Streaming of media in a multimedia messaging service

• US 10,581,792 B2
• Filed: 10/11/2017
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Original Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Inventors: Mostafa, Miraj
• Primary Examiner(s): MacIlwinen, John M
• Application Number:
  US15/729,863
• Publication Number:
  US 20180077107A1
• Time in Patent Office: 874 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1108 Web based protocols, e.g. webRTC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/61 for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

A communication method, comprising the steps of a sender 21 sending a message comprising at least one streamable component and information describing it to a communication server MMSC and the communication server responsively sending to a receiver 24 a notification message to notify about the availability of the streamable component. The notification message is a multimedia message comprising the description for the streamable component. The communication server MMSC and the receiver form a streaming session for transferring the streamable component using the information describing the streamable component. The communication server MMSC then streams the streamable component to the receiver 24 in sequential sub-parts in the streaming session. Corresponding to the method, a communication system 20, a communication server MMSC, a communication device 21, 24 and computer program products for them are also described.

Claims

1. A multimedia message service center in a communication system, comprising:

at least one multimedia message server at an apparatus in the communication system, configured to;

send a notification message to a receiving device, the notification message indicating availability of a streamable media content and including presentation description information related to streaming of the streamable media content; and

a media server at an apparatus in the communication system, the media server indicated in the notification message and configured to;

establish an upload streaming session with the sending device; and

upload and store streamable media content from the sending device in the upload streaming session;

establish a download streaming session with the receiving device based on the presentation description information in the notification message;

download the stored streamable media content to the receiving device in the download streaming session; and

wherein the media server is configured to upload and store at least a portion of the streamable media content in the uploading streaming session simultaneously with downloading at least a portion of the stored streamable media content in the download streaming session;

and wherein the multimedia message server sends the notification message to the receiving device after the media server stores a portion of the streamable media content uploaded from the sending device.

2. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the presentation description information comprises one or more of:

a network address of the media server,

information about an access mechanism for accessing the streamable multimedia content from the media server,

a type of the media content,

an encoding scheme used to encode the media content, and

an indication of a transport protocol to be used to access the media content from the media server.

3. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the presentation description information comprises:

identification of a server at which information for establishing a streaming session with the media server is located; and

an access mechanism for retrieving the information from the identified server.

4. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the presentation description information comprises information sufficient for the receiving device to download the streamable media content by streaming.

5. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the at least one multimedia message server and the media server are merged into a single network entity.

6. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the at least one multimedia message server and the media server are different network entities from one another.

7. The multimedia message service center of claim 6, wherein the at least one multimedia message server and the media server are located at different geographic locations from one another.

8. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the media server is configured to download the stored streamable media content to the receiving device as a sequence of content sub-parts.

9. The multimedia message service center of claim 1, wherein the media server is configured to download the stored streamable media content to the receiving device using Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP).

10. A method of streaming media content received at a multimedia message service center from a sending device, to a receiving device, comprising:

establishing an upload streaming session with the sending device;

uploading and storing streamable media content from the sending device in the upload streaming session;

after storing a portion of the streamable media content uploaded from the sending device, sending a notification message to the receiving device, the notification message indicating availability of the streamable media content and including presentation description information related to streaming of the streamable media content;

establishing a download streaming session with the receiving device based on the presentation description information in the notification message; and

downloading the stored streamable media content to the receiving device in the download streaming session simultaneously with the uploading and storing of at least a portion of the streamable media content from the sending device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the multimedia message service center comprises:

at least one multimedia message server, configured to perform the step of sending the notification message; and

a media server, configured to perform the establishing, uploading and storing, and downloading steps.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the presentation description information comprises one or more of:

a network address of the media server,

information about an access mechanism for accessing the streamable multimedia content from the media server,

a type of the media content,

an encoding scheme used to encode the media content, and

an indication of a transport protocol to be used to access the media content from the media server.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the presentation description information comprises:

identification of a server at which information for establishing a streaming session with the media server is located; and

an access mechanism for retrieving the information from the identified server.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the presentation description information comprises information sufficient for the receiving device to download the streamable media content by streaming.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the downloading step comprises:

downloading the stored streamable media content to the receiving device as a sequence of content sub-parts.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the downloading step comprises:

downloading the stored streamable media content to the receiving device using Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP).