System for filtering media manifests using manifest attributes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10057618-B2
Application number	US-201414298740-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 6, 2014
Priority date	Jun 6, 2014
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

A method includes acts for providing a VOD or streaming video manifest. The method includes at a server, receiving a request for a manifest from a client device. The request for a manifest includes an identification of one or more filters to be applied to a returned manifest. The method further includes, at the server, identifying the manifest. The manifest identifies different portions of a multimedia asset that can be delivered to client devices. The method further includes applying the one or more identified filters to the manifest to generate a filtered manifest that excludes one or more items as dictated by the one or more filters. The filtered manifest is returned to the client device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. In a computing environment, a method of providing a VOD or streaming video manifest, the method comprising:
at a server, receiving a request for an existing manifest from a client device, wherein the request for a manifest comprises an identification of one or more filters previously identified to the client device, wherein each of the filters comprises an enumeration of computer readable limitations to be applied to the existing manifest to create a filtered version of the existing manifest, wherein the identification of one or more filters specifies at least one named, previously saved, re-usable filter including a filter based on video resolution, a filter based on bitrate, a filter based on audio quality, or a filter based on time stamps;
at the server, identifying the existing manifest, wherein the existing manifest identifies different existing portions of a multimedia asset that can be delivered to client devices;
at the server, applying the one or more identified filters to the existing manifest to generate the filtered version of the existing manifest from the existing manifest that filters out from the existing manifest one or more items as dictated by the one or more filters such that the filtered version of the existing manifest includes an enumeration of less than all items enumerated in the existing manifest; and
at the server, returning the filtered version of the existing manifest to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more filters are created at the client device and provided to the server.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more filters are selected from a predefined set of filters provided to client.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending an indication of a selection of filters that can be applied at the server to the client device, and wherein the identification of one or more filters to be applied to the existing manifest is created by the client using the indication of a selection of filters that can be applied.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identification of one or more filters to be applied to the existing manifest specifies both an upper and lower limit of a bit rate.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on video resolution.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on at least one of audio or video bitrate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on at least one of audio channels, codec or language.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on time stamps.

10. In a computing environment, a method of managing VOD or streaming video assets, the method comprising:
for a given asset, identifying filters, wherein each of the filters comprises an enumeration of computer readable limitations that can be applied to an existing manifest for the asset, wherein identifying filters that can be applied to the existing manifest for the asset identifies at least one named, previously saved, reusable filter including a filter based on video resolution, a filter based on bitrate, a filter based on audio quality, or a filter based on time stamps; and
notifying a client device of the identified filters that can be applied to the existing manifest for the asset.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising, receiving an indication from the client device that one or more filters from the identified filters should be applied to the existing manifest, and as a result, sending a filtered version of the existing manifest to the client device that is filtered by applying the one or more filters indicated from the client.

12. In a computing environment, a system for providing a VOD or streaming video manifest, the system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer readable media, wherein the one or more computer readable media comprise computer executable instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the system to perform the following:
at a server, receiving a request for an existing manifest from a client device, wherein the request for a manifest comprises an identification of one or more filters previously identified to the client device, wherein each of the filters comprises an enumeration of computer readable limitations to be applied to the existing manifest to create a filtered version of the existing manifest, wherein the identification of one or more filters specifies at least one named, previously saved, re-usable filter including a filter based on video resolution, a filter based on bitrate, a filter based on audio quality, or a filter based on time stamps;
at the server, identifying the existing manifest, wherein the existing manifest identifies different existing portions of a multimedia asset that can be delivered to client devices;
at the server, applying the one or more identified filters to the existing manifest to generate the filtered version of the existing manifest from the existing manifest that filters out from the existing manifest one or more items as dictated by the one or more filters such that the filtered version of the existing manifest includes an enumeration of less than all items enumerated in the existing manifest; and
at the server, returning the filtered version of the existing manifest to the client device.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more filters are created at the client device and provided to the server.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more filters are selected from a predefined set of filters provided to client.

15. The system of claim 12 , the one or more computer readable media, further comprising computer executable instructions that when executed by at least one of the one or more processors cause the system to send an indication of a selection of filters that can be applied at the server to the client device, and wherein the identification of one or more filters to be applied to a returned manifest is created by the client using the indication of a selection of filters that can be applied.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the identification of one or more filters to be applied to a returned filtered version of the existing manifest specifies both an upper and lower limit of a bit rate.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on video resolution.

18. The system of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on at least one of audio or video bitrate.

19. The system of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on at least one of audio channels, codec or language.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the one or more filters is configured to filter based on time stamps.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Drouin Nicolas
• Dingiloglu Ismail Cenk
• Kim Eok

Classifications

• H04N21/47202

  for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand · CPC title

• H04N21/4755

  for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306) · CPC title

• H04N21/2393

  involving handling client requests (scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60) · CPC title

• H04N21/6582

  Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number (arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38) · CPC title

• H04N21/454

  Content {or additional data} filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements · CPC title