Dynamic bit rate encoding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560392-B2
Application number	US-201213607520-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 7, 2012
Priority date	Sep 7, 2012
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

Systems and methods for performing bit rate encoding are described. One of the methods includes receiving data indicating a change in a first connection speed that is associated with a first network. The change generates a second connection speed. The method further includes determining whether a media file is being downloaded. The method also includes determining that a current segment of the media file is being downloaded. The current segment is downloaded at a first bit rate and the first bit rate is associated with the first connection speed. The method includes determining whether the media file includes a remaining segment to be downloaded. The current segment precedes the remaining segment. The method includes identifying a second bit rate based on the second connection speed, receiving the remaining segment at the second bit rate, and stitching the remaining segment with the current segment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for performing bit rate encoding on a client device, comprising:
receiving, with the client device, data indicating a change in a first connection speed that is associated with a first network that is measured by a network processor, the change generating a second connection speed;
determining whether a media file is being downloaded, by the client device, in response to receiving the data indicating the change in the first connection speed;
determining that a current segment of the media file is being downloaded in response to determining that the media file is being downloaded, the current segment downloaded at a first bit rate, the first bit rate associated with the first connection speed;
determining whether the media file includes a remaining segment to be downloaded in response to determining that the media file is being downloaded, the current segment preceding the remaining segment; and
identifying a second bit rate based on the second connection speed in response to determining that the current segment is being downloaded and the remaining segment is to be downloaded;
determining whether a difference between a first group of elements that include at least one of audio or video characteristics of the media file in the current segment that is received at the first bit rate and a second group of elements that include at least one of audio or video characteristics of the media file within a portion of the remaining segment exceeds a threshold that includes a magnitude of at least one of a pitch, rhythm, or tone of the audio, were the remaining segment to be received at the first bit rate;
requesting the remaining segment at the second bit rate when the difference exceeds the threshold;
receiving the remaining segment at the first bit rate or the second bit rate according to the request; and
stitching the remaining segment with the current segment;
wherein the method is executed by one or more processors.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the data indicating the change in the first connection speed comprises receiving data from a network processor that the first connection speed that is associated with the first network has changed to the second connection speed that is associated with a second network.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media file includes a video file, an audio file, an image file, a text file, or a file that includes a combination of text, video, audio, and image.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the media file includes a remaining segment to be downloaded comprises determining that the current segment does not precede a boundary of the media file.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein there is a lack of existence of a segment between the current segment and the remaining segment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying a second bit rate based on the second connection speed comprises determining a maximum bit rate from among bit rates within the second connection speed.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein requesting the remaining segment at the second bit rate comprises sending a request to a server to send bits of the remaining segment at the second bit rate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the remaining segment at the second bit rate comprises receiving the remaining segment at a network interface controller via a second network from a server at the second bit rate.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein stitching the current segment with the remaining segment is performed based on a time of finish of playback of the current segment received at the first bit rate.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the stitched current segment and the remaining segment, wherein the client device provides the stitched current segment and the remaining segment in a seamless manner.

11. A method for performing bit rate encoding on a server, comprising:
receiving, with a client device, data notifying a change in connection speed that is associated with a first network that is measured by a network processor;
determining whether the notification of the change in the connection speed is received during communication of a media file at a first bit rate to the client device;
identifying a second bit rate based on the change in the connection speed;
determining whether the media file includes a first remaining segment and a second remaining segment to be sent to the client device in response to receiving the notification of the change in the connection speed, the first remaining segment preceding the second remaining segment, the first remaining segment to be sent at the first bit rate;
determining whether a difference between a first group of elements that include at least one of audio or video characteristics of the media file in the first remaining segment that is sent at the first bit rate and a second group of elements that include at least one of audio or video characteristics of the media file within a portion of the second remaining segment exceeds a threshold that includes a magnitude of at least one of a pitch, rhythm, or tone of the audio, were the remaining segment to be sent at the first bit rate;
stitching the second remaining segment with the first remaining segment of the media file; and
transmitting the first remaining segment at the first bit rate and the second remaining segment at the first bit rate or at the second bit rate to the client device, where the second remaining segment is sent at the second bit rate when the difference exceeds the threshold,
wherein the method is executed by one or more processors.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein receiving the data notifying the change in the connection speed comprises receiving the data that indicates a change from a bandwidth of the first network to a bandwidth of a second network.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining that the first remaining segment is to be sent comprises determining that all bits of the first remaining segment are scheduled to be sent by a network interface controller of a server.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein determining whether the media file includes the second remaining segment to be sent to the client device comprises determining that the first remaining segment does not precede a boundary of the media file.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein identifying the second bit rate based on the data comprises determining a maximum bit rate among all bit rates of a bandwidth of a second network.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein stitching the second remaining segment with the first remaining segment is performed based on a time at which the first remaining segment is to finish playing back at a client device.

17. A client system for performing dynamic bit rate encoding, comprising:
a network interface controller configured to receive data from a network processor of a first network that measures a connection speed, the received data indicating a change in a first connection speed that is associated with the first network, the change generating a second connection speed; and
a processor coupled with the network interface controller, the processor configured to determine whether a media file is being downloaded, by the client device, in response to receiving the data indicating the change in the first connection speed,
the processor configured to determine that a current segment of the media file is downloaded in response to determining that the media file is being downloaded, the current segment downloaded at a first bit rate, the first bit rate associ

Assignees

• Parekh Neel B
• Google Inc

Inventors

• Parekh Neel B

Classifications

• H04L41/0896

  Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities (flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76) · CPC title

• H04N21/23424 Primary

  involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement · CPC title

• H04N21/64769

  for rate control (flow control in packet networks H04L47/10) · CPC title

• H04N21/472

  End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content {(end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612)} · CPC title

• H04N21/64792

  Controlling the complexity of the content stream, e.g. by dropping packets (intermediate media network packet handling H04L65/765; proxy provisioning conversion or adaptation for reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data H04L67/5651; negotiation of resources in wireless networks H04W28/16) · CPC title