HTTP Live Streaming Splice Point Tagging for Targeted Ad Insertion
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Solution Overview
Problem
HTTP live streaming lacks mechanisms for replacing or inserting multimedia chunk files and advertisements in playlists, which hinders targeted advertisement implementation and alignment with content stream splice points.
Innovation Solution
A content delivery system that aligns splice points in a content stream with media segment files during encoding, using new HTTP live streaming tags (EXT-X-SPLICE) to manage advertisement insertion or replacement, allowing seamless integration of targeted advertisements without altering client-side equipment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If HTTP live streaming uses standard playlist format without extension tags, then client device compatibility is maintained, but advertisement insertion and splice point alignment capabilities are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The playlist is segmented into distinct components: standard media segment entries and special splice point tags. This segmentation allows the system to maintain standard HTTP live streaming functionality while inserting specialized tags that enable advertisement insertion without affecting overall playlist structure or client compatibility
Solution Approach 2:
Splice point tags act as intermediary elements between the standard playlist format and advertisement insertion requirements. These tags carry metadata about where advertisements should be inserted, serving as a bridge that enables extended functionality without requiring changes to client device software
2Adaptability or versatility
If advertisement insertion requires client device modifications, then targeted advertising precision is improved, but ease of deployment and client compatibility deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The client device performs advertisement insertion automatically based on splice point tag instructions in the playlist, without requiring external configuration or modification. The server provides all necessary information through the playlist tags, and the client self-services the advertisement insertion process, maintaining both precision and ease of deployment
3Manufacturing precision
If media segment boundaries are not aligned with splice points, then encoding simplicity is maintained, but advertisement synchronization accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Media segment boundaries are pre-aligned with splice points during the encoding process before playlist generation. This preliminary alignment ensures that when splice point tags are inserted into the playlist, they naturally correspond to actual media segment boundaries, achieving precise advertisement synchronization without requiring complex runtime processing or client-side adjustments
Data Source
AI summary
A content delivery system and method that receives a request for a content stream that includes splice points. The method receives a playlist that includes an ordered list of media segment files that represent the content stream, and splice point tags, where generation of the media segment files aligns segment boundaries with the splice points in the content stream, and where each splice point tag is in a location in the playlist that corresponds to the position of one of the splice points in the content stream. The method identifies an insertion position in the playlist based on the location of the splice point tags, selects an advertisement segment, inserts the advertisement segment at the insertion position to create a modified playlist, removes the splice point tags from the modified playlist, and sends the modified playlist to the video display device.