Video optimized media streamer with cache management
First Claim
1. A media streamer, comprising:
- at least one storage node for storing a digital representation of at least one video presentation, said at least one video presentation requiring a time T to present in its entirety, and stored as a plurality of N data blocks, each data block comprising a T/N portion of said at least one video presentation, said at least one storage node comprising a first data buffer for buffering at least one of said N data blocks;
a plurality of communication nodes each having an input port that is coupled via a circuit switch to an output of said first data buffer for sequentially receiving a plurality of said N data blocks therefrom, said sequentially received N data blocks being associated with a same video presentation or with different video presentations, each of said plurality of communication nodes further having a plurality of output ports, individual ones of said plurality of output ports outputting a digital representation of one video presentation, individual ones of said plurality of communication nodes further comprising a second data buffer for buffering at least one of said N data blocks prior to outputting said at least one of said N data blocks; and
at least one control node responsive to a first operating condition for causing transfer of one of said N data blocks from said first data buffer to an output port of a first communication node and also to an output port of a second communication node, said at least one control node being further responsive to a second operating condition for causing transfer of one of said N data blocks from said first data buffer to said second data buffer of one of said communication nodes, and for causing transfer of said one of said N data blocks from said second data buffer to a plurality of said output ports of said one of said communication nodes.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data storage system includes a mass storage unit storing a data entity, such as a digital representation of a video presentation, that is partitioned into a plurality N of temporally-ordered segments. A data buffer is bidirectionally coupled to the mass storage unit for storing up to M of the temporally-ordered segments, wherein M is less than N. The data buffer has an output for outputting stored ones of the temporally-ordered segments. The data storage system further includes a data buffer manager for scheduling transfers of individual ones of the temporally-ordered segments between the mass storage unit and the data buffer. The data buffer manager schedules the transfers in accordance with at least a predicted time that an individual one of the temporally-ordered segments will be required to be output from the data buffer. When employed with a media streamer (10) distributed data buffer management techniques are employed for selecting blocks to be retained in a buffer memory, either in a storage node (16, 17) or in a communication node (14). These techniques rely on the predictable nature of the video data stream, and thus are enabled to predict the future requirements for a given one of the data blocks.
606 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A media streamer, comprising:
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at least one storage node for storing a digital representation of at least one video presentation, said at least one video presentation requiring a time T to present in its entirety, and stored as a plurality of N data blocks, each data block comprising a T/N portion of said at least one video presentation, said at least one storage node comprising a first data buffer for buffering at least one of said N data blocks; a plurality of communication nodes each having an input port that is coupled via a circuit switch to an output of said first data buffer for sequentially receiving a plurality of said N data blocks therefrom, said sequentially received N data blocks being associated with a same video presentation or with different video presentations, each of said plurality of communication nodes further having a plurality of output ports, individual ones of said plurality of output ports outputting a digital representation of one video presentation, individual ones of said plurality of communication nodes further comprising a second data buffer for buffering at least one of said N data blocks prior to outputting said at least one of said N data blocks; and at least one control node responsive to a first operating condition for causing transfer of one of said N data blocks from said first data buffer to an output port of a first communication node and also to an output port of a second communication node, said at least one control node being further responsive to a second operating condition for causing transfer of one of said N data blocks from said first data buffer to said second data buffer of one of said communication nodes, and for causing transfer of said one of said N data blocks from said second data buffer to a plurality of said output ports of said one of said communication nodes. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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Specification