media packet that is identified as a POI media packet;

adding the first reference to an auxiliary stream, the auxiliary stream being separate from the transport packet stream, the auxiliary stream comprising one or more references to one or more media packets in the stream identified as the POI, wherein adding the first reference comprises adding the first flow identifier and the first transport packet reference into the auxiliary stream; and

adding the second reference to the auxiliary stream, wherein adding the second reference comprises adding, when the second media packet is located in the first transport packet, a second transport packet reference comprising a second position reference in the first transport packet for the second media packet.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein receiving the transport packet stream comprises receiving the transport packet stream comprising a stream of UDP packets.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein generating the reference comprises generating the reference comprising a first portion, a second portion, and a third portion.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

setting the first portion of the reference to a UDP flow identifier of the UDP packet encapsulating the POI media packet;

generating a checksum over the UDP packet encapsulating the POI media packet;

setting the second portion of the reference to the checksum; and

setting the third portion of the reference to a sequence number of the POI media packet within the encapsulating one of the transport packets.