Systems and methods for internet video delivery

• US 9,860,604 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2011
• Issued: 01/02/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oath Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Kocks, Peter F., El Mawas, Rami, Wu, Ping-Hao
• Primary Examiner(s): Dailey, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US13/303,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20130132605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,232 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• 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 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/637 Control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/658 Transmission by the client directed to the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/845 Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/147 Scene change detection

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for delivering video content over a network, such as the Internet. Videos are identified and pre-processed by a web service and then separated into a plurality of segments. Based on user interests, video segments may be pre-fetched and stored by a client associated with a user. Upon receiving a selection from a user to play a video, the first video segment may begin playing instantaneously from a local cache. While the first video segment plays, subsequent video segments are transmitted from the web service to the client, so that the subsequent video segments will be ready for viewing at the client when playback of the first video segment has finished.

Claims

1. A method of delivering video content over a network, comprising:

receiving usage data from a client device, the usage data comprising a user-generated playlist including a plurality of videos identified to be played in a sequence;

computing a distance measure for each video indicating a degree of change between a plurality of frames within the video;

identifying a scene change within each video when the distance measure exceeds a threshold;

dividing each of the plurality of videos into a plurality of segments based on the identified scene change for the video;

determining a number n of first video segments from each video to transmit to the client device based on an amount of available cache-storage at the client device;

automatically transmitting, over a network, the n first video segments from each video to the client device, without receiving an explicit request from the client device for any of the videos, based on the usage data received from the client device;

receiving a notification that the client device has starting playing the n first video segments from a selected one of the videos in the playlist; and

based on the received notification, transmitting at least one additional video segment from the selected video to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein dividing each video into a plurality of segments comprises dividing each video into a plurality of segments of equal size.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing visual and audio components of each video; and

dividing each video into a plurality of segments based on the analysis of visual and audio components of the video.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the distance measure indicating a degree of change between a plurality of frames within the video comprises computing the distance measure indicating a degree of change between the color histograms of each of a plurality of frames within the video.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing each of the plurality of segments in a database.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the n first video segments to the client device is completed prior to receiving the notification that the client device has starting playing the n first video segments.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the at least one additional video segment to the client device comprises transmitting the at least one additional video segment to the client using hypertext transfer protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the at least one additional video segment to the client device comprises streaming the at least one additional video segment to the client device.

9. A system of delivering video content over a network, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

receive usage data from a client device, the usage data comprising a user-generated playlist including a plurality of videos identified to be played in a sequence;

compute a distance measure for each video indicating a degree of change between a plurality of frames within the video;

identify a scene change within each video when the distance measure exceeds a threshold;

divide each of the plurality of videos into a plurality of segments, based on the identified scene change for the video;

determine a number n of first video segments from each video to transmit to the client device based on an amount of available cache-storage at the client device;

automatically transmit, over a network, the n first video segments from each video to the client device, without receiving an explicit request from the client device for any of the videos, based on the usage data received from the client device;

receive a notification that the client device has starting playing the n first video segments from a selected one of the videos in the playlist; and

based on the received notification, transmit at least one additional video segment from the selected video to the client device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to divide each video into a plurality of segments of equal size.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to:

analyze visual and audio components of each video; and

divide each video into a plurality of segments based on the analysis of visual and audio components of the video.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to compute the distance measure indicating a degree of change between the color histograms of each of a plurality of frames within the video.

13. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a database;

wherein the processor is further configured to store each of the plurality of segments in the database.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to complete transmitting the n first video segments to the client device prior to receiving the notification that the client device has starting playing the n first video segments.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the at least one additional video segment to the client device using hypertext transfer protocol.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to stream the at least one additional video segment to the client device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions for delivering video content over a network, which, when executed, perform steps comprising:

receiving usage data from a client device, the usage data comprising a user-generated playlist including a plurality of videos identified to be played in a sequence;

computing a distance measure for each video indicating a degree of change between a plurality of frames within the video;

identifying a scene change within each video when the distance measure exceeds a threshold;

dividing each of the plurality of videos into a plurality of segments, based on the identified scene change for the video;

determining a number n of first video segments from each video to transmit to the client device based on an amount of available cache-storage at the client device;

automatically transmitting, over a network, the n first video segments from each video to the client device, without receiving an explicit request from the client device for any of the videos, based on the usage data received from the client device;

receiving a notification that the client device has starting playing the n first video segments from a selected one of the videos in the playlist; and

based on the received notification, transmitting at least one additional video segment from the selected video to the client device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the step of dividing each video into a plurality of segments comprises dividing each video into a plurality of segments of equal size.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions, which, when executed, perform steps comprising:

analyzing visual and audio components of each video; and

dividing each video into a plurality of segments based on the analysis of visual and audio components of the video.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the step of computing the distance measure indicating a degree of change between a plurality of frames within the video comprises computing the distance measure indicating a degree of change between the color histograms of each of a plurality of frames within the video.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions, which, when executed, perform the step of storing each of the plurality of segments in a database.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the step of transmitting the n first video segments to the client device is completed prior to receiving the notification that the client device has starting playing the n first video segments.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the step of transmitting the at least one additional video segment to the client device comprises transmitting the at least one additional video segment to the client device using hypertext transfer protocol.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the step of transmitting the at least one additional video segment to the client comprises streaming the at least one additional video segment to the client device.