Independent Seektable for Media Streaming Segment Identification
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing media streaming technologies face inefficiencies when handling seek requests, as they require parsing metadata from container files, leading to delayed playback and excessive computational demands.
Innovation Solution
The use of a seektable independent of the media item's container file, stored in a native markup language, allows for efficient streaming by identifying segments for playback without consulting metadata, reducing computational load and enabling immediate playback.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If metadata from container files is parsed to identify segments for seeking, then accurate segment identification is achieved, but playback delay and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The seektable is pre-generated and stored with the media content, containing pre-processed segment boundary information. When a seek request occurs, the system directly queries the pre-computed seektable instead of parsing container metadata in real-time, eliminating the time-consuming metadata parsing step while maintaining accurate segment identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a simplified copy of the container metadata specifically for seeking operations. The seektable is a derived data structure that extracts only the essential segment boundary information from the full container metadata, providing a faster-to-query representation that maintains the necessary precision for accurate seeking without the overhead of parsing the complete metadata structure.
2Measurement precision
If container file metadata is parsed to identify segments, then accurate segment location is achieved, but computational load and power consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential segment boundary information from the full container metadata and stores it in a separate, optimized seektable structure. This extraction process is performed once during content preparation, and the resulting seektable can be queried multiple times without re-parsing the original metadata, significantly reducing computational load and power consumption during playback seeking operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The heavy computational task of parsing container metadata and extracting segment information is performed in advance during content preparation and storage. By pre-computing and storing the seektable, the system eliminates the need to repeat this computationally intensive parsing operation during playback, thereby reducing real-time power consumption while maintaining accurate segment location.
3Loss of information
If multiple HTTP range requests are used to locate metadata, then complete metadata retrieval is achieved, but time consumption and streaming delay increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a simplified copy of the metadata structure specifically optimized for seeking operations. The seektable contains only the essential segment boundary information extracted from the full container metadata, providing a complete reference for segment location without requiring multiple HTTP range requests to retrieve and parse the complete original metadata structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The metadata parsing and segment boundary extraction is performed in advance during content preparation, with the results stored in the seektable. This preliminary action eliminates the need to repeatedly query and parse metadata during playback seeking, reducing streaming delay while ensuring complete and accurate segment identification.
Data Source
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AI summary
A client device (e.g., 102-1) receives a request to stream a media item from a first position. Content corresponding to the media item includes samples identified in a container file for the media item. The client device (102-1) obtains, independently of the container file, a seektable that is not included with the container file and that identifies a plurality of segments into which content corresponding to the media item is divided. Each segment of the plurality of segments includes multiple samples. The client device (102-1) consults the seektable to determine a segment of the media item to retrieve in response to the request. The segment includes content at the first position. After consulting the seektable, the client device (102-1) retrieves the segment of the media item and plays the content corresponding to the first position using the retrieved segment.