Network video streaming with trick play based on separate trick play files

• US 10,462,537 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2017
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonic IP Incorporated (Endeavor Group Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: DivX, LLC (f/k/a DivX CF Holdings LLC) (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shivadas, Abhishek, Bramwell, Stephen R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): Li, Susan X
• Application Number:
  US15/651,817
• Publication Number:
  US 20180007451A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/98 Adaptive-dynamic-range coding [ADRC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234345 the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234381 by altering the temporal resolution, e.g. decreasing the frame rate by frame skipping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• 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 21/47217 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 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/85406 involving a specific file format, e.g. MP4 format

Abstract

Network services encode multimedia content, such as video, into multiple adaptive bitrate streams of encoded video and a separate trick play stream of encoded video to support trick play features. The trick play stream is encoded at a lower encoding bitrate and frame rate than each of the adaptive bitrate streams. The adaptive bitrate streams and the trick play stream are stored in the network services. During normal content streaming and playback, a client device downloads a selected one of the adaptive bitrate streams from network serviced for playback at the client device. To implement a trick play feature, the client device downloads the trick play stream from the network services for trick play playback.

Claims

1. A playback device, comprising:

a set of one or more processors; and

a non-volatile storage containing an application for causing the set of one or more processors to perform the steps of;

receiving a playback request for a selected one of a plurality of adaptive bitrate streams at a first time using a playback device, and in response thereto;

sending a playlist request and the first time to a server;

receiving a playlist identifying a set of successive container files storing segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream from the server, the set of successive container files starting at the first time;

downloading segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream according to the received playlist;

playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream; and

receiving a trick play request for a trick play stream corresponding to the plurality of adaptive bitrate streams using the playback device, the trick play request including a second time and a particular direction, and in response thereto;

sending a trick play playlist request, the second time, and the particular direction to the server, wherein the server generates a trick play playlist identifying a different set of container files storing segments of encoded video from the trick play stream upon receipt of the trick play playlist request, the different set of container files starting at the second time and in the particular direction;

receiving the generated trick play playlist from the server;

downloading segments of encoded video from the trick play stream according to the generated trick play playlist; and

playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream in the particular direction.

2. The playback device claim 1, wherein:

the encoded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream comprise encoded video frames, including non-key frames each encoded based on video from one or more previous video frames, and key frames interspersed among the non-key frames, each of the key frames encoded independent of previous video frames; and

the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream comprise encoded video frames, including key frames without non-key frames.

3. The playback device of claim 2, wherein:

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream includes playing back video from the non-key frames and the key frames at a normal video frame rate; and

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream includes playing back video from the key frames at a trick play video frame rate.

4. The playback device of claim 3, wherein the playing back video at the trick play video frame rate includes, selectively:

playing back all of the video from each segment of encoded video from the trick play stream file to achieve a normal trick play playback rate; and

playing back a subset of the video in each segment of encoded video from the trick play stream to achieve an accelerated trick play playback rate.

5. The playback device of claim 1, wherein:

the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream are associated with successive time codes;

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream includes playing back the video in a forward direction of increasing time codes;

the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream are associated with successive time codes; and

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream includes playing back the video in a rewind direction of decreasing time codes.

6. The playback device of claim 1, further comprising, prior to downloading of the segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream:

sending a playlist request for segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream associated with time codes greater than a current time specified in the playlist request; and

receiving a playlist listing network addresses where the segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream associated with successive time codes greater than the current time are stored, wherein the downloading includes downloading the segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream from the network addresses, and the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream includes playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream in an order of increasing time codes.

7. The playback device of claim 1, wherein:

the trick play playlist request is a request for a trick play playlist of segments of encoded video from the trick play stream associated with time codes less than a trick play time when the trick play request was received;

the trick play playlist lists network addresses of the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream associated with time codes less than the trick play time;

the downloading the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream include downloading the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream from their network addresses; and

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream includes playing back video in an order of decreasing time codes.

8. A method for playing back content on a playback device, comprising:

receiving a playback request for a selected one of a plurality of adaptive bitrate streams at a first time using a playback device, and in response thereto;

sending a playlist request and the first time to a server;

receiving a playlist identifying a set of successive container files storing segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream from the server, the set of successive container files starting at the first time;

downloading segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream according to the received playlist;

playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream; and

receiving a trick play request for a trick play stream corresponding to the plurality of adaptive bitrate streams using the playback device, the trick play request including a second time and a particular direction, and in response thereto;

sending a trick play playlist request, the second time, and the particular direction to the server, wherein the server generates a trick play playlist identifying a different set of container files storing segments of encoded video from the trick play stream upon receipt of the trick play playlist request, the different set of container files starting at the second time and in the particular direction;

receiving the generated trick play playlist from the server;

downloading segments of encoded video from the trick play stream according to the generated trick play playlist; and

playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream in the particular direction.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the encoded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream comprise encoded video frames, including non-key frames each encoded based on video from one or more previous video frames, and key frames interspersed among the non-key frames, each of the key frames encoded independent of previous video frames; and

the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream comprise encoded video frames, including key frames without non-key frames.

10. The method claim 9, wherein:

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream includes playing back video from the non-key frames and the key frames at a normal video frame rate; and

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream includes playing back video from the key frames at a trick play video frame rate.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the playing back video at the trick play video frame rate includes, selectively:

playing back all of the video from each segment of encoded video from the trick play stream file to achieve a normal trick play playback rate; and

playing back a subset of the video in each segment of encoded video from the trick play stream to achieve an accelerated trick play playback rate.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream are associated with successive time codes;

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream includes playing back the video in a forward direction of increasing time codes;

the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream are associated with successive time codes; and

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream includes playing back the video in a rewind direction of decreasing time codes.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising, prior to downloading of the segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream:

sending a playlist request for segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream associated with time codes greater than a current time specified in the playlist request; and

receiving a playlist listing network addresses where the segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream associated with successive time codes greater than the current time are stored, wherein the downloading includes downloading the segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream from the network addresses, and the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream includes playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the selected adaptive bitrate stream in an order of increasing time codes.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the trick play playlist request is a request for a trick play playlist of segments of encoded video from the trick play stream associated with time codes less than a trick play time when the trick play request was received;

the trick play playlist lists network addresses of the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream associated with time codes less than the trick play time;

the downloading the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream include downloading the segments of encoded video from the trick play stream from their network addresses; and

the playing back video from the downloaded segments of encoded video from the trick play stream includes playing back video in an order of decreasing time codes.