Adaptive data streaming method with push messages control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10104190-B2
Application number	US-201414903989-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 11, 2014
Priority date	Jul 12, 2013
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

There is provided methods for managing streaming over communication networks. Server and client devices share a push policy so that the client device may anticipate data pushes by the server. Anticipation makes it possible to cancel early the sending of some pushed data, therefore reducing bandwidth consumption. The shared push policy may be implicit to both server and client. In embodiments, it is explicitly specified by the server to the client, for example embedded in the Media Presentation Description file or included in a specific HTTP header. The client may also request an update of the shared push policy to meet its own requirements.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of providing media segments by a server device to a client device, the method comprising the following steps:
receiving, from the client device, a request relating to a first media segment,
transmitting to the said client device the first media segment in response to the request,
identifying, using a push strategy shared with the client device, one or more second media segments to be pushed to the client device which transmitted the request relating to the first media segment,
sending, to the client device, a notification indicating that the server device intends to push the media segments according to the push strategy, and
pushing the identified one or more second media segments to the client device after sending the notification,
wherein a number of the one or more second media segments are identified by the push strategy shared with the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the push strategy shared with the client device defines a pushing order of the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed by the server device, and the method further comprises the step of transmitting ordering information related to the pushing order, the ordering information enabling the client device to determine the pushing order defined by the server device.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the shared push strategy is identified by the server device based on the request from the client device.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein data is transmitted to the client device in the transmitting step is the first media segment.

5. A method of receiving by a client device, media segments provided by a server device, the method comprising the following steps:
transmitting, to the server device, a request relating to a first media segment,
receiving from the server device, in response to the request related to the first media segment, the first media segment,
identifying, based on a notification from the server device with which a push strategy is shared, one or more second media segments to be pushed to the client device by the server device which received the request relating to the first media segment from the client device, and
receiving, from the server device, the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed,
wherein a number of the one or more second media segments are identified to be pushed by the push strategy shared with the server device.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the shared push strategy is used to determine the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed by the server device to the client device.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising receiving, from the server device, push strategy information describing the shared push strategy.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the push strategy information describing the shared push strategy is embedded in a header of an HTTP frame transmitted from the server device to the client device.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the push strategy information describing the shared push strategy is embedded in a header of an HTTP request sent from the client device to the server device.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the one or more second media segments are identified to be pushed in the identifying step based on both of the push strategy and the first media segment requested.

11. The method of claim 5 , wherein the push strategy shared with the server device defines a pushing order of the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed by the server device;
and the method further comprises the following steps:
receiving from the server device, in response to the request, the notification respectively identifying the one or more second media segments to be pushed to the client device, and
receiving information related to the pushing order of the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed with the notification, the information enabling the client device to determine the pushing order of the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed defined by the server device.

12. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the push strategy is identified by the client device, and the request relating to the identified push strategy is transmitted to the server device for sharing.

13. The method according to claim 5 , wherein data that is received from the server device in the receiving step is the first media segment.

14. A server device for providing media segments to a client device, the server device comprising:
a hardware processor; and
a memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the hardware processor, the one or more programs including instructions for:
receiving, from the client device, a request relating to a first media segment,
transmitting the first media segment to the client device in response to the request,
identifying, by using a push strategy shared with the client device, one or more second media segments to be pushed to the client device which transmitted the request relating to the first media segment,
sending, to the client device, a notification indicating that the server device intends to push the media segments according to the push strategy, and
pushing the identified one or more second media segments to the client device after sending the notification,
wherein a number of the one or more second media segments are identified to be pushed by the push strategy shared with the client device.

15. A non-transitory information storage medium readable by a computer or a processor storing instructions of a computer program, for implementing a method according to claim 1 , when the computer program is loaded and executed by the computer or the processor.

16. A non-transitory information storage medium readably by a computer or a processor storing instructions of a computer program, for implementing the method according to claim 5 , when the computer program is loaded and executed by the computer or the processor.

17. A method of providing media segments by a server device to a client device, the method comprising the following steps:
receiving, from the client device, a request relating to a first media segment,
transmitting to the client device the first media segment in response to the request,
identifying, using a push strategy shared with the client device, one or more second media segments to be pushed to the client device which transmitted the request relating to the first media data,
sending, to the client device, a notification indicating that the server device intends to follow the push strategy, and
pushing the identified one or more second media segments to be pushed to the client device after sending the notification,
wherein a number of the one or more second media segments are identified to be pushed by the push strategy shared with the client device.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the server device receives from the client device the request identifying the push strategy, and the server device sends, in response to the request from the client device, the notification to the client device.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Fablet Youenn
• Bellessort Romain
• Maze Frédéric
• Ouedraogo Naël
• Denoual Franck
• Ruellan Hervé

Classifications

• H04N21/47202 Primary

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

• H04N21/26258 Primary

  for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list (retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40) · CPC title

• H04L67/02

  based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP] · CPC title

• H04L65/4069

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/608

  Electricity · mapped topic