Client Streaming Spherical Video Zero Buffering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current solutions for streaming spherical videos face challenges in maintaining video quality due to limited bandwidth, leading to sudden degradation when the viewport moves, as they require buffering and have limited switching opportunities between video representations, resulting in frequent quality loss.
Innovation Solution
A client device manages streaming sessions by determining the next segment's representation to ensure the first frame is retrieved within a reference time, allowing for zero buffering and selecting the highest quality representation that meets this criterion, thereby minimizing latency and maintaining high video quality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the whole spherical scene is delivered to the player, then the user can navigate freely within the scene, but the bandwidth requirement increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The spherical video scene is divided into multiple tiles spatially, allowing the system to deliver only the relevant tile segments corresponding to the current viewport position. This segmentation enables free navigation while reducing bandwidth consumption by transmitting only the necessary portions of the scene.
Solution Approach 2:
Different quality levels are applied to different regions of the spherical scene based on their relevance to the current viewport. High quality is provided for the visible area while lower quality is used for areas outside the viewport, optimizing bandwidth usage while maintaining navigation freedom.
2Quantity of substance
If video quality is decreased to meet bandwidth constraints, then bandwidth consumption is reduced, but the video quality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies different quality levels to different spatial regions and temporal segments. High quality is maintained for the current viewport area while lower quality is used for other regions, allowing bandwidth constraints to be met without significant quality loss in the visible area.
Solution Approach 2:
The video quality is dynamically adjusted based on the current viewport position and navigation behavior. When the viewport moves to a new area, the system adapts by delivering high quality content for the new visible region while maintaining lower quality for other areas, ensuring optimal quality within bandwidth constraints.
3Quantity of substance
If the viewport moves to a low quality area, then bandwidth consumption is reduced, but the displayed video suffers from sudden degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The system prepares and buffers tile segments in advance before they are needed for display. When the viewport moves, the required tile segments are already available in the buffer, preventing sudden quality degradation. This preliminary preparation ensures smooth transitions and maintains video quality stability during navigation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically tracks viewport movements and proactively prepares the corresponding high-quality tile segments before they become visible. This dynamic adaptation ensures that quality transitions are smooth and predictable, maintaining reliability even as the viewport moves through different regions of the spherical scene.
4Adaptability or versatility
If HTTP Adaptive Streaming is used with temporal division into segments, then switching between representations is enabled, but the switching opportunities are limited to specific times
Solution Approach 1:
The video is divided into both temporal segments and spatial tiles, creating a fine-grained segmented structure. This allows representation switching to occur at tile segment boundaries rather than only at coarser temporal segment boundaries, increasing switching opportunities and reducing switching delays while maintaining adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A client (100) is able to manage a multimedia content in such a way that the buffering can be reduced as much as desired down to zero by selecting a representation for a next segment to be requested for which the first frame can be received at least in the frame duration.