I-Frame Preservation for Video Service Acquisition
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Specialized video streams with single I-Frames at the beginning pose challenges in service acquisition, leading to incomplete content playback, especially when subsequent I-Frames are not present, affecting user experience and compatibility with devices like hand-held devices.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a method to repetitively transfer the initial buffer chunk containing the I-Frame from the acquisition buffer to the decoder until PAT/PMT acquisition is complete and A/V play has started, ensuring continuous playback and compatibility across different devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the acquisition buffer consumes the only I-Frame at the beginning of specialized video streams, then the service acquisition process can complete, but subsequent video playback cannot start because no I-Frame is available for rendering
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by detecting the presence of an I-Frame in the acquisition buffer before the service acquisition process completes, and preserving it for later use. This ensures that when the acquisition buffer is discarded after PAT/PMT acquisition, the I-Frame remains available for video playback initiation, resolving the contradiction between completing service acquisition and enabling subsequent playback.
2Loss of energy
If specialized video streams contain only a single I-Frame at the beginning, then bandwidth requirements are reduced, but hand-held devices cannot access content independently since they receive only P and B Frames after the STB consumes the I-Frame
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (the preserved I-Frame in memory) that acts as a shared resource between the STB and hand-held devices. When a hand-held device requests content, the system can provide the preserved I-Frame along with subsequent P and B Frames, enabling independent playback on portable devices while maintaining the bandwidth-efficient single I-Frame structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies universality by making the single I-Frame serve multiple functions: it enables video playback on the STB after service acquisition, and simultaneously serves as the starting frame for hand-held devices that connect to the STB. This multi-functional use of the I-Frame resolves the contradiction between bandwidth efficiency and multi-device compatibility.
3Reliability
If the first I-Frame contains crucial information such as game instructions, then the content is important for understanding, but the service acquisition process discards it when completing acquisition
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies the taking out principle by extracting the I-Frame from the acquisition buffer before the buffer is discarded after service acquisition completion. The I-Frame is identified, separated, and preserved in a dedicated memory location, ensuring that crucial information such as game instructions is not lost when the acquisition buffer is cleared to complete the acquisition process.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and computer readable media can be operable to facilitate a transfer of one or more buffer chunks including an I-Frame. When a new play or media transition occurs, a transfer of buffer chunks from a buffer to a decoder may be initiated such that an I-Frame at the beginning of the buffer is transferred and available to a client for playback. A decoder may be flushed a new transfer of buffer chunks beginning with the first buffer chunk may be initiated when a determination is made that PAT/PMT acquisition is complete and A/V play has started. A first buffer chunk may be repetitively transferred from the buffer until a determination is made that PAT/PMT acquisition is complete and A/V play has started.