Adaptive streaming for on demand wireless services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9313245-B2
Application number	US-96389107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 24, 2007
Priority date	Dec 24, 2007
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

An adaptive media distribution system provides an on demand user experience across a limited throughput wireless network by selectively utilizing available storage on a handheld communication device, taking advantage of increased availability of extended memory solutions. Creation of an adaptable user interface (UI) widget (e.g., Trig) serves as a near real-time mechanism for delivery of media content, overcoming the over-the-air latency and difficulties with streaming interoperability. Yet, for handheld communication devices with limited storage, the adaptive media distribution system further allows legacy devices to receive on demand services via streaming, albeit with the requisite relatively long latency associated with cellular multimedia services.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for receiving media content across a limited throughput cellular network, comprising:
monitoring an amount of available local data storage on a wireless communication device to determine whether to stream a media content selection on the wireless communication device or download the media content selection to the available local data storage; and
requesting delivery of the media content selection to the wireless communication device via streaming or downloading based on the monitored amount of available local data storage, wherein requesting the delivery of the media content selection to the wireless communication device includes:
streaming, from a remotely located content distributor via the limited throughput cellular network, a streaming version of the media content selection on the wireless communication device if the monitored amount of available local data storage does not meet or exceed a threshold and the local data storage cannot be freed up to store a discretely formatted version of the media content selection, wherein the streaming version and the discretely formatted version have different file formats, the discretely formatted version of the media content selection built at the remotely located content distributor from the streaming version of the media content selection and comprising a file system that contains one or more multimedia resource files, and wherein a delay to stream the streaming version of the media content selection is affected by an over-the-air latency associated with the limited throughput cellular network;
downloading, from the remotely located content distributor via the limited throughput cellular network, and storing the discretely formatted version of the media content selection in the available local data storage if the monitored amount of available local data storage meets or exceeds the threshold or the local data storage can be freed up to store the discretely formatted version of the media content selection, wherein the remotely located content distributor pre-schedules a time at which the discretely formatted version of the media content selection is background downloaded to the wireless communication device and to one or more other communication devices that have available local data storage that meets or exceeds the threshold based on at least a predicted network throughput to the wireless communication device at the pre-scheduled time, and wherein the remotely located content distributor determines the predicted network throughput at the pre-scheduled time based on the limited throughput cellular network having excess bandwidth to handle distributing the discretely formatted version of the media content selection to the wireless communication device and the one or more other communication devices at the pre-scheduled time; and
dynamically updating the requested delivery of the media content selection in response to a current iteration of the monitoring detecting a change in state associated with the amount of available local data storage.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising playing the discretely formatted version of the media content selection stored in the available local data storage on the wireless communication device in response to a request.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discretely formatted version of the media content selection comprises a data structure container comprising an update channel, executable user interface code, and the one or more multimedia resource files.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discretely formatted version of the media content selection comprises a Trig user interface application.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the discretely formatted version of the media content selection further comprises a Triglet updating the Trig user interface application.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the current iteration of the monitoring detects the change in state associated with the amount of available local data storage in response to detecting an expanded memory device inserted into the wireless communication device that has sufficient available data storage to store the discretely formatted version of the media content selection.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the limited throughput cellular network has a throughput characterized by an over-the-air latency exceeding one fourth of a duration of the media content selection.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discretely formatted version of the media content comprises incorporated advertising content.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein dynamically updating the requested delivery of the media content selection includes:
reverting to streaming, via the limited throughput cellular network, the streaming version of the media content selection on the wireless communication device if the change in state detected in the current iteration of the monitoring indicates that the amount of available local data storage no longer meets or exceeds the threshold and that the local data storage cannot be freed up to store the discretely formatted version of the media content selection; and
reloading the discretely formatted version of the media content selection for downloading via the limited throughput cellular network and storing in the available local data storage if the change in state detected in the current iteration of the monitoring indicates that the local data storage has become available such that the amount of available local data storage meets or exceeds the threshold or that the local data storage can be freed up to store the discretely formatted version of the media content selection.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the delay to stream the streaming version of the media content selection is a function of at least a transmission rate and a probable error rate over the limited throughput cellular network.

11. A method for distributing media content across a limited throughput cellular network, comprising:
determining, by a content distributor, a media content selection; and
scheduling distribution of the media content selection from the content distributor to a remotely located wireless communication device, wherein scheduling the distribution of the media content selection to the remotely located wireless communication device includes:
streaming, from the content distributor to the remotely located wireless communication device, a streaming version of the media content selection across the limited throughput cellular network in response to determining that a storage capacity of the remotely located wireless communication device is insufficient to store a discrete version of the media content selection, wherein the streaming version and the discrete version have different file formats, the discrete version of the media content selection built at the content distributor from the streaming version of the media content selection and comprising a file system that contains one or more multimedia resource files, and wherein a delay to stream the streaming version of the media content selection is affected by an over-the-air latency associated with the limited throughput cellular network;
transmitting, from the content distributor to the remotely located wireless communication device, the discrete version of the media content selection across the limited throughput cellular network in response to determining that the storage capacity of the remotely located wireless communication device is sufficient to store the discrete version of the media content selection, wherein the content distributor pre-schedules a time at which the discrete version of the media content selection is background transmitted to the remotely located wireless

Assignees

• Mandyam Giridhar D
• Hunter Kevin E
• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Mandyam Giridhar D
• Hunter Kevin E

Classifications

• H04L65/752

  adapting media to network capabilities · CPC title

• H04L67/34 Primary

  involving the movement of software or configuration parameters  (network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416) · CPC title

• H04L67/04

  specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability · CPC title

• H04L65/4084

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L65/602

  Electricity · mapped topic