Method and system for playing dynamic content

• US 8,196,141 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2006
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: INVT SPE LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Peng, Jin
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kumabe, Blake
• Application Number:
  US11/573,697
• Publication Number:
  US 20080320481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,140 Days
• Field of Search: 718/103
• US Class Current: 718/103
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/102 Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers access by moving the head G11B3/08, G11B5/54, G11B7/085, G11B21/022; by moving the record carrier G11B15/005, G11B17/005, by driving of both record carrier and head G11B15/1816
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/329 on a disc [VTOC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4825 using a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlists
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration

Abstract

A method for playing dynamic content includes: allocating and occupying playing resources for playing of dynamic contents by dynamic content priority; preempting playing resources occupied by dynamic contents of lower priorities to play back dynamic contents of higher priorities in precedence. The dynamic contents of which the playing resources are preempted can be handled as appropriate in accordance with the preset processing policy. A playing apparatus for playing dynamic content includes a content receiving module, a storage unit, a play scheduling module, a content playing module, and a user configuration module. The present invention supports automatic playing of dynamic contents by priority and in accordance with the policy preset by the user, and can be implemented simply and conveniently.

Claims

1. A method for playing dynamic content, comprising:

receiving a first dynamic content by a content receiving module from a dynamic content transmission server, wherein the content receiving module sends the first dynamic content to a storage unit for storage, and notifies a play scheduling module of a content identification (ID) and a playing priority of the first dynamic content;

determining by the play scheduling module whether there is any idle playing resources based on a status report message received from a content playing module;

if there is an idle playing resource, sending a command from the play scheduling module to the content playing module to play the first dynamic content with the idle playing resource;

if there is no idle playing resource and the priority of the first dynamic content is not the lowest, preempting a playing resource occupied by a second dynamic content whose priority is lower than that of the first dynamic content to play the first dynamic content, and processing the second dynamic content according to a preset processing policy saved in an alternative policy list;

if there is no idle playing resource and the priority of the first dynamic content is the lowest, waiting until a playing resource becomes idle;

if the first dynamic content is of the highest priority, processing the second dynamic content according to a preset processing policy saved in a highest priority processing policy list.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing policy comprises one of:

pausing all the currently played dynamic contents;

stopping all the currently played dynamic contents; and

switching the playing of all the currently played dynamic contents into a background playing mode.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing a play list for saving in real time the current playing status of a dynamic content.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the process of saving in real time the current playing status of a dynamic content comprises:

recording the playing status of a dynamic content waiting for playing resource as “

Wait”

;

recording the playing status of a dynamic content occupying a playing resource currently as “

Playing”

; and

modifying the playing status of a dynamic content whose playing resource is preempted in accordance with the alternative policy list.

5. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

adding a record in the play list on receiving a new dynamic content.

6. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

after the playing of a current dynamic content is ended, deleting a corresponding record in the play list, and choosing a dynamic content of highest priority among dynamic contents, the playing statuses of the dynamic contents being “

Paused”

or “

Wait”

.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the play list contains at least one of:

content ID, priority, and current playing status of a dynamic content.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein, the processing policy comprises one of:

pausing or stopping the playing of the second dynamic contents, or playing the second dynamic content in background.

9. The apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the content playing module comprises a playing execution sub-module and a status reporting sub-module,

wherein the playing execution sub-module is adapted to receive an operation command from the command sub-module and carry out the corresponding operation for a dynamic content,

wherein the status reporting sub-module is adapted to return an execution status report to the play scheduling module, and

wherein after the play scheduling module receives the execution status report, the reading/writing sub-module is adapted to modify the playing status of a corresponding dynamic content in the play list saved in the storage unit.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein after the playing of a dynamic content is ended, the status reporting sub-module is adapted to send a playing completion report to the play scheduling module;

the reading/writing sub-module in the play scheduling module is adapted to delete the record corresponding to the ended dynamic content in the play list saved in the storage unit and choose a dynamic content of highest priority among dynamic contents and notify the command sub-module to send a Playing command to the content playing module to play the dynamic content of highest priority, the playing statuses of the dynamic contents being “

Paused”

or “

Wait”

in the play list.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

storing a play list for saving in real time the current playing status of a dynamic content.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the process of saving in real time the current playing status of a dynamic content comprises:

recording the playing status of a dynamic content waiting for playing resource as “

Wait”

;

recording the playing status of a dynamic content occupying a playing resource currently as “

Playing”

; and

if a dynamic content of the highest priority is received currently, modifying the playing status of a currently played dynamic content in accordance with the highest priority processing policy list.

13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

adding a record in the play list on receiving a new dynamic content.

14. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

after the playing of a current dynamic content is ended, deleting a corresponding record in the play list, and choosing a dynamic content of highest priority among dynamic contents, the playing statuses of the dynamic contents being “

Paused”

or “

Wait”

.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the play list contains at least one of:

content ID, priority, and current playing status of a dynamic content.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the play list further comprises one of an occupied playing resource ID and a waited playing resource ID.

