Adaptive Streaming Buffering for Reduced Start-up Delay
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Solution Overview
Problem
Adaptive streaming systems face delays in starting playback due to the need for significant buffering of encoded media, which is unsatisfactory in modern devices that frequently restart or seek within media, particularly on mobile devices.
Innovation Solution
A playback device selects an alternative stream based on estimated bandwidth stability to minimize initial buffering by determining the download time and playback time of media portions, ensuring no underflow conditions occur during playback and providing a sufficient buffer after the stability period ends, allowing playback to start with only one portion of encoded media.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If significant buffering of encoded media is performed before playback, then playback continuity and reliability are improved, but start-up time and initial delay increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by predicting future bandwidth conditions and pre-buffering only the critical minimum portions of media segments needed to bridge stability periods. This allows the system to prepare just enough content to maintain playback continuity during predicted unstable periods without buffering excessive amounts, thus reducing start-up time while preserving playback reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts buffering requirements based on real-time bandwidth stability predictions. By continuously monitoring and predicting bandwidth conditions, the system adapts its buffering strategy to match actual network conditions, buffering more during unstable periods and less during stable periods, thereby optimizing the balance between playback continuity and start-up time.
2Stability of the object's composition
If traditional adaptive streaming buffering is used, then playback stability is maintained, but user experience deteriorates due to frequent buffering delays in mobile devices
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary bandwidth stability predictions and prepares minimal necessary buffers in advance, allowing playback to start quickly without significant delays. This preliminary action maintains playback stability by anticipating unstable periods while improving user experience by reducing the perceptible buffering delays that occur with traditional methods.
3Speed
If minimum buffering is used to reduce start-up time, then responsiveness is improved, but risk of underflow conditions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses feedback from bandwidth stability predictions to dynamically adjust buffering levels. By continuously monitoring actual bandwidth conditions and comparing them to predictions, the system can detect deviations and adjust its buffering strategy in real-time, ensuring that sufficient buffers are maintained to prevent underflow conditions while keeping start-up times short.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary predictions of bandwidth stability to determine the minimum necessary buffering required to prevent underflow conditions. By predicting future bandwidth conditions in advance, the system can calculate and prepare exactly the minimum buffer needed to bridge unstable periods, thus preventing underflows while minimizing start-up delay.
Data Source
AI summary
System and methods for selecting one of the alternative streams of encoded media from a group of alternative streams of encoded media for use during start-up of playback of the encoded media in accordance with embodiments of this invention are disclosed. The systems and methods begin by determining an estimated stability period for a current bandwidth of a communicative connection between the playback device and a remote system providing the alternative streams of encoded. A test process is then performed on the streams of encoded media to select one of streams of encoded media that provides portions of said encoded media such that an underflow condition does not occur during the estimated stability period. The streaming of encoded media is then commenced by requesting the portions of encoded media be transmitted from the remote server using the selected stream.