OPTIMIZED CLIENT SIDE RATE CONTROL AND INDEXED FILE LAYOUT FOR STREAMING MEDIA

• US 20130124697A1
• Filed: 01/07/2013
• Published: 05/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mehrotra, Sanjeev, Kotteri, Kishore, Siravara, Bharath, Holcomb, Thomas W., Gao, Hui, Smirnov, Serge
• Granted Patent: US 9,571,550 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• 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 65/70 Media network packetisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/752 adapting media to network capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18

Abstract

An indexed file layout, comprising index information, is defined for segmented streaming of multimedia content. The index information can comprise program description information and streaming segment index information. In addition, the layout can comprise files containing streaming segments of the program, where the streaming segments are each encoded at one or more bitrates independently of other streaming segments of the program. The layout supports client switching between different bitrates at segment boundaries. Optimized client-side rate control of streaming content can be provided by defining a plurality of states, selecting available paths based on constraint conditions, and selecting a best path through the states (e.g., based on a distortion measure). In one client-side rate control solution states correspond to a specific bitrate of a specific streaming segment, and in another client-side rate control solution states correspond to a measure of client buffer fullness.

Claims

1-9. -9. (canceled)

10. A method for optimizing client-side rate control of streaming content, the method comprising:

for each of a plurality of states;

selecting one or more available paths that end in the state, where the one or more available paths are those paths ending in the state that satisfy a constraint condition;

selecting a best path to the state from the one or more available paths, wherein the best path has the lowest distortion amongst the one or more available paths; and

eliminating, as available paths, all of the one or more available paths other than the best path; and

downloading, by a client from a server, one or more streaming segments encoded at bitrates corresponding to the best path to an ending state through the plurality of states, wherein each of the plurality of states corresponds to a specific bitrate encoding of a specific streaming segment.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the constraint condition is satisfied when a sum of time it takes to download all streaming segments up to a current position is less than or equal to initial startup delay plus cumulative playback time up to the current position.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the constraint condition is defined by the following equation:

T₀+Σ

_i=0^n-1t[i]≧

Σ

_i=0ⁿs[u[i],i],

where T₀ is the initial delay, “

t[i]”

is the playback duration of the i'"'"'th position, “

u[i]”

is the index of the chosen bitrate for the i'"'"'th position, “

s[u[i],i]”

is the download time for downloading the u[i] bitrate for the i'"'"'th position, and “

n”

is the current position.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

receiving, by the client from the server, index information for a program, wherein the index information is used by the client to identify the plurality of states, select the one or more available paths, and select the best path.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

displaying, by the client, the decoded streaming segments corresponding to the best path.

15. A method for optimizing client-side rate control of streaming content, the method comprising:

for each of a plurality of states;

selecting one or more available paths that end in the state, where the one or more available paths are those paths ending in the state that satisfy a constraint condition; and

retaining the one or more available paths as possible paths to be included in a best end-to-end path;

performing an end-to-end analysis of the possible paths to determine the best end-to-end path, wherein the best end-to-end path has the lowest overall distortion; and

downloading, by a client from a server, one or more streaming segments encoded at bitrates corresponding to the best end-to-end path through the plurality of states, wherein each of the plurality of states corresponds to a measure of client buffer fullness for a specific bitrate encoding of a specific streaming segment.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the constraint condition is satisfied when a sum of time it takes to download all streaming segments up to a current position is less than or equal to initial startup delay plus cumulative playback time up to the current position.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the constraint condition is defined by the following equation:

T₀+Σ

_i=0^n-1t[i]≧

Σ

_i=0ⁿs[u[i],i],

where T₀ is the initial delay, “

t[i]”

is the playback duration of the i'"'"'th position, “

u[i]”

is the index of the chosen bitrate for the i'"'"'th position, “

s[u[i],i]”

is the download time for downloading the u[i] bitrate for the i'"'"'th position, and “

n”

is the current position.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving, by the client from the server, index information for a program, wherein the index information is used by the client to identify the plurality of states and select the one or more available paths.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

displaying, by the client, the decoded streaming segments corresponding to the best end-to-end path.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the plurality of states are organized into a trellis.

21. A computing device comprising:

a processing unit;

a communication connection; and

at least one of memory and storage media storing instructions for causing the computing device to perform operations for optimizing client-side rate control of streaming content, the operations comprising;

for each of a plurality of states;

selecting one or more available paths that end in the state, where the one or more available paths are those paths ending in the state that satisfy a constraint condition;

selecting a best path to the state from the one or more available paths, wherein the best path has the lowest distortion amongst the one or more available paths; and

eliminating, as available paths, all of the one or more available paths other than the best path; and

downloading, by the computing device via the communication connection, one or more streaming segments encoded at bitrates corresponding to the best path to an ending state through the plurality of states, wherein each of the plurality of states corresponds to a specific bitrate encoding of a specific streaming segment.

22. The computing device of claim 21 wherein the constraint condition is satisfied when a sum of time it takes to download all streaming segments up to a current position is less than or equal to initial startup delay plus cumulative playback time up to the current position.

23. The computing device of claim 21 wherein the constraint condition is defined by the following equation:

T₀+Σ

_i=0^n-1t[i]≧

Σ

_i=0ⁿs[u[i],i],

where T₀ is the initial delay, “

t[i]”

is the playback duration of the i'"'"'th position, “

u[i]”

is the index of the chosen bitrate for the i'"'"'th position, “

s[u[i],i]”

is the download time for downloading the u[i] bitrate for the i'"'"'th position, and “

n”

is the current position.

24. The computing device of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device via the communication connection, index information for a program, wherein the index information is used by the computing device to identify the plurality of states, select the one or more available paths, and select the best path.

25. The computing device of claim 21, the operations further comprising:

displaying, by the computing device via a display of the computing device, the decoded streaming segments corresponding to the best path.