Correlating video quality with video playback view

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9253229-B1
Application number	US-201313735443-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 7, 2013
Priority date	Jan 7, 2013
Publication date	Feb 2, 2016
Grant date	Feb 2, 2016

Abstract

Video streaming is delivered through a communication network to one or more client computing devices/systems. A number of video display or bandwidth control profiles are used in part to control an amount of bandwidth used by each client to stream video at various quality levels or audio-only. Video display profiles can be configured according to a particular device/system being used to stream video.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
using a video playback window to stream video over a communication network at a first streaming bit rate;
determining when a first action affects a first portion of the video playback window to necessitate use of a first video display profile;
using parameters of the first video display profile to stream the video at a second streaming bit rate when the first action necessitates use of the first video display profile or continuing to stream the video at the first streaming bit rate;
determining when a second action affects a second portion of the video playback window to necessitate use of a second video display profile; and
using parameters of the second video display profile to stream the video at a third streaming bit rate if the second action necessitates use of the second video display profile or continuing to stream the video at one of the first or the second streaming bit rates.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising streaming the video at a lower bit rate using the first or the second video display profile to thereby conserve amounts of available bandwidth, wherein the first video display profile corresponds to a first range of video playback window sizes and corresponding streaming bit rates and the second video display profile corresponds to a second range of video playback window sizes and corresponding streaming bit rates.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a third video display profile after a resize operation that decreases a size of the video playback window to stream the video at a lower rate than defined by the first or the second video display profile.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising streaming audio only when focus shifts from the video playback window or when the focus is away from the video playback window.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing video display profiles that include a range of display dimensions and associated bit rates for each device type.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising selecting a display profile based in part on a device or system type.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the second display profile to stream the video based in part an amount of viewable area associated with the video playback window.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising streaming the video at a higher bit rate using the second display profile.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing each video display profile locally or remotely.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising implementing video streaming parameters based in part on user focus with respect to the video playback window.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising ascertaining a user focus in relation to the video playback window including using a video camera to determine if a user is viewing the video.

12. A system comprising:
a server including processor and memory resources, the server configured to:
identify a first video display profile based in part on aspects of a video display area used to stream video in response to a first action that affects a first portion of the video display area;
provide the video using a bit rate defined in part by parameters of the first video display profile;
identify a second video display profile based in part on aspects of the video display area in response to a second action that affects a second portion of the video display area; and
provide the video using a bit rate defined in part by parameters of the second video display profile.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server provides video display profiles to each client of an IP network based in part on a device or system type.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server is further configured to force a client device to a lower bit rate after a video window resize operation.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server is further configured to receive information from a client corresponding to a current device type or display configuration.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server is further configured to publish video display profiles for each device type, wherein each video display profile includes a video streaming bit rate corresponding to a range of video display sizes.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the server is further configured to identify the second video display profile based in part on a difference in size between an original size of the video display area and a subsequent size of the video display area.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed by a processor operate to:
select a first video display profile to control a stream of video based on an original size of a video window used to display the video;
stream the video using streaming parameters of the first video display profile;
display the video in the video window at the original size;
receive an input associated with a resize operation that resizes the video window to a resized video window;
capture dimensions of the resized video window;
select a second video display profile that corresponds with the dimensions of the resized video window;
use streaming parameters of the second video display profile to stream the video; and
display the video in the resized video window.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions are further configured to identify video display profiles based in part on a type of user device and user focus with respect to one of the video window or the resized video window.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the instructions are further configured to use video display profiles that include video window size or screen size to bit rate correlations.

Assignees

• Cox Communications Inc

Inventors

• Strothmann James Alan
• Necessary Stephen Kent
• Nijim Yousef Wasef
• Langa Jay Paul

Classifications

• H04L65/4069 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• 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

• H04L65/756

  adapting media to device capabilities · CPC title

• H04L65/752

  adapting media to network capabilities · CPC title

• H04L65/612

  for unicast · CPC title