RS-DVR systems and methods for unavailable bitrate signaling and edge recording

• US 9,781,486 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2016
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dish Technologies LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Echostar Technologies LLC (Echostar Corporation)
• Inventors: Major, Robert Drew, Major, Darren
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN BA, HOANG VU A
• Application Number:
  US15/247,147
• Publication Number:
  US 20160366489A1
• Time in Patent Office: 404 Days
• Field of Search: 725 10, 725 25, 725 87, 725 92, 725 93, 386295, 707827, 707783, 707785, 37524002
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2181 comprising remotely distributed storage units, e.g. when movies are replicated over a plurality of video servers distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS], H04L67/1097
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2183 Cache memory caches in web servers or browsers G06F16/9574; intermediate storage and caching in data networks H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2312 Data placement on disk arrays data placement in general G06F3/0604
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2323 using file mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234363 by altering the spatial resolution, e.g. for clients with a lower screen resolution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4135 external recorder interface circuits between an apparatus for recording television signals and a television receiver H04N5/775
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/462 Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/61 Network physical structure; Signal processing H04B takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6371 directed to network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6373 for rate control , e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6379 directed to encoder , e.g. for requesting a lower encoding rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 : Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 : on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/91 : Television signal processing therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 : Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 : Handling of requests in head-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/80 : Transformation of the television signal for recording, e.g. modulation, frequency changing; Inverse transformation for playback

Abstract

A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system is disclosed. The RS-DVR system includes a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network, a file system module coupled to the network interface, an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent media content files encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and a storage architecture coupled to the file system to store the encoded media segments, resulting in stored media segments. The RS-DVR carries out a number of functions and operations to service multiple subscribers and associated subscriber systems, such as various storage device management operations, file structure techniques, assignment of recorded media to subscribers, file system indexing, and supporting shared and per-subscriber content rights.

Claims

1. A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system comprising:

a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network;

a file system module coupled to the network interface;

an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and

a storage architecture coupled to the file system module to store the encoded media segments, resulting in stored media segments, wherein the network interface is configured to receive a playback request that identifies a requested bitrate for the media content file and generate an HTTP status code to indicate when the requested bitrate for the media content file is unavailable at the RS-DVR system.

2. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the network sends the HTTP status code to the subscriber system.

3. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the HTTP status code comprises HTTP status code 204.

4. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the network interface comprises a web server.

5. The RS-DVR system of claim 1, wherein the storage architecture comprises a cluster group of memory storage devices physically located together close to a Content Delivery Network (CDN) edge HTTP caching server.

6. The RS-DVR system of claim 5, wherein the network interface comprises a web server.

7. A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system comprising:

a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network;

a file system module coupled to the network interface;

an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and

a storage architecture coupled to the file system module to store the encoded media segments, resulting in stored media segments, wherein the network interface is configured to receive a playback request that identifies a requested bitrate for the media content file and generate a message that instructs the subscriber system to request another bitrate different than the requested bitrate.

8. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the network interface generates a custom code to indicate when the requested bitrate for the media content file is unavailable at the RS-DVR system.

9. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the network interface generates a system-specific status code to indicate when the requested bitrate for the media content file is unavailable at the RS-DVR system.

10. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the network interface generates a message that identifies available bitrates for the media content file.

11. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the network interface automatically selects a different bitrate and provides the corresponding media segments from the storage architecture to the subscriber system when the requested bitrate is unavailable.

12. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the network interface provides one or more of the encoded media segments at a non-requested bitrate while concurrently informing the subscriber system of a new bitrate.

13. The RS-DVR system of claim 7, wherein the network interface provides one or more of the encoded media segments at a non-requested bitrate while concurrently asking the subscriber system to select a different bitrate.

14. A remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system comprising:

a network interface to communicate data between the RS-DVR system and a subscriber system via a network;

a file system module coupled to the network interface;

an ingest agent coupled to the file system module to receive encoded media segments that represent a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates; and

a storage architecture coupled to the file system module to store the encoded media segments, wherein;

the storage architecture comprises a plurality of memory storage devices configured as a cluster group of memory storage devices physically located together close to a Content Delivery Network (CDN) edge HTTP caching server; and

the encoded media segments are stored across the plurality of memory storage devices in accordance with a distribution scheme as a function of performance characteristics of individual memory storage devices of the plurality of memory storage devices.

15. The RS-DVR system of claim 14, wherein the network interface comprises a web server configured to generate an HTTP status code to indicate when a requested bitrate for the media content file is unavailable at the RS-DVR system.

16. A method of operating a remote storage digital video recorder (RS-DVR) system that supports a subscriber system via data communication over a network, the method comprising:

receiving, at the RS-DVR system from the subscriber system, a playback request that identifies a requested bitrate for a media content file encoded at a plurality of different bitrates and having encoded media segments stored at the RS-DVR system;

generating, at the RS-DVR system, a notification to indicate when the requested bitrate for the media content file is unavailable at the RS-DVR system;

sending the notification to the subscriber system; and

dynamically switching bitrates at the RS-DVR system in a way that is transparent to the subscriber system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

generating the notification comprises generating, by a web server of the RS-DVR system, an HTTP status code indicating the requested bitrate is unavailable.