Combined binary string for signaling byte range of media fragments in adaptive streaming

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9237178-B2
Application number	US-201113015237-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2011
Priority date	Feb 3, 2010
Publication date	Jan 12, 2016
Grant date	Jan 12, 2016

Abstract

A system and method for providing media streaming are provided. A media description file having a range string indicator is used to specify location offsets of a plurality of media fragments within a media file. The range string may be stored directly in the media description file or the media description file may contain an indicator specifying a file containing the range string. The media description file may also include a range unit specifying the size of the offsets in the range string. In an embodiment, offsets within the individual media fragments may also be provided, either in the media description file or in a different file.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
storing, by a media server, a media content file comprising a plurality of media fragments;
storing, by the media server, a plurality of offset values, wherein the plurality offset values correspond to first locations of the plurality of media fragments in the media content file, and wherein the plurality of offset values is encoded in a string format and stored as a single string of offset values separate from the media content file, wherein the single string of offset values comprises a plurality of substrings, wherein each of the plurality of substrings stores one of the plurality of offset values concatenated to form the single string of offset values, and wherein each of the plurality of substrings includes a number of bits storing one of the plurality of offset values concatenated to the number of other bits storing another one of the plurality of offset values;
receiving, by the media server, a request for a media description file corresponding to the media content file, wherein the media description file comprises a range unit indicator, the range unit indicator indicating a size of the number of bits;
providing, by the media server, the plurality of offset values in accordance with the request for the media description file, wherein providing the plurality of offset values comprises providing the plurality of offset values in the single string of offset values; and
providing, by the media server, at least a subset of the plurality of media fragments in accordance with a request for the subset of the plurality of media fragments.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of offset values is a size offset.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the size offset is a byte offset.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the size offset is relative to a beginning of the media content file.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single string of offset values is stored in the media description file.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single string of offset values of is stored in a file separate from the media description file.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing, by the media server, the range unit indicator.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of first locations comprises a start location and a stop location of a media fragment in the plurality of media fragments.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a plurality of second locations, each of the plurality of second locations corresponding to locations within a single media fragment.

10. A method comprising:
requesting, by a client device, a media description file corresponding to a media content file, where the media content file comprises a plurality of media fragments;
receiving, by the client device, the media description file, the media description file providing a plurality of offset values, wherein the plurality offset values correspond to locations of the plurality of media fragments in the media content file, and wherein the plurality of offset values is provided in a string format stored as a single binary string of offset values separate from the media content file, wherein the single binary string of offset values comprises a plurality of substrings, wherein each of the plurality of substrings stores one of the plurality of offset values concatenated to form the single binary string of offset values, and wherein the media description file comprises a range inline indicator, the range inline indicator indicating whether the plurality of offset values is stored in the media description file or a different file;
evaluating, by the client device, the media description file to determine offset values corresponding to the locations of the plurality of media fragments; and
retrieving, by the client device, a first media fragment of the plurality of media fragments by providing a first offset value corresponding to a first location of the first media fragment to a media server.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first offset value is a size offset.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the size offset is a byte offset.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the size offset is relative to a beginning of the media content file.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the single binary string of offset values is stored in the media description file.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing a range unit, the range unit indicating a size of each offset value in the plurality of offset values in the string format.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the plurality of offset values comprises a start location and a stop location.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising providing a plurality of additional locations corresponding to locations within a single media fragment.

18. A media server comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium;
a media content file stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the media content file comprises a plurality of media fragments;

a media description file stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium, wherein the media description file corresponds to the media content file; and
a plurality of offset values encoded in a string format and stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium as a single string of offset values and provided by the media description file, wherein the plurality offset values indicates locations of the plurality of media fragments in the media content file, wherein the plurality of offset values is stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium in a separate file than the media content file, wherein the single string of offset values comprises a plurality of substrings, wherein each of the plurality of substrings stores one of the plurality of offset values, wherein the plurality of substrings are concatenated to form the single string of offset values, wherein each of the plurality of substrings includes a number of bits storing one of the plurality of offset values concatenated to the number of other bits storing another one of the plurality of offset values, and wherein the media description file comprises a range unit indicator, the range unit indicator indicating a size of the number of bits.

19. The media server of claim 18 , wherein the media description file comprises a location of the separate file, the separate file containing the plurality of offset values in the string format.

20. The media server of claim 18 , wherein the media description files comprises a range inline indicator, the range inline indicator indicating whether the plurality of offset values is stored in the media description file or a different file.

21. The media server of claim 18 , wherein the media description files comprises a media data (mdat) string of offset values, the mdat string of offset values indicating a plurality of mdat location offsets, the plurality of mdat location offsets indicating an offset within a media fragment.

22. The media server of claim 18 , wherein the media description files comprises a media data (mdat) range inline indicator, the mdat range inline indicator indicating whether mdat location offsets are specified in the media description file or in a different file.

23. The media server of claim 18 , wherein each of the plurality of substrings is 16-bit, 32-bit, or 64-bit value storing one of the plurality of offset values concatenated to another 16-bit, 32-bit, or

Assignees

• Li Hongbing
• Wang Ye-Kui
• Zhang Peng
• Gao Yunchao
• Yu Hong Heather
• Futurewei Technologies Inc

Inventors

• Li Hongbing
• Wang Ye-Kui
• Zhang Peng
• Gao Yunchao
• Yu Hong Heather

Classifications

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• H04L65/607 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/608

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/80

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04L65/65

  Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP] · CPC title