System and method for data stream fragmentation with scalability

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11637882-B2
Application number	US-202117239138-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2021
Priority date	Jan 31, 2012
Publication date	Apr 25, 2023
Grant date	Apr 25, 2023

Abstract

A method of data conditioning is disclosed that in one aspect can include the steps of receiving a data stream, encoding a time code in the data stream to identify a portion of the data stream corresponding to a content fragment, and separating the identified portion of the data stream to define the content fragment, wherein the content fragment comprises the encoded time code.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a data stream;
encoding a time code in the data stream;
separating, based on the time code, the data stream to define a content fragment, wherein the content fragment comprises the encoded time code;
encoding a horizon window indicating at least one next in time fragment into the content fragment and, for the at least one next in time fragment, indicating a quality level of the at least one next in time fragment; and
storing the content fragment in a content delivery network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time code indicates a time the content fragment was created.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time code is derived from UNIX-based time.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the time code is derived by adding a duration of the content fragment to a standard time at a time when the data stream is encoded.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein encoding the time code in the data stream further comprises encoding in the data stream at least one of a service identification, an encoder identification, or an encoder software identification.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data stream is a transport stream and wherein the method further comprises encoding a service descriptor table in private data of the transport stream.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising encoding the data stream with fragmentor information comprising at least one of a fragmentor device identification or a fragmentor software identification.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the fragmentor information is encoded in a header of the content fragment.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising encoding the content fragment of the data stream with an authenticated checksum.

10. A method comprising:
receiving a data stream;
inserting data into the data stream;
separating, based on the inserted data, the data stream into a plurality of content fragments;
encoding fragment data into the plurality of content fragments;
encoding a horizon window into the plurality of content fragments, the horizon window indicating at least one next in time content fragment and, for the at least one next in time content fragment, indicating a quality level of the next in time content fragment; and
storing the plurality of content fragments in a content delivery network.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the fragment data indicates a time a content fragment of the plurality of content fragments was created.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the data comprises a time code.

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein encoding the fragment data into the plurality of content fragments further comprises encoding the data stream with fragmentor information comprising at least one of a fragmentor device identification or a fragmentor software identification.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising inserting into the data stream at least one of a service identification, an encoder identification, or an encoder software identification.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the horizon window indication of the at least one next in time content fragment is inserted in a universally unique identifier (UUID) container of each content fragment of the plurality of content fragments.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising encoding the content fragment of the data stream with an authenticated checksum.

17. A method comprising:
receiving a data stream;
separating the data stream into a plurality of content fragments;
encoding a horizon window indicating at least one next in time fragment into the plurality of content fragments and, for the at least one next in time fragment, indicating a quality level of the at least one next in time fragment; and
storing at least one of the plurality of content fragments in a content delivery network.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising encoding a time code in the data stream, wherein separating the data stream into the plurality of content fragments is based on the time code.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising encoding the data stream with fragmentor information comprising at least one of a fragmentor device identification or a fragmentor software identification.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the horizon window indication of the at least one next in time content fragment is encoded in a universally unique identifier (UUID) container of each content fragment of the plurality of content fragments.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Van Doorn Jan
• Field Brian

Classifications

• H04N21/8455

  involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream · CPC title

• H04N21/8456

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title

• H04N21/435

  Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream · CPC title

• H04N21/234309 Primary

  by transcoding between formats or standards, e.g. from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 or from Quicktime to Realvideo (conversion of standards in analog television systems H04N7/01) · CPC title

• G06F15/16

  Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs {(coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B)} · CPC title