17. An apparatus for playing dynamic content, comprising:

a content receiving module, a storage unit, a play scheduling module, and a content playing module,

wherein the content receiving module is adapted to receive a first dynamic content from a dynamic content transmission server, store the first dynamic content in the storage unit, and notify the play scheduling module of a content identification (ID) and a playing priority of the first dynamic content,

wherein the storage unit is adapted to store an alternative policy list and a highest priority processing policy list,

wherein the play scheduling module is adapted to determine whether there is any idle playing resources based on a status report message received from the content playing module,

wherein if there is an idle playing resource, sending a command from the play scheduling module to the content playing module to play the first dynamic content with the idle playing resource;

wherein if there is no idle playing resource and the priority of the first dynamic content is not the lowest, preempting a playing resource occupied by a second dynamic content whose priority is lower than that of the first dynamic content to play the first dynamic content, and processing the second dynamic content according to a preset processing policy saved in the alternative policy list,

wherein if there is no idle playing resource and the priority of the first dynamic content is the lowest, waiting until a playing resource becomes idle, and

wherein if the first dynamic content is of the highest priority, processing the second dynamic content according to a preset processing policy saved in the highest priority processing policy list.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the content receiving module comprises a dynamic content receiving/forwarding sub module and a notifying sub-module,

wherein the play scheduling module comprises a judging sub-module and a command sub-module,

wherein the dynamic content receiving/forwarding sub-module is adapted to receive and forward a customized dynamic content to the storage unit for storage,

wherein the notifying sub module is adapted to obtain content ID and priority information contained in the first dynamic content, and send a notification message to the play scheduling module,

wherein the judging sub-module is adapted to judge whether there is an idle playing resource, after the play scheduling module receives the notification message,

wherein the command sub-module is adapted to send a playing command to the content playing module to play the first dynamic content by use of the idle playing resource if there is an idle playing resource,

wherein the judging sub-module is adapted to compare the priority of the first dynamic content with that of the second dynamic content occupying a playing resource if there is no idle playing resource currently, and

wherein the command sub-module is adapted to send an operation command to the content playing module to preempt the playing resource and play the first dynamic content if the priority of the first currently received dynamic content is higher than that of the second dynamic content occupying the playing resource;

and send an operation command to the content playing module to play the first dynamic content, if the priority of the first currently received dynamic content is lower than that of the second dynamic content occupying the playing resource and the currently occupied playing resource becomes idle.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the storage unit is further adapted to store a play list for saving a playing status of a dynamic content,

wherein the play scheduling module further comprises a reading/writing sub-module,

wherein the reading/writing sub-module is adapted to record the playing status of the first dynamic content as “

Wait”

in the play list saved in the storage unit, when the play scheduling module receives a notification message from the content playing module, and the judging sub-module determines that there is no idle playing resource currently and the occupied playing resource has to be waited to become idle,

wherein the reading/writing sub-module is adapted to record its playing status as “

Playing”

in the play list saved in the storage unit for the dynamic content occupying the playing resource, and

wherein the reading/writing sub-module is adapted to modify the corresponding playing status in the play list saved in the storage unit in accordance with a preset processing policy for the dynamic content whose playing resource is preempted.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the content playing module comprises a playing execution sub-module and a status reporting sub module,

wherein the playing execution sub-module is adapted to receive an operation command from the command sub-module and carry out the corresponding operation for a dynamic content, and

wherein the status reporting sub-module is adapted to return an execution status report to the play scheduling module;

after the play scheduling module receives the execution status report, the reading/writing sub-module is adapted to modify the playing status of a corresponding dynamic content in the play list saved in the storage unit.

21. The apparatus according to claim 20, wherein after the playing of a dynamic content is ended, the status reporting sub-module is adapted to send a playing completion report to the play scheduling module, and

wherein the reading/writing sub-module in the play scheduling module is adapted to delete the record corresponding to the ended dynamic content in the play list saved in the storage unit and choose a dynamic content of highest priority among dynamic contents and notify the command sub-module to send a playing command to the content playing module to play the dynamic content of highest priority, the playing statuses of the dynamic contents being “

Paused”

or “

Wait”

in the play list.

22. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the storage unit is further adapted to store a highest priority processing policy list for saving a processing policy for a currently played dynamic content when a dynamic content of highest priority is received, and

wherein the reading/writing sub-module is adapted to read the highest priority processing policy list, and the command sub-module is adapted to send an operation command to the content playing module so as to process a currently played dynamic content, after the play scheduling module receives the notification message and the judging sub-module determines that the currently received dynamic content is of highest priority.

23. The apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising a user configuration module for setting or modifying the alternative policy list or the highest priority policy list in accordance with information input by a user.