Hybrid method for delivering streaming media within the home

• US 20100169502A1
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Knowlson, Kenneth L., Wang, Jason Hongfeng, Cain, Gamil A., Joshi, Ajit P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,499,090 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics

Abstract

A hybrid system and method for delivering “streaming” media within the home. According to the method, small portions of media items from a controlling device are received at a rendering device for pre-caching into a cache. Upon a user selecting a media item for playback, play of the media item is immediately started from the cache in real-time while the remaining portions of the selected media item are downloaded from the controlling device and appended to cache at a rate faster than real-time.

Claims

1. A home network system comprising:

a controlling device having storage to house a plurality of multimedia items, the controlling device coupled to a plurality of rendering devices, each of the plurality of rendering devices connected to a monitor, each of the plurality of rendering devices having storage, the storage including a partitioned cache to enable a small portion of a multimedia item from the controlling device to be pre-cached on at least one of the rendering devices prior to being selected by a user for viewing, wherein when a user selects the media item for viewing, the remaining portion of the media item to be progressively downloaded from the controlling device to the cache while a user simultaneously views the media item from the cache.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the partitioned cache is a pre-determined length.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the download of the remaining portion of the multimedia item from the controlling device to the cache comprises media streaming at a rate faster than real-time.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein upon selection of the media item by the user for viewing, the selected media item to begin play of the pre-cached portion in real-time while the remaining portion of the selected media item to be appended to the pre-cached portion of the media item in the cache at a rate faster than real-time.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein upon selection of the media item by the user for viewing, the cache expands.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein intelligent prediction based on past usage and recently acquired media is used to determine media items to be pre-cached on the rendering device.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface at the rendering devices to enable users of the rendering devices to select and rate media items stored on the controlling device, and based on the ratings, to enable media items to be pre-cached on the rendering devices.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein if the media item comprises a protected media item, the media item to be delivered to the rendering device using content protection technology, wherein the cached media content to be stored in a protected manner on the rendering devices.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein a secure key exchange to occur when the media item is stored on the cache, wherein the key is cached and protected.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein when the selected media item comprises a protected media item, the system further comprising a first key stored and protected in the cache to decrypt the pre-cached content of the protected media item and a second key stored and protected in the cache to decrypt the remaining portion of the protected media item.

11. A hybrid streaming method comprising:

receiving small portions of media items from a controlling device for pre-caching into a cache of a rendering device; and

upon a user selecting a media item for playback, immediately playing the media item from the cache in real-time for the user while simultaneously connecting to the controlling device to download remaining portions of the selected media item into the cache at a rate faster than real-time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein upon the user selecting a media item for playback, the cache expands.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the controlling device connects to the rendering device to pre-cache the media items.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the rendering device enables the user to browse media items on the controlling device prior to selecting the media item for playback.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the download of the remaining portions of the selected media item begins at an offset that corresponds to the end location of the small portion of the media item that was pre-cached.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving the remaining portions of the selected media item and appending the remaining portions of the selected media item to a corresponding file in the cache until the cache is full.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the cache acts as a moving buffer, playing the media item from the cache in real-time while continuously filling the cache with the remaining portions of the selected media item faster than real-time.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein if an event occurs at the controlling device to slow or halt the download of the remaining portions of the selected media item resulting in a reduced cache, filling the cache at a faster speed when the event stops.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein if any of the media items are protected, the method further comprising:

receiving small portions of protected media items from a controlling device for pre-caching into a cache of a rendering device, the small portions of protected media items delivered using content protection technology that provides for a secure key exchange, wherein a first encryption key for each of the pre-cached media items is cached and protected; and

upon a user selecting a protected media item for playback, immediately playing the pre-cached media item from the cache in real-time for the user while simultaneously connecting to the controlling device to download remaining portions of the selected protected media item into the cache at a rate faster than real-time, wherein content from the pre-cached media item is decrypted using the first encryption key.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising receiving the remaining portions of the selected protected media item and appending the remaining portions of the selected media item to a corresponding file in the cache until the cache is full, wherein a second encryption key for the remaining portions of the selected protected media item is cached and protected.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the cache acts as a moving buffer, playing the remaining portions of the selected protected media item from the cache in real-time while continuously filling the cache with the remaining portions of the selected media item faster than real-time, wherein the remaining portions of the selected protected media item are decrypted using the second encryption key.

22. An article comprising:

a storage medium having a plurality of machine accessible instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for receiving small portions of media items from a controlling device for pre-caching into a cache of a rendering device; and

upon a user selecting a media item for playback, immediately playing the media item from the cache in real-time for the user while simultaneously connecting to the controlling device to download remaining portions of the selected media item into the cache at a rate faster than real-time.

23. The article of claim 22, wherein the controlling device connects to the rendering device to pre-cache the media items.

24. The article of claim 22, wherein the rendering device enables the user to browse media items on the controlling device prior to selecting the media item for playback.

25. The article of claim 22, wherein the download of the remaining portions of the selected media item begins at an offset that corresponds to the end location of the small portion of the media item that was pre-cached.

26. The article of claim 22, further comprising instructions for receiving the remaining portions of the selected media item and appending the remaining portions of the selected media item to a corresponding file in the cache until the cache is full.

27. The article of claim 26, wherein the cache acts as a moving buffer, playing the media item from the cache in real-time while continuously filling the cache with the remaining portions of the selected media item faster than real-time.

28. The article of claim 27, wherein if an event occurs at the controlling device to slow or halt the download of the remaining portions of the selected media item resulting in a reduced cache, further comprising instructions for filling the cache at a faster speed when the event stops.

29. The article of claim 22, wherein if any of the media items are protected, the article further comprising instructions for:

receiving small portions of protected media items from a controlling device for pre-caching into a cache of a rendering device, the small portions of protected media items delivered using content protection technology that provides for a secure key exchange, wherein a first encryption key for each of the pre-cached media items is cached and protected; and

upon a user selecting a protected media item for playback, immediately playing the pre-cached media item from the cache in real-time for the user while simultaneously connecting to the controlling device to download remaining portions of the selected protected media item into the cache at a rate faster than real-time, wherein content from the pre-cached media item is decrypted using the first encryption key.

30. The article of claim 29, further comprising instructions for receiving the remaining portions of the selected protected media item and appending the remaining portions of the selected media item to a corresponding file in the cache until the cache is full, wherein a second encryption key for the remaining portions of the selected protected media item is cached and protected.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the cache acts as a moving buffer, playing the remaining portions of the selected protected media item from the cache in real-time while continuously filling the cache with the remaining portions of the selected media item faster than real-time, wherein the remaining portions of the selected protected media item are decrypted using the second encryption key.