Apparatus, system, and method for multi-bitrate content streaming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11677798-B2
Application number	US-202217962231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 7, 2022
Priority date	Apr 30, 2004
Publication date	Jun 13, 2023
Grant date	Jun 13, 2023

Abstract

An apparatus for multi-bitrate content streaming includes a receiving module configured to capture media content, a streamlet module configured to segment the media content and generate a plurality of streamlets, and an encoding module configured to generate a set of streamlets. The system includes the apparatus, wherein the set of streamlets comprises a plurality of streamlets having identical time indices and durations, and each streamlet of the set of streamlets having a unique bitrate, and wherein the encoding module comprises a master module configured to assign an encoding job to one of a plurality of host computing modules in response to an encoding job completion bid. A method includes receiving media content, segmenting the media content and generating a plurality of streamlets, and generating a set of streamlets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for adaptive-rate content streaming of digital content playable on one or more end user stations over the Internet, the system comprising:
at least one storage device storing digital content, the digital content encoded at a plurality of different bit rates creating a plurality of streams including a first bit rate stream, a second bit rate stream, and a third bit rate stream, wherein the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream each comprise a group of streamlets encoded at a respective one of the plurality of different bit rates, each group of streamlets comprising at least first and second streamlets, each of the streamlets corresponding to a portion of the digital content;
wherein at least one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream is encoded at a bit rate of no less than 600 kbps; and
wherein the first streamlet of each of the groups of streamlets has the same first duration and encodes the same first temporal portion of the digital content in each of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream, and wherein the first streamlet of the first bit rate stream encodes the same first temporal portion of the digital content at a different bit rate than the first streamlet of the second bit rate stream and the first streamlet of the third bit rate stream.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of servers located at different locations across the Internet, each server configured to: receive at least one streamlet request over one or more network connections from one or more end user stations to retrieve the first streamlet storing a portion of the digital content, wherein the at least one streamlet request from the one or more end user stations includes a request for a currently selected first streamlet from one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream based upon a determination by the end user station to select a higher or lower bit rate copy of the streams; retrieve from the at least one storage device the requested first streamlet from the currently selected one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream; and send the retrieved first streamlet from the currently selected one of the different copies to the requesting one of the end user stations over the one or more network connections.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the second streamlet of each of the groups of streamlets each has the same second duration and corresponds to the same second portion of the digital content in the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream, the second streamlet of the first bit rate stream having the same bit rate as the first streamlet of the first bit rate stream.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the first and second durations are different.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a first server configured to: receive at least one streamlet request over one or more network connections from the one or more end user stations to retrieve the first streamlet storing the first temporal portion of the digital content, wherein the at least one streamlet request from the one or more end user stations includes a request for a currently selected first streamlet from one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream based upon a determination by the end user station to select a higher or lower bit rate copy of the digital content; retrieve from the at least one storage device the requested first streamlet from the currently selected one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream; and send the retrieved first streamlet from the currently selected one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream to the requesting one of the end user stations over the one or more network connections.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the digital content comprises a live event video of a live event, and the first streamlets of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream are available before the live event is complete.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the streamlets from the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream of the live event, when played back, are presented in a live stream to a viewer.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the first server is further configured to: receive at least one virtual timeline request over the one or more network connections from the one or more end user stations to retrieve a virtual timeline; and send the virtual timeline to the requesting one of the end user stations over the one or more network connections.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an encoding module configured to receive the digital content and encode the streamlets of the first bit rate.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the encoding module is configured to encode the streamlets of the multiple copies of the digital content in each of the different bit rates using a multi-pass encoding process.

11. An end user station comprising:
a processor;
a digital processing apparatus memory device comprising non-transitory machine-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the processor to:
establish one or more network connections between the end user station and at least one server, wherein the at least one server is configured to access at least one of a plurality of groups of streamlets of digital content;
wherein the digital content is encoded at a plurality of different bit rates to create a plurality of streams including at least a first bit rate stream, a second bit rate stream, and a third bit rate stream, wherein each of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream comprises a group of streamlets encoded at the same respective one of the different bit rates, each group comprising at least first and second streamlets, each of the streamlets corresponding to a portion of the digital content;
wherein at least one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream is encoded at a bit rate of no less than 600 kbps; and
wherein the first streamlets of each of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream and the third bit rate stream each has an equal playback duration and each of the first streamlets encodes the same portion of the digital content at a different one of the different bit rates;
determine whether to select a higher or lower bit rate copy of the stream and based on that determination, select a specific one of the first bit rate stream, the second bit rate stream, and the third bit rate stream;
place a first streamlet request to the at least one server over the one or more network connections for the first streamlet of the selected stream;
receive the requested first streamlet from the at least one server via the one or more network connections; and
provide the received first streamlet for output of the digital content to a presentation device.

12. The end user station of claim 11 , wherein the non-transitory machine-readable instructions further comprise instructions that cause the processor to:
place a second streamlet request to the at least one server over the one or more network connections for the second streamlet of the selected stream;
receive the requested second streamlet from the at least one server via the one or more network connections; and
arrange the first streamlet and sec

Assignees

• Dish Tech Llc

Inventors

• Brueck David F
• Hurst Mark B
• Major R Drew

Classifications

• H04N21/84

  Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors {(systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73)} · CPC title

• H04N21/2662

  Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities · CPC title

• H04L67/60

  Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources (admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70) · CPC title

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04N7/24 Primary

  Systems for the transmission of television signals using pulse code modulation (H04N21/00 takes precedence) · CPC title