Hierarchical Entity Grouping in ISOBMFF Media Delivery
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current video coding technologies face challenges in efficiently delivering media content with adaptive bitrate streaming, particularly in managing and presenting segmented media files across different devices and networks, where existing formats like ISOBMFF and DASH lack effective hierarchical grouping mechanisms for flexible content delivery.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of hierarchical track grouping within the ISOBMFF format, using data structures like track group entry boxes and entity reference boxes, allows for multi-level grouping of media tracks and groups, enabling flexible preselection, switching, and playback relationships, as specified in the CMAF standard, to support adaptive streaming.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hierarchical track grouping is implemented in ISOBMFF format, then media content delivery flexibility and adaptability are improved, but data structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The media content is segmented into hierarchical track groups at multiple levels, where each group contains specific tracks with defined relationships. This segmentation allows flexible delivery by enabling selective transmission of track groups based on device capabilities and network conditions, while the hierarchical structure organizes the complexity into manageable segments rather than a monolithic data structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a hierarchical dimension to the track organization structure, adding levels of grouping (e.g., track groups containing tracks, and nested track groups) rather than flat organization. This dimensional addition enables multi-level adaptability in content delivery while distributing the complexity across hierarchical layers, making the system more versatile without proportionally increasing overall complexity.
2Productivity
If multi-level grouping of media tracks is enabled, then content processing and bitrate adaptation are improved, but processing overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
Track groups and their hierarchical relationships are pre-defined and organized in the ISOBMFF file structure before delivery. The grouping metadata is prepared in advance, allowing streaming clients to quickly access pre-organized track information without performing complex real-time analysis. This preliminary organization significantly improves content processing efficiency while minimizing runtime processing overhead.
3Manufacturing precision
If hierarchical entity grouping is specified with multiple reference types, then entity management precision is improved, but data structure complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different reference types (e.g., alternative, dependent, hint, shadow sync) are applied locally to specific track relationships rather than uniformly across all tracks. Each track group or individual track can have customized reference type assignments based on its specific role and relationships. This localized approach enables precise entity management for each track relationship while avoiding the complexity of a single comprehensive data structure that must handle all reference types universally.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of delivering media content, where a streaming server provides a media content to a streaming client. The media content includes multiple media tracks. A first group of entities is specified for the media content. Each entity in the first group of entities is a media track, an item, or a child group of entities. A first data structure is populated to specify one or more arrays of entity identifiers for the first group of entities. Each array of entity identifiers has one or more identifiers of the entities in the first group. Each array of entity identifiers is associated with one reference type that describes the entities identified by the array of entity identifiers. The first data structure is provided to the streaming client, which provides entities of the first group from the media content for playback according to the first data structure.