Distributed on-demand media transcoding system and method

• US 20070268164A1
• Filed: 07/09/2007
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Angela Lai, Christopher Pirazzi, Howard Chartock, James Hoddie, Jody Shapiro, Steve Chen
• Original Assignee: Angela Lai, Christopher Pirazzi, Howard Chartock, James Hoddie, Jody Shapiro, Steve Chen
• Inventors: Chen, Steve, Shapiro, Jody, Chartock, Howard, Lai, Angela, Hoddie, James, Pirazzi, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 7,355,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 341/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/40 using video transcoding, i.e. partial or full decoding of a coded input stream followed by re-encoding of the decoded output stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/234309 by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2404 Monitoring of server processing errors or hardware failure error or fault detection G06F11/07; monitoring in general G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2405 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the server, e.g. server load allocation of resources in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/50; performance measurement of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2743 Video hosting of uploaded data from client
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6336 directed to decoder
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6379 directed to encoder , e.g. for requesting a lower encoding rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/643 Communication protocols network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP], H04L65/65
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64769 for rate control flow control in packet networks H04L47/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8193 dedicated tools, e.g. video decoder software or IPMP tool
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A method for delivering media content over a network includes transcoding the media content to generate multiple copies of the media content, each of the multiple copies having a different destination type or a different source type or both, storing the multiple copies in a cache, receiving requests for the media content, and selecting and delivering a copy of one of the multiple copies in response to each of the requests. A further method for providing media content transcoding services includes fetching media content, selecting one of multiple transcoders for transcoding from multiple source types to multiple destination types, wherein the one transcoder is selected based at least on the destination type, sending the media content to the selected transcoder, transcoding the media content to the destination type, thereby generating transcoded media content, and transmitting the transcoded media content.

Claims

1-83. -83. (canceled)

84. A method for transcoding media content from one of plural source types to a predetermined one of several destination types, comprising the steps of:

fetching media content;

identifying the source type of the fetched media content;

identifying said predetermined destination type for said media content;

transcoding the media content from said identified source type to the predetermined destination type, thereby generating a transcoded media file; and

transmitting said transcoded media file.

85. The method of claim 84, wherein the media content is fetched, sent and transcoded as a stream of digital data and said transcoded media file is downloaded to a destination of the destination type.

86. The method of claim 84, wherein said media content is fetched, sent and transcoded as a stream of digital data and said transcoded media file is transmitted as a stream of digital data.

87. The method of claim 84, wherein the media content type is defined according to at least one publishing variable, wherein said at least one publishing variable includes:

the file format of the media content;

the bit-rate of the media content;

the compression algorithm according to which the media content is stored;

the communication protocol according to which the media content is transferred;

or

the physical medium on which the media content is stored;

or

combinations thereof; and

wherein said step of transcoding comprises converting said at least one publishing variable of the media content from a source publishing variable type to a destination publishing variable type.

88. The method of claim 84, further comprising the steps of:

storing said transcoded media file in a transcoded cache; and

responding to subsequent transcoding requests for the media content by fetching said transcoded media file from said transcoded cache, and transmitting said transcoded media file.

89. The method of claim 88, further comprising the step of:

determining whether to keep said transcoded media content in said transcoded cache based on an intelligent algorithm.