Embedded Manifests Reduce Video Streaming Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional video streaming methods, such as HLS, often result in delays due to multiple network requests for master and rendition manifest files, leading to a negative user experience, especially over slow network connections.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating the contents of rendition manifests directly into the response to a video content request, using Data URIs or JSON objects, reduces the need for separate network requests, thereby accelerating the start of video playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If traditional HLS streaming methods are used with separate manifest files, then the system maintains good adaptability and reliability, but the video playback delay increases due to multiple network requests
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the master manifest and rendition manifest into a single unified manifest file. This eliminates the need for separate network requests to fetch both manifests, reducing the total request count from 2+ to 1, and directly addressing the technical contradiction by merging previously separate components into one integrated structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified manifest is prepared in advance with all necessary rendition information embedded within it. By pre-structuring the manifest to include both master and rendition details, the system eliminates the need for sequential fetching, allowing the client to immediately access all required information upon receiving the single unified manifest.
2Productivity
If multiple separate manifest files are requested, then the system maintains clear separation of concerns, but the network bandwidth consumption increases and playback speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the master manifest and rendition manifest into a single unified manifest file, reducing the total number of network requests from multiple separate requests to a single request. This consolidation directly reduces network bandwidth consumption while improving playback speed by eliminating sequential waiting time.
3Ease of operation
If separate manifest files are used, then the system structure remains simple and maintainable, but the user experience deteriorates due to loading delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines master and rendition manifests into a unified manifest, reducing the number of network requests from 2+ to 1. This single request approach eliminates the sequential loading delays that previously occurred, directly improving the time to first frame and overall user experience.
Solution Approach 2:
The unified manifest is structured in advance to include all rendition information, allowing the client to immediately parse and begin playback preparation without waiting for additional manifest requests. This preliminary structuring of data eliminates waiting time and improves user experience.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described for providing rendition manifests for the playback of video content or other types of content on a user device. The response to a request for content may serially include data objects for one or more rendition manifests as Data Uniform Resource Indicators (URIs) or in another data format. By incorporating the data of the rendition manifest(s) in the response, implementations may forego a network request to retrieve the rendition manifest(s) and thus reduce the latency for presenting content. In some cases, the incorporated rendition manifest(s) may list locations for a subset of chunks of a content file, and the content may be marked as live content, to reduce the size of the response and further reduce latency. In some cases, locations for chunks from multiple content files may be included in a same set of one or more rendition manifests in the response.