Adaptive Bitrate Streaming via Segment Packaging Information
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing media delivery systems face challenges in providing consistent quality of service across various devices and networks, particularly in delivering interactive television and Over-The-Top Television (OTT-TV) services, due to factors like network conditions and device types, which affects the quality of media content delivery.
Innovation Solution
The use of Segment and Packaging Information (SPI) enables the generation of multicast multi-bitrate streams with fragment start and end boundary point markers, allowing for adaptive bitrate streaming and targeted ad insertion, while maintaining backward compatibility with existing set-top boxes through techniques like Fragment Live Streaming (FLS) and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH).
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional media delivery systems are used, then existing set-top boxes can receive content, but the quality of service varies across different devices and network conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The media content is divided into multiple segments with different bitrates, allowing the system to deliver appropriate quality levels based on network conditions and device capabilities while maintaining consistent service quality across diverse platforms
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adapts the delivered content quality based on real-time network conditions and device characteristics, enabling reliable service delivery that adjusts to varying conditions rather than maintaining a fixed delivery approach
2Ease of manufacture
If separate systems are maintained for interactive television and OTT-TV, then each system can be optimized independently, but the complexity of the overall system increases
Solution Approach 1:
A unified content delivery system is implemented that can serve both interactive television and OTT-TV services through the same infrastructure, using universal packaging and segmenting mechanisms that work across different service types without requiring separate optimized systems
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the delivery mechanisms for interactive TV and OTT-TV into a single system that uses common segment packaging, manifest generation, and adaptive bitrate streaming capabilities, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining service-specific optimizations
3Ease of operation
If centralized information processing is implemented, then the burden on packagers is reduced, but the processing requirements at the server increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and centralizes the complex information processing tasks (segment packaging, manifest generation, adaptive bitrate logic) at the server level, removing these burdens from edge packagers while implementing efficient processing algorithms that minimize server resource requirements
Data Source
AI summary
Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving multicast multi-bitrate streams that include segment and packaging information for media content where the segment and packaging information includes fragment start and end boundary point markers for the media content, generating an adaptive bitrate stream for the media content according to the segment and packaging information, and providing the adaptive bitrate stream to an end user device via unicast. Other embodiments are disclosed.