Method and apparatus for streaming data

• US 20060248214A1
• Filed: 04/10/2006
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, Nanami, Jackson, Callum Peter
• Granted Patent: US 8,626,939 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast

Abstract

Method and apparatus for negotiation of streaming data, suitable for application in an environment wherein a server generates and serves large, continuous amounts of speech data to a client in real time. A method of controlling the play out of a generated data stream from a data stream player includes estimating a time for generating the data stream; estimating a time for playing the data stream; generating a data stream using a data stream generation resource, for output by the data stream player; and alerting the stream player if the remaining generation time is less than the play time. The server may calculate what it can do, given knowledge of the network, and send a message to guarantee a level of service. A “can start play” message may be sent to client when the client can reliably start playing the signal.

Claims

1. A method of controlling play out of a generated media data stream from a data stream player, comprising:

estimating a generation time for generating the data stream;

estimating a play time for the data stream;

generating a data stream using a data stream generation resource, for output by the data stream player; and

sending an alert to the stream player if the remaining generation time is not more than the play time.

2. A method as in claim 1, further comprising maintaining the rate of generation at the same rate or faster after the alert has been sent.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein the stream generation has a priority and the priority is raised within the generation resource to maintain the rate after the alert has been sent.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein the remaining generation time is obtained from the data stream generation resource during the generation of the data stream.

5. A method as in claim 1, wherein the alert is sent from the server to the client.

6. A method as in claim 1, wherein the media data steam is speech and the generation resource is a text-to-speech engine.

7. A system for controlling play out of a generated media data stream from a data stream player, said system comprising:

means for estimating a generation time for generating the data stream;

means for estimating a play time for the data stream;

means for generating a data stream using a data stream generation resource, for output by the data stream player; and

means for sending an alert to the stream player if the remaining generation time is not more than the play time.

8. A system as in claim 7, further comprising means for maintaining the rate of generation at the same rate or faster after the alert has been sent.

9. A system as in claim 8, wherein the stream generation has a priority and the priority is raised within the generation resource to maintain the rate after the alert has been sent.

10. A system as in claim 7, wherein the remaining generation time is obtained from the data stream generation resource during the generation of the data stream.

11. A method as in claim 7, wherein the alert is sent from the server to the client.

12. A system as in claim 7, wherein the media data steam is speech and the generation resource is a text-to-speech engine.

13. A computer program product for controlling the play out of a generated media data stream from a data stream player, said computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code tangibly embedded therein, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code configured to estimate a generation time for generating the data stream;

computer readable program code configured to estimate a play time for the data stream;

computer readable program code configured to generate a data stream using a data stream generation resource, for output by the data stream player; and

computer readable program code configured to send an alert to the stream player if the remaining generation time is not more than the play time.

14. A computer program product as in claim 13, further including computer readable program code configured to maintain the rate of generation at the same rate or faster after the alert has been sent.

15. A computer program product as in claim 14, wherein the stream generation has a priority and the priority is raised within the generation resource to maintain the rate after the alert has been sent.

16. A computer program product as in claims 13, wherein the remaining generation time is obtained from the data stream generation resource during the generation of the data stream.

17. A computer program product as in claims 13, wherein the alert is sent from the server to the client.

18. A computer program product as in claim 13, wherein the media data steam is speech and the generation resource is a text-to-speech engine.