Streaming and downloading of content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9565228-B2
Application number	US-201313782655-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2013
Priority date	Mar 1, 2013
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, systems, and software are described for providing content to a device comprising streaming content and sending content in a non-streaming manner (e.g., by downloading a file containing the content). In some aspects, switching between streaming and downloading may be performed in a dynamic manner during presentation of the content, and may be seamless to the user's viewing experience.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
streaming, by at least one computing device, first data representing at least a first portion of content to a device, wherein the content comprises the first portion, a second portion, and a third portion;
sending, at least partially during a same timeframe as the streaming, second data representing at least the second portion of the content to the device;
determining that a threshold amount of the second data has been sent, wherein the threshold amount corresponds to the first portion and the second portion; and
stopping the streaming, by the at least one computing device, responsive to determining that the threshold amount of the second data has been sent.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second portion of the content includes at least some of the first portion of the content.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second data represents the first portion, the second portion, and the third portion.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second data represent the content at a same level of video quality.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a request from the device for the content, wherein the streaming and the sending are initiated responsive to the request.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the streaming comprises streaming the first data over a communication link to the device, and wherein the method further comprises:
determining an amount of usage of the communication link; and
determining, based on the determined amount of usage, whether to initiate the sending,
wherein the sending is initiated responsive to determining that the sending is to be initiated.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending comprises downloading the second data to the device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stopping is performed while the sending is still being performed, such that the sending continues after the stopping is performed.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the threshold amount is less than an entirety of the content.

10. A method, comprising:
streaming, by at least one computing device, first data representing at least a first portion of content over a communication link to a device, wherein the content comprises the first portion, a second portion, and a third portion;
determining an amount of usage of the communication link;
determining, based on the determined amount of usage, whether to initiate sending second data;
sending, responsive to determining that sending is to be initiated and at least partially during a same timeframe as the streaming, the second data representing at least the second portion of the content to the device;
determining that a threshold amount of the second data has been sent, wherein the threshold amount corresponds to the first portion and the second portion; and
stopping the streaming, by the at least one computing device, during the sending and responsive to determining that the threshold amount of the second data has been sent, such that the sending continues after the stopping.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second portion of the content includes at least some of the first portion of the content.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second data represents both the first and second portions of the content.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving a request from the device for the content, wherein the streaming and the sending are initiated responsive to the request.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving a message from the device, wherein the threshold amount is based on the message.

15. A method, comprising:
sending, by at least one computing device over a communication link, first data representing at least a first portion of content to a device;
determining an amount of usage of the communication link during the sending;
determining, based on the determined amount of usage, whether to initiate streaming, and if so, streaming second data representing at least a second portion of the content to the device; and
stopping the sending, by the at least one computing device, after the streaming is initiated, wherein the streaming continues after the sending is stopped.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining a starting point within the content based upon how much of the content was sent during the sending, wherein the streaming comprises streaming the second data beginning at the determined starting point.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the sending comprises sending the first data over a first channel of the communication link, the determining the amount of usage comprises determining the amount of usage within the first channel, and wherein the streaming comprises streaming the second data over a second channel of the communication link, the second channel being different from the first channel.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first and second data represent the content at a same level of video quality.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising waiting a predetermined period of time from initiating the streaming before performing the stopping.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein stopping the sending comprises stopping the sending responsive to a threshold amount of the second data being sent to the device during the streaming.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc
• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Bradley Bruce
• Knee Robert

Classifications

• H04L65/80 Primary

  Responding to QoS · CPC title

• H04N21/845

  Structuring of content, e.g. decomposing content into time segments · CPC title

• H04N21/2407

  Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads (arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14) · CPC title

• H04N21/26216

  involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth (admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61) · CPC title

• H04L65/602 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic