Extensible video player selection via server-side detection of client application

• US 8,892,634 B2
• Filed: 11/12/2010
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chaudhuri, Mahua, Dharap, Parag, Pierce, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thanh Tammy
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUI, JONATHAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/944,721
• Publication Number:
  US 20120124123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,467 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/229, 725/151
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25858 involving client software characteristics, e.g. OS identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6175 involving transmission via Internet broadcast-related systems characterised by the transmission system being the Internet H04H60/82

Abstract

A web server receives from different client applications HTTP requests for the same webpage in which video content is to be embedded. The web server provides to each of the client applications an HTTP response to the HTTP request. The HTML or XHTML text included in the response references the video content solely in a manner that is specific to a single video player. The HTML or XHTML text returned in a response to a request may be different for different client applications, even though the different client applications all requested the same webpage or portion of webpage. The video file referenced by the HTML or XHTML text returned in a response may be different for different client applications, even though the video files encode the same video content.

Claims

1. A method of handling webpage requests, comprising:

receiving a first request for a requested webpage or portion thereof that is to have video content embedded therein, the first request created by a first client application and including a first indication of a client application type of the first client application;

determining the client application type of the first client application based on the first indication included in the first request;

providing to the first client application a first response to the first request, the first response including a first reference to the video content that refers to the video content in a manner specific to a first type of video player, and the first response determined based at least in part on the determined client application type of the first client application;

receiving a second request for the requested webpage or the portion thereof, the second request created by a second client application that is different from the first client application, and the second request including a second indication of the client application type of the second client application;

determining the client application type of the second client application based on the second indication included in the second request; and

providing to the second client application a second response to the second request, the second response including a second reference to the video content that refers to the video content in a manner specific to a second type of video player that is different from the first type of video player, and the second response determined based at least in part on the determined client application type of the second client application.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

providing to the first client application a first video file that encodes the video content in a first video file format, where the first reference refers to the first video file; and

providing the first video file to the second client application, where the second reference refers to the first video file.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

providing to the first client application a first video file that encodes the video content in a first video file format, where the first reference refers to the first video file; and

providing to the second client application a second video file that encodes the video content in a second video file format that is different from the first video file format, where the second reference refers to the second video file.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first video player is supported by the first client application.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second video player is supported by the first client application.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second video player is not supported by the first client application.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first video player is not supported by the first client application.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the first client application created the first request by analyzing the first request.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing a description of the requested webpage;

determining, in response to analyzing the description of the requested webpage that the video content is to be embedded in the requested webpage;

determining support of the first client application for each of multiple video players of an ordered list, each of the video players of the ordered list being associated with the requested webpage;

selecting a last video player of the ordered list as the first video player in response to a determination that the first client application does not support any video player of the ordered list; and

selecting a first video player in the ordered list that is supported by the first client application in response to a determination that the first client application supports one or more video players of the ordered list.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the description is a static webpage and the first reference refers to the video content in a different manner than the manner in which the static webpage refers to the video content.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the description is a description of a dynamic webpage.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

generating the first reference.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a cache key for a combination of the requested webpage and the first video player;

in response to the cache key not corresponding to any entry in a cache of references;

generating the first reference;

caching the first reference in the cache; and

associating the first reference to the cache key; and

in response to the cache key corresponding to an entry in the cache,

loading the first reference from the cache.

14. A computer-readable device having computer-executable components stored therein, the computer-executable components comprising:

a request analyzer to analyze a Hypertext Transfer Protocol ‘

HTTP’

request for a requested webpage in which video content is to be embedded and to determine from the HTTP request which client application created the HTTP request;

a video player selector to receive an identification of the client application that created the HTTP request from the request analyzer and to select a selected video player by;

determining whether the client application that created the HTTP request supports any video player in an ordered list of one or more video players associated with the requested webpage;

selecting as the selected video player a last video player in the ordered list in response to a determination that the client application does not support any video player of the ordered list; and

selecting as the selected video player a first video player in the ordered list that is supported by the client application in response to a determination that the client application supports one or more video players of the ordered list;

a Hypertext Markup Language/eXtensible Hypertext Markup Language ‘

HTML/XHTML’

generator to receive an indication of the selected video player from the video player selector and to obtain HTML or XHTML text that references the video content solely in a manner specific to the selected video player; and

an HTTP response generator to receive the HTML or XHTML text from the HTML/XHTML generator and to generate an HTTP response to the HTTP request, the HTTP response including the HTML or XHTML text.

15. The computer-readable memory as claimed in claim 14, wherein the HTML/XHTML generator is to generate the HTML or XHTML text that references the video content solely in the manner specific to the selected video player.

16. The computer-readable memory as claimed in claim 14, wherein the HTML/XHTML generator is (i) to obtain a cache key for a combination of the requested webpage and the selected video player, (ii) where the cache key does not correspond to any entry in a cache, to generate the HTML or XHTML text that references the video content solely in the manner specific to the selected video player and to cache the HTML or XHTML text in the cache indexed by the cache key, and (iii) where the cache key corresponds to an entry in the cache, to load the HTML or XHTML text from the cache.

17. A computer system comprising:

a communication connection through which the computer system is able to communicate with client computers;

a processing unit; and

a system memory storing a web server, the web server operable to;

receive a first request for a requested webpage or portion thereof that is to have video content embedded therein, the first request created by a first client application and including a first indication of a client application type of the first client application;

determine the client application type of the first client application based on the first indication included in the first request;

provide to the first client application a first response to the first request, the first response including first reference that refers to the video content in a manner determined to be appropriate for a first video player, and the first response determined based at least in part on

the determined client application type of the first client application;

receive a second request for the requested webpage or the portion thereof, the second request created by a second client application that is different from the first client application, and the second request including a second indication of the client application type of the second client application;

determine the client application type of the second client application based on the second indication included in the second request; and

provide to the second client application a second response to the second request, the second response including second reference that refers to the video content in a manner determined to be appropriate for a second video player that is different from the first video player, and the second response determined based at least in part on the determined client application type of the second client application.

18. The computer system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the web server is further operable to:

provide to the first client application a first video file that encodes the video content in a first video file format; and

to provide the first video file to the second client application, where the first reference and the second reference both refer to the first video file.

19. The computer system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the web server is further operable to:

provide to the first client application a first video file that encodes the video content in a first video file format; and

to provide to the second client application a second video file that encodes the video content in a second video file format that is different from the first video file format, and wherein the first reference refers to the first video file and the second reference refers to the second video file.

20. The computer system as claimed in claim 17, wherein the web server is further operable to:

determine that the first client application created the first request by analyzing the first request.