Use of metadata for aiding adaptive streaming clients

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9338209-B1
Application number	US-201313868595-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Apr 23, 2013
Priority date	Apr 23, 2013
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving media from an input; gathering metadata from a plurality of media stream representations that are provided by the input; creating one or more metadata segments corresponding to the plurality of media stream representations in order to generate a metadata track; and making at least a portion of the metadata track available to a client device, where the portion of the metadata track is provided separate from a manifest file.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving media from an input;
gathering metadata from a plurality of media stream representations that are provided by the input;
creating one or more metadata segments, wherein each of the metadata segments corresponds to one of the plurality of media stream representations;
combining the metadata segments into an independently fetchable metadata track;
advertising the metadata track in a manifest file provided to a client device; and
making at least a portion of the metadata track available to the client device, wherein the portion of the metadata track is provided separate from the manifest file,
wherein the metadata track comprises per-segment size and quality information for each of the media stream representations for use by the client device in selecting one of the media stream representations.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metadata track is provided in a system cache or a Web server.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
delaying at least a portion of media to be consumed by the client device, as particular metadata of the metadata track is made available to the client device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the manifest file includes information to be used by the client device to identify particular metadata for a particular media stream.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein an encapsulator is used to generate the manifest file and to generate the metadata track.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
modifying the metadata track to provide guidance to the client device to trigger a behavior from the client device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein an encapsulator modifies the metadata track to relay to the client device that certain network resources have become limited or available.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein an encapsulator modifies the metadata track in order to indicate to the client device that a particular media stream is unavailable for a certain period of time.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein an encapsulator can identify size metrics associated with a plurality of media stream representations based on the input it receives.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein quality information may be provided as part of the input, and wherein at least a portion of the quality information is provided in the metadata track.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein fetching activities associated with the metadata track occurs in a substantially parallel fashion to fetching activities associated with accessing one or more media segments associated with a particular media stream.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the manifest file includes an enumeration of an adaptation set of media profiles available to the client device, and wherein the adaptation set of media profiles are associated with particular media streams being received at an encapsulator.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein multiple metadata tracks are made available for access by the client device, and wherein the multiple metadata tracks correspond to multiple media streams.

14. One or more non-transitory tangible media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor operable to perform operations comprising:
receiving media from an input;
gathering metadata from a plurality of media stream representations that are provided by the input;
creating one or more metadata segments, wherein each of the metadata segments corresponds to one of the plurality of media stream representations;
combining the metadata segments into an independently fetchable metadata track;
advertising the metadata track in a manifest file provided to a client device; and
making at least a portion of the metadata track available to the client device, wherein the portion of the metadata track is provided separate from the manifest file,
wherein the metadata track comprises per-segment size and quality information for each of the media stream representations for use by the client device in selecting one of the media stream representations.

15. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 14 , wherein the metadata track is provided in a system cache or a Web server.

16. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
delaying at least a portion of media to be consumed by the client device, as particular metadata of the metadata track is made available to the client device.

17. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 14 , wherein the manifest file includes information to be used by the client device to identify particular metadata for a particular media stream.

18. The non-transitory tangible media of claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
modifying the metadata track to provide guidance to the client device to trigger a behavior from the client device.

19. A network element, comprising:
a processor; and
a memory, wherein the network element is configured to:
receive media from an input;
gather metadata from a plurality of media stream representations that are provided by the input;
create one or more metadata segments, wherein each of the metadata segments corresponds to one of the plurality of media stream representations;
combine the metadata segments into an independently fetchable metadata track;
advertise the metadata track in a manifest file provided to a client device; and
make at least a portion of the metadata track available to the client device, wherein the portion of the metadata track is provided separate from the manifest file,
wherein the metadata track comprises per-segment size and quality information for each of the media stream representations for use by the client device in selecting one of the media stream representations.

20. The network element of claim 19 , wherein the network element is further configured to:
delay at least a portion of media to be consumed by the client device, as particular metadata of the metadata track is made available to the client device.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Begen Ali C
• Labrozzi Scott C

Classifications

• H04L65/752

  adapting media to network capabilities · CPC title

• H04L65/75

  Media network packet handling · CPC title

• H04N21/23439 Primary

  for generating different versions · CPC title

• H04N21/6125

  involving transmission via Internet (transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82) · CPC title

• H04N21/8456

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