Adaptive Streaming Client Using Spatial Playback Regions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current adaptive streaming technologies for nonlinear media, such as omnidirectional video, lack scalability and flexibility in content distribution and authoring, particularly when dealing with state-of-the-art streaming protocols and content delivery networks, limiting user interaction and personalized experiences.
Innovation Solution
The method involves a client apparatus that uses spatial playback information in a manifest file to dynamically select media playback paths based on user interaction, allowing for flexible linking of adaptation sets and repetitive playback of segments, enabling scalable and personalized streaming of nonlinear media through HTTP adaptive streaming protocols like MPEG DASH.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If content is distributed using fixed playback paths with predetermined links, then content delivery is simplified, but scalability and flexibility in content distribution are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic playback paths where the client apparatus can select and switch between multiple adaptation sets during playback based on user interaction and spatial information. The manifest file contains multiple adaptation sets with different spatial playback regions, allowing the system to adaptively change content delivery paths without predetermined fixed links, thereby achieving flexibility while maintaining manageable complexity through structured metadata.
Solution Approach 2:
The content is divided into multiple adaptation sets, each representing a segment with specific spatial playback regions. This segmentation allows independent management and selection of different content segments based on user interaction, enabling scalable distribution where each segment can be optimized and delivered independently through HTTP adaptive streaming protocols.
2Adaptability or versatility
If playback paths are predetermined and fixed during authoring, then authoring process is simplified, but flexibility for dynamic content updates and personalized experiences is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The manifest file is prepared in advance with multiple adaptation sets and spatial playback region information, but the actual selection of which adaptation set to play back is determined dynamically during playback based on user interaction. This preliminary preparation of options without fixing the playback path allows easy authoring while enabling dynamic content updates and personalized experiences during actual use.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes playback parameters dynamically by selecting different adaptation sets based on spatial playback region information and user interaction. The manifest file structure allows easy authoring with predefined parameters, while the client apparatus modifies playback behavior by changing adaptation set selection during playback, achieving both ease of authoring and dynamic content updates.
3Ease of operation
If spatial playback information is used to dynamically select adaptation sets, then personalized user experiences are enabled, but processing complexity at the client apparatus increases
Solution Approach 1:
The manifest file acts as an intermediary that pre-organizes spatial playback region information and adaptation set mappings. The client apparatus uses this pre-processed information to make selection decisions, reducing the processing complexity compared to analyzing raw content metadata. The spatial playback information in the manifest file mediates between user interaction and adaptation set selection, enabling personalized experiences with manageable client-side processing.
4Productivity
If multiple adaptation sets are linked through spatial playback regions, then content scalability is improved, but manifest file complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The manifest file structure serves multiple functions: it describes adaptation sets, defines spatial playback regions, establishes links between regions and adaptation sets, and provides segmentation information. This multi-functional design consolidates what would otherwise require multiple separate files or complex data structures, improving content delivery efficiency while keeping the manifest file structure manageable through standardized formatting.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for adaptive streaming of nonlinear video is described wherein the method comprises receiving a manifest file comprising metadata defining a playback period defining video data of a predetermined playback duration, a playback period including at least one adaptation set defining a plurality of representations, each representation defining a set of segment identifiers, each segment identifier identifying a segment comprising a sequence of video frames; the metadata further comprising spatial playback information including at least a first region descriptor associated with a first adaptation set of a first playback period, the first region descriptor defining a destination identifier and a first region in video frames of the first adaptation set, the destination identifier signaling the client apparatus that the first region is linked to a second adaptation set; the client apparatus using the metadata to playback video data of the first adaptation set by requesting one or more network nodes to transmit segments of the first adaptation set; and, receiving or determining, during playback of requested segments, information associated with at least a second region in the video frames of the first adaptation set, the second region defining a region of interest (ROI) of a user of the client apparatus; the client apparatus selecting the second adaptation set for playback after the end of the playback of the first adaptation set on the basis of the first and second region, the selecting being based on a distance or an overlap between the first and second region